This year, despite being a superb attacking team, AFC Bournemouth have had to suffer the indignity of being labelled as easy pickings for the established Premier League giants. It’s frustrating for a soccer fan like me to see a team who were as good as Bournemouth last season automatically written off. They’ve been compared to Blackpool which I think is unfair. Ian Holloway can’t hold a candle to Eddie Howe’s achievements on the pitch and thankfully Howe talks a lot more sense off the pitch too. Bournemouth are a far better team too than Holloway’s Blackpool ever were.  

In winning the title, they scored 98 goals, the second highest total in the whole of the Football League (MK Dons scored 101 despite finishing second in League One) and every time I saw them, they played with a verve and confidence that belied their lowly stature. In fact, no matter at what level I saw them perform at under Howe, in both his spells as manager, he played football the way it should be played. Fearless, effervescent and positive but let’s not tag the Cherries as the perennial “everyone’s second team” – that does them an injustice. 

Bournemouth are quite unique in the fact that they’re one of those clubs that doesn’t really have a rivalry. Based in Dorset and on the South Coast of England, they find themselves smack in the middle of a football wilderness. To the East, Southampton, 35 miles away. To the West, we find one of non-leagues most famous underperforming powerhouses, Weymouth FC, a mere 32 miles away. To the North by 48 miles, Yeovil are the nearest club. 

Since the 1970’s they’ve been notable for the names that either cut their teeth and started their careers there (Harry Redknapp as manager and Jaime Redknapp as a player) to players winding down their careers (Darren Anderton and Luther Blissett to name but two) as well as a lower league legend in Ted McDougall whose nine goals in an 11-1 win in the FA Cup first round against Margate in 1971 and still the English FA Cup record. Now, thanks to Howe and his new team, all that is now history. 

You cannot underestimate Howe’s achievements and his story at Bournemouth, it really is like the craziest film script you can think of, and then add some extra magic. A fan favourite as a player for the Cherries, he became Redknapp’s first signing at Portsmouth in 2002 but an injury ravaged spell curtailed his time there and he returned two years later thanks to the fans raising £21,000 towards the fee. Sadly his injuries caught up with him and he had to retire aged just 29 and moved into the coaching set up. 

This was when the club were financial meltdown and Bournemouth were in real danger of going bust. Hit with two successive points deficits, 10 points in the 2007-08 season, 17 the following season and being under a transfer embargo, Howe took charge on New Year’s Eve 2008 and the Cherries survived relegation by five points that season to stay in the Football League. That was just six years ago and is mind blowing to think of it.

Howe revitalised the entire club, from top to bottom and created a dynamic that saw the team win promotion the following season in second place. The 2010-11 season saw Howe’s talents spotted by Burnley and it was with much soul searching that he decided to take the up offer to become the Claret’s new manager in January 2011. His replacement, Lee Bradbury saw them finish sixth and lose in a playoff semi-final to Huddersfield after a 4-4 draw. 

The following season saw the club limp to 11th and Bradbury was sacked and replaced by Paul Groves in March 2012. Groves could do nothing to stop Bournemouth’s spiral as all of Howe’s good work was coming apart and he was also removed in October 2012 with the club mired in a relegation scrap and sitting 20th. The club had won just one game in the first 11 matches of that season and the future looked bleak at best.  

Now, Howe’s achievements had already made him a club legend but he hadn’t finished. Home sick and missing the family atmosphere of the South Coast club, Howe resigned as Burnley manager for personal reasons and returned to his spiritual home on October 13th.  Howe’s comeback inspired an incredible 16-game unbeaten streak that saw the club shoot up the table and his first defeat was on January 19th 2013. They responded to that defeat with five successive wins, followed by five successive defeats but a further eight wins in the final nine games of the season saw them finish second and gain promotion to the Championship. All in all, Howe had lost six games in 35 matches which is an incredible return for a club seemingly destined for relegation on his return. 

A solid finish of 10th surrounded by fallen giants and clubs with budgets that dwarfed Bournemouth was surely better than any Cherries fan could have hoped for but Howe wasn’t finished yet. Written off by most pundits and tipped for relegation, Bournemouth hit the ground running and never looked back and took the title in dramatic fashion in the last minute of injury time when Sheffield Wednesday equalised at Watford. For the first time in their history, they had reached the top level of English soccer. 

No matter what happens to AFC Bournemouth this coming season, they won’t care. The club are about to receive so much money that they cannot possibly believe it. The Premiership money can completely revitalise a club that looked dead and buried six seasons ago. They can improve the ground, though this summer has seen them invest in strengthening the squad over adding extra seats. That’s prudent in my opinion and shows they plan to give this a real go. 

Stories like Bournemouth are one of the reason I love football so much. The last 10 years has seen so much happen at this club that everything next season will seem like fantasy to some. If they stay up, which I think they will, then the story will simply become richer than and as glorious as anything that has come before it in the world of soccer. 

So far, some would say it has been a quiet pre-season for Tottenham Hotspur as Mauricio Pochettino faces up to the challenges of a building upon a promising first season as Tottenham manager, with a fifth placed finish and cup final to show for his efforts. Often known for making at least one marquee signing in the summer transfer window, Spurs have quietly gone about strengthening the defence, with Belgian international and club shop shirt printers nightmare Toby Alderweireld being the highest profile name to join the club. 

It’s unfair that defensive signings are often viewed as somewhat underwhelming but it is clear to see that Pochettino had clearly earmarked improving a defence that shipped 53 goals in the Premiership, a figure only beaten by four teams and two of those were relegated (Burnley and QPR). 

Offensively, Spurs’ total of 58 goal scored was the fifth highest in the league, only bettered by the top four but it also needs to improve. 

Since he arrived at Spurs Lodge on May 27th, the manager has seen the departure of 18 players including Michael Dawson, Kyle Naughton, Benji Stambouli, Paulinho, Sandro, Younes Kaboul and Lewis Holtby. Notably, none of the departures could be seen as key first team players and three were bought in the flush of the Gareth Bale transfer money. Stambouli had only been at the club 10 months. 

Of the eight signings made in the summer of 2013, it has to be said that only two have had a positive impact and both were two of the cheaper signings, Christian Eriksen (£11.5 million) and Nacer Chadli (£7 million). The two biggest signings, Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela have failed to offer anything like either their reputation or fee suggested they would. Three have now gone (Paulinho, Fryers and Capoue) and the club are hoping to sell Chiriches as soon as possible. At least six of the remaining squad are being looked to be moved on as soon as possible too and the wage bill is around £300,000 a week better off now.

Since that mad dash around Europe like an inter-railing student, the club has been far more restrained in its transfer dealings as this summer’s recruitment has shown. Kieran Trippier, Alderweireld and Kevin Wimmer are all defensive signings and strengthen every position across the back four, whilst exciting midfield prospect Dele Alli had joined from MK Dons in January but was allowed to remain there until the season’s conclusion as they chased promotion to the Championship. 

Often Spurs have been criticised, and quite rightly at times, about their failure to use the transfer market to strengthen but it is Chairman Daniel Levy’s key strength that he will always look to receive the maximum transfer fee for a Spurs player (£9 million for Steven Caulker anyone??). Yet this summer, Spurs have had a restrained, prudent transfer policy. Pochettino knew the defence needed work, they had several egotistical players causing issues off the pitch and undermining the manager and had to be moved on and he wanted the hungry prospects such as Alex Pritchard and Tom Carroll to know if they impressed the manager, they would get a chance. Clearly shifting the high earning and underperforming has been Baldini’s main task this summer. 

Next to be improved will be the attacking options both in midfield and upfront as well as offloading further  underperforming players such as Aaron Lennon, Andros Townsend and Emanuel Adebayor. All three have suitors, amongst them Everton, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion, so the club know they can move more out to go after the targets they need. 

One new striker is definitely required, with Saido Berahino said to Pochettino’s top striking target despite paper talk continually linking the club with Manchester United’s Javier Hernandez, a transfer I can see no hope in attaining. Everton’s James McCarthy and Kevin Mirallas have also been linked with Spurs though Everton have been extremely quiet this summer so far. 

For once, it may be in Tottenham’s best interests to keep things ticking along, quietly going about their business in a calm and unusually quiet manner. It’s oddly dull down at White Hart Lane so far. Yet one thing you can always guarantee at Tottenham Hotspur is it never stays dull for long. 

The term “Sleeping Giant” is an overused cliché often used for clubs who have fallen on hard times, whose better days are a distant memory or highlight footage that is only available in black and white. The Football League is littered with clubs who at one point or another dominated English football. Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United are four of the biggest clubs outside of the top flight, alongside Sheffield Wednesday.

All five have failed to maintain Premier League soccer since 1992, despite Leeds, Forest, United and Wednesday all being part of that debut season. Of all of them, perhaps Wednesday feel the most regretful about what has happened since they kicked off away at Goodison on August 15, 1992. Wednesday were flush with a recent shock League Cup win in 1991 against another big club about to wake up, Manchester United. and had been promoted back to the top flight after a one year absence.

Wednesday hit the ground running, finishing third in the final season of the First Division behind champions Leeds United and Manchester United. The following season, they maintained this momentum cruelly losing both cup finals to Arsenal and both were in extra time. It was easily the clubs best period since the 1920’s. They played an attractive brand of football and regularly attained crowds of 27,000 as fans began to return to soccer after the dark days of the 1970’s and 80’s. Sheffield Wednesday were consistently in the Premier League top seven. Yet it all began to unravel and by 2000. Wednesday had been relegated and the Premiership exile began.

During the 15 years since, they have fallen into the third tier twice and almost dropped into the fourth tier in 2004, staying up by just 3 points and goal difference. The pitch was flooded during the fatal Sheffield floods of 2007. They survived several winding up orders in 2010 and finally returned to the Championship in 2013. All in all, other than Portsmouth, it had been the most dramatic fall from grace in the modern era. Incredibly, it could have been worse.

The club received a massive boost in January this year when the current chairman (former Portsmouth and Leicester City owner Milan Mandaric) sold to the Thai Union Group for £30 million and they have not stopped investing since. A new pitch has been laid, a state of the art electronic scoreboard installed, updated facilities and improvements to the training ground along with wiping out the remaining debts. Eight players have been signed including the impressive Lewis McGugan and Marcos Matias. The former Benfica and Besiktas coach Carlos Carvalhal has been installed as head coach and the new owner is targeting promotion by the end of the 2016-2017 season. Finally, Wednesday fans began to see a realistic opportunity of Premier League promotion.

The chairman has also stated to back up this target that he will spend whatever is required to get them back into the Premier League and whilst Wednesday were a long way short of challenging for promotion last season, the foundations of a good side were in place. Suffice to say, Wednesday fans are probably the most excited they’ve been for quite a while. Even a storm over a rather hefty price increase seems to have settled down but it’s on the pitch where things will always be decided.

The Championship has seen some phenomenal amounts of money thrown around over the last couple of seasons as Fulham, Derby, Middlesbrough, Forest, Wolves, Ipswich, Leeds United, QPR and Hull City all feel they have a chance of promotion. Wednesday fans may be flush with more optimism than they have had in a long time but they need to remember just how strong the big boys in this league really are. QPR are a prime example of that. The incredible amount that sides relegated from the Premier League receive in parachute payments has begun to wash around the Championship. Ross McCormack’s £11 million transfer from Leeds to Fulham last summer is testament to that.

Often the Championship is derided because any team can beat anyone on the day, but it is true. The competitive nature and the closeness in squad ability mean that at least 10 sides all have a serious and realistic chance of promotion. Add to that the promotion momentum that MK Dons, Preston and Bristol City have and Sheffield Wednesday may find them with a little bit too much to do in attempting to gain promotion this season.

It is the hardest league to get out of, without a doubt, and anything above 10th should be a reason for success at Sheffield Wednesday. They’ve waited 15 years to have a realistic crack at returning to the top flight. They just need to make sure they don’t rush the opportunity and make sure they build over the next couple of seasons. Wednesday fans are more hopeful than they’ve been in a while but it may take more than two seasons to return to the Premier League’s promised land.

The last couple of weeks have seen plenty of exciting news at Tottenham Hotspur especially with the confirmation of the NFL deal that will see at least two games a year played at the new White Hart Lane for 10 years from 2018. As the NFL continues to grow in the UK, rumors have continued to spread in regards to a franchise finally being placed permanently in the UK.

The NFL games now have a hardcore of 35,000 season tickets sold every year for the current 3 game series held at Wembley, with most games selling out before kick off. Last year’s triple header saw almost a quarter of a million fans turn up at Wembley, a phenomenal number when you consider the UK’s last full professional American football team, the Scottish Claymores, folded in 2004.

It’s widely known the UK went NFL mad in the mid to late 1980’s. I was one of the original fans, staying up late on school nights to watch my team (the one from Washington) and fell in love with the game. Friends supported the Raiders, the Dolphins, the Bears, we played touch gridiron on the school field and we eagerly devoured copies of Gridiron and tried to get our heads around the draft system.

Yet, the 90’s saw a lot of us drift away as we hit our 20’s. I didn’t watch an NFL game from 1992 until about 2002. I honestly can’t tell you why I stopped watching. It just happened. Then one day, a discussion in the pub on a cold January night saw us agree to watch the Superbowl XXXVII and that was that. I, and several friends, rediscovered the NFL and I now watch 4 games a week, host a Superbowl party for friends and suffer the frustration of seeing the once powerful Washington franchise struggle year-in year-out. I know how the draft works now. I have a fantasy football team and I probably would say the NFL is my second favorite sport by some distance. Hell, I even watch college games these days too.

The explosion in the NFL’s rebirth in the UK has surprised me. I never realized it had become so popular until I went to a couple of the NFL Wembley games and was blown away. As the NFL moved more games over, it became clear to me that something was in the pipeline, be it a new franchise or moving an existing one (the Jags, Raiders, Rams or Chargers have all been mooted as the one to move) but the NFL can see an opportunity like no other sports business.

It was last summer when rumors about the new Tottenham stadium being designed with NFL in mind started. The announcement made by the club on July 8 had been preceded over the weekend by a flurry of online rumors stating that Spurs had done a deal with the NFL. The fact that a company named Populous were the stadium architects should have been a big clue, given their history of working with the NFL in both stadium and training facilities design.

With the new Tottenham stadium featuring a state of the art retractable grass pitch, a first for any major sports venue in the UK, removing any concerns about pitch degradation and customer built facilities to house the extended locker rooms for NFL teams, it is clear that the club view the NFL as a viable and important part of the regeneration for the whole of Tottenham.

Personally, I think it’s a fantastic deal and on the whole, I think most Spurs fans are pretty pleased that we’ve got one over some of our rivals. Of course there has been some negativity, but then again, these are the fans that think a red sponsor logo on the Spurs shirt is akin to the ultimate sin.

For Tottenham to truly catch up with the big 4 clubs (Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea), they needed a new ground and revenue streams the other clubs couldn’t find. City and Chelsea are awash with cash. Arsenal’s prudence since moving to the Emirates is now paying off financially and Manchester United, well, we all know just how much money they make.

A 61,000 seater stadium is about right. Demand is always high for tickets and as much as we all love the Lane, sadly it looks a little worn around the edges these days. The ground may be going, but the memories I and other fans have of seeing Gascoigne and Greaves, Klinsmann and Blanchflower, King and Bale grace the turf at White Hart Lane will always be with us.

I can’t wait for 2018 and to take my seat in the new White Hart Lane.

The pitch invasion. Once a rare spectacle that would often be mentioned by commentators or pundits, but hardly ever seen. Here in the UK, cameras would pan to other areas of the ground or cut back to the studio. The thinking was to show such incidents would encourage them, despite the harsh penalties often handed to fans that dared to entire the field of play! Having seen streakers at both Premiership football and an NFL game, as well as all manner of animals invading the pitches of football teams across the globe, I enjoy the surreal nature that some of these incidents create. Now sometimes, I like something a bit odd to go off in a soccer match. When an invader often occurs these days, they’re often good natured and the fans respond with cheers and songs. I’ve collected some of my favorite, funniest and furry pitch invaders for your entertainment and amusement!

11. West Ham United vs Tottenham Hotspur, 2014

When the Premiership returned back in August, one of the more notable talking points was that from the West Ham against Tottenham game when one fan decided he fancied his chances of testing West Ham’s goalkeeper to liven up a dull game. Hammers fan Jordan Dunn had got bored and was apparently a little tipsy when he tried to slot a free kick home in the 63rd minute. Of course, his involvement saw the referee add some additional time on, which allowed Eric Dier to slot home the winner for Spurs on his debut and leave Jordan’s team empty handed.

10. Barnsley vs Manchester United, 2009

Usually, here in the UK, the tendency is to ignore anyone who encroaches into the playing area, but thankfully these days, the multimedia mobiles offer us an opportunity to enjoy these rare moments when fans upload such moments from games or the action catches the camera men completely out, such as this gem on a wet night back in 2009 when Barnsley entertained Manchester United. Clearly, these lads were not wearing the correct footwear, but it’s a lovely move and smart finish!

9. Luxembourg vs Russia, 2013

Of course, when it comes to entering the field of play, scoring is all well and good, but what about a bit of dribbling trickery that leaves the stewards for dead, before finishing with a delightful slide into the net. To be fair, I was watching Luxembourg, I’d be picking this guy for the next game.

8. Germany vs Argentina, 2012

As we live in an age of footballing greats such as Ronaldo, Bale and Messi, it’s no surprise that some fans simply want to run and touch one of their idols. Messi receives a handshake in Germany from one fan, who seems delighted his idol shook his hand.

7. Miscellaneous games

Though this doesn’t seem to something Messi is that surprised by as this rather odd compilation proves! Clearly giving him a hug seems to be quiet popular!

6. Brazil vs England, 1962

Yet it’s not just the fans who want to get into the game or the coverage. Animals have been entering the pitch for years as this classic clip from England vs Brazil in the 1962 World Cup proves. Jimmy Greaves showed his animal magnetism to entice the furry friend to his arms, where he decided relieve himself over Greaves’ shirt!! The dog was supposedly adopted by Garrincha after the game, though sadly this may be nothing more than rumor!

5. Sante Fe vs Botafogo, 2011

Dogs it seems have an uncanny knack of finding themselves in football grounds somehow though not many manage to disrupt a game for as long as this canine interloper seems to be having the time of its life!

4. Rosario Central vs River Plate, 2014

Continuing in South America though sees things take a rather more disturbing turn! This dog seems to have no manners at all!

3. Galatasaray vs Aalen, 2011

In fact, they even seem to bring some friends with them to games in Turkey as these two rather friendly chaps interrupt play for an impromptu game of fetch!

2. Toronto FC vs Columbus Crew, 2007

Now Arsenal fans had plenty to chuckle about when this Squirrel decide to make his Champions League debut back in 2006, and of course, he’d had more minutes in the competition that rivals Spurs had had at the time, but it seems the Squirrels solicitor has taken an injunction out and suppressed the evidence (or more likely UEFA!). However, Toronto fans welcomed a squirrel on to the pitch with its own song!

1. FC Thun vs FC Zurich, 2013

Finally though, my favourite clip of recent years has to be this absolute gem from a Swiss League game between FC Thun and FC Zurich in 2013 which has everything. This still makes me laugh every time I watch it!

So what are your funniest pitch invaders? Seen anything to top the collection above, then please share your links below.

So the clock ticks ever closer to the season of goodwill and as a self confessed lover of Christmas, a word of warning for fellow football fans hoping to receive that special something in their Christmas stocking or under the tree. As the years have gone by, I have sometimes received presents based purely on the fact that I am a football fan. Despite who I support, occasionally, a gift would arrive that often stated by it’s appearance, was bought, simply because it was related no matter how tenuously, to football.

What you have to be aware of, is the danger of the gift arriving that can ruin your day. Some of you may in your infancy as football fans, some may be lifelong football fans but all of us should be afraid of the present that can deflate your spirits quicker than discovering your mums new boyfriend is Sven Goran-Erikkson. Here are the 5 worst things that football fans need to be aware of on Christmas Day.

1. THE BOOK ABOUT YOUR RIVALS

This one is a very common spoiler of Christmas Day celebrations for football fans the world over. More often than not more people support less successful sides than the ones that win the trophies. Unfortunately, the more success a side has, the more books tend to be written about them. This has seen myself recieve books about Arsenal and Chelsea in the past as well as a book about Real Madrid. All from well meaning relatives, but sadly wide of the mark. Of course, the benefit of this situation is that you can recycle such presents to either a local charity shop or another friend the following Christmas. Be aware and make sure even Great Aunt Betty knows who you support.

2. THE FOOTBALLERS AUTOBIOGRAPHY

A truly chilling sight to meet those hung over and reddened eyes on Christmas Morning is the footballers autobiography. Why? To put it simply 95% of them are utterly dreadful. The autobiography has probably been the most saturated genre in football writing since the Premiership became the global money making machine it is today and it shows. No one still playing has anything vaguely interesting to say, or as in Ashley Cole’s case, they say something so deluded it makes them a hate figure. What you hope for is one of the truly great ones, such as Tony Cascarino’s, Brian Clough’s, Roy Keane’s, Paul Gascoigne’s or Bobby Robson’s. Make sure you let them know!

3. THE FOOTBALL RELATED CLOTHING ITEM

Here in the UK, there are numerous opportunities for you to receive some of the most ghastly clothing made in the world, simply because it either will have the word football or soccer on it or a picture of a football. Most of these items will be awful as a simple football attired item, but in this day and age, the wonders of technology have given us a greater horror. The musical tie/socks/boxer shorts/hat in a muzak style of sound. This may sound something like the theme to Match of the Day, but after 73 plays before the Doctor Who special has even started, can cause a reaction similarly to that of Jack Nicholson to a winter as a caretaker. Keep it replica kit safe!

4. THE WEIRD FOOTBALL RELATED ITEM

Sometimes, people make the strangest football connected items that really does make you think if someone was on serious medication, needed serious medication or simply had a night out with John Belushi in 1980 and never got over it. For dreadful items, this for me takes the biscuit. Who in there right mind pitches that at a meeting. “Tell you what guys, these are going to be flying off the shelves”. The comments alone are worth viewing the item for. Staggering.

5. THE OH YOU LIKE FOOTBALL SO YOU MUST LIKE ALL SPORT PRESENT

Now I don’t know about you, but I love football, I love NFL, Tennis and Golf. I really enjoy Darts, no don’t laugh. Unfortunately most other sports leave me cold. Be aware, some people think if you like one sport, you like them all. This can lead to all sorts of unrelated crap getting wrapped up and sent to you under the guise of a thoughtful present. Here in England this usual involves two games hardly any other country plays or gives two hoots about, Cricket and Rugby. These include books about such sports, DVD’s, even tickets. Please use point one’s guide to recycling.

So there you have it, 5 key points to watch out for this Christmas but later this week I’ll be looking at some things you really should stick on your Christmas list and what will wow the football fan. Season’s greetings!

Please leave me your feedback, especially about awful football related Christmas presents below and you can follow me at http://twitter.com/paulbestall

What I’m constantly astounded by is the Mike Ashley managed to become a multi-millionaire. How can someone who clearly has absolutely no clue about football make his money in sports retail? Hughton had done an astounding job by getting Newcastle United promoted at the first time of asking. Lets not forget this side, in the majority, were the one that limped so poorly out of the Premiership in 2008-09. Hughton cleared the dead wood, refused to panic after the humiliation of a preseason hammering at Leyton Orient and hit the ground running once the Championship season started.

Every mistake he made the first time round seems to be coming back to haunt the Newcastle faithful. Could any set of fans have such an out of touch owner since Peter Swales held the power at Manchester City in the 1990’s? It simply beggars belief that a man who employed Dennis Wise as a Director of Football and Joe Kinnear as a manager, now feels Hughton isn’t the man to take the club forward. A man who believe that Xisco was a better player than James Milner, who claimed that Newcastle fans had threatened his children and has refused to put a penny into the club in 18 months.

As Chairman go, Ashley shows all the facets of arrogance personified. Clearly he is under the misapprehension that he actually understands football when, with the exception of letting Hughton have the managers position, every major decision he has made shows he has none. He allowed Keegan to be ostracised over transfer policy, employed a manager who hadn’t managed to in the top flight for almost ten years, gave the job to Alan Shearer and then never rang him back once the season had finished and allowed Adidas to release that awful, awful cream and yellow stripe vomit inducing away kit last season.

As if I had anything left to surprise me, English bookmakers suspended the betting on Alan Pardew being the new Newcastle manager. Seriously. Sacked by West Ham, resigned from Charlton, sacked by Southampton. Of course now Martin Jol has walked out on Ajax too so he is now going to be the new Newcastle United manager. No-one has any idea really. Yet you have to ask yourself which top quality manager, after seeing the nonsense, chaos and simple bad management on display at Newcastle United would want to work in that environment.

I just feel sorry for Newcastle United’s fans. Often incorrectly portrayed as delusional big club chanting fans, Newcastle, over the last 25 years have seen so much talent leave the club, so many close shaves to major success and yet they find themselves continually run by people with no respect them as fans, as people and as consumers. That, for any set of fans is galling to take. Question is, have they finally had their fill of Mike Ashley or will the continue to turn up regardless.My colleague Matt earlier mentioned his disgust at the decision which you can read here but nothing that goes on at St. James’ Park under Ashley surprises me at all.

Please leave me your feedback below and you can follow me at http://twitter.com/paulbestall

October ended with Chelsea looking imperious and pulling away from the chasing pack at the top of the Premiership. The side seemed to playing with such verve and spirit that I simply couldn’t see where any worthy challenge could come from. Manchester United were struggling to hit any real form, but continued to pick up points other sides would lose. Arsenal being Arsenal, looked amazing one week and then lost a game from nowhere. Manchester City continued to play as if expression was something to be feared.

Liverpool and Aston Villa were struggling to cope with the hangovers from summers of upheaval and Tottenham are still getting used to being involved at this end of the table. Then from nowhere, Chelsea hit the skids and suddenly, we have a title race again. November has been a hellish month for the Blues, with the Wilkins situation, Lampard’s continued absence, Terry and Alex both struggling, Essien suspended and Drogba’s illness sapping him of his strength and power. Then from nowhere Frank Arnesen announces his departure and you begin to think just what is going on at Stamford Bridge.

Crucially though Chelsea seemed to have no luck both on and off the pitch in the last four weeks. The game against Birmingham was one of the most one sides defeats I’ve seen in years. Chelsea absolutely battered Birmingham but couldn’t make the crucial breakthrough to score. When you play that well and the ball simply will not go in, then you really think things are conspiring against you. It’s unfortunate when 5 of your top stars all get sidelined for various reasons and most sides would struggle to cope with that level of disruption to their first team squad.

The Wilkins situation has, regardless of what the clubs hierarchy have said, had an effect on the dressing room and been a contributing factor. Tactical mistakes too have played their part, as the defeat to Sunderland had a lot to do with playing 3 right backs in a back four left them unbalanced and positionally unsure when defending. By not playing a recognised centre back, the impetus was offered to Steve Bruce’s side and they took full advantage playing with pomp and prowess.

The additional pain of being dislodged from the top of the table on Saturday was not only had Manchester United pulled two points clear, but by thrashing Blackburn Rovers so convincingly, goal difference had been drawn level. All of the advantages that Chelsea had, coming up to a tough December had been eaten away by a series of unfortunate injuries, suspensions and tactics.

Now Chelsea face 5 tough matches in the league, 4 against the current top 6. Visits to Tottenham and Arsenal, coupled with home games against Everton, Bolton and of course, Manchester United. At least it seems Terry and Lampard will return in the next week or so, but Alex faces a lay off for an operation and the front line is still struggling for goals. The old adage in English football is the title is usually decided at Easter, but Christmas could come early for Chelsea’s rivals if their dreadful month continues in to December. The club need to make sure that regardless of the off field problems, things need to get back to normal on the pitch.

Harry Redknapp was right to be bullish after Saturdays amazing fight back against Arsenal at the Emirates, for too long Tottenham have promised much and delivered little. Spending wise Tottenham have ploughed millions in the club with little real achievement to show for it, but under Redknapp the club has begun to make strides on that investment. For too long, Tottenham have been nearly men, with no significant breakthrough or consistency to the team and its results.

Ironically, it seems it took Spurs to actually hit rock bottom to finally realise just what was required. For too long, too many players have come to Tottenham thinking it was an easy switch. Too many players who can play when it suits them, but when they need to dig in and fight for a result, they’d go missing. In fact, there’s still a couple at the club now, but probably not for much longer.

Redknapp has thrown the gauntlet down to Daniel Levy, the chairman by asking him to get the two players he feels the club need to continue moving forwards in the January transfer window. For me, the club need to concentrate on two key positions, right midfield and left back. Ask an honest Spurs fan what the teams weak spot is and they’ll point to left back as a key weakness. Now, that’s not to say Benoit Assou-Ekoto is not a competent full back, he just has a tendency to switch off when you least require it.

It’s odd how football unbalanced football squads can sometimes be and at Tottenham, they have a completely unbalanced defence in terms of cover. At right back, the club currently have 5 players that can play right back. Hutton, Corluka, Kaboul, Naughton and Walker but the latter two are out on loan. At left back it’s a case of Assou-Ekotto or Bale and Bale is far more dangerous further up the field as a left midfielder. Ironically, Kyle Walker can play left back, but has yet to be given the opportunity and it’s a clear position that needs strengthening.

Perhaps more contentiously, the right midfield/winger role is one that has seen either Aaron Lennon or David Bentley fill in. Bentley for whatever reason just hasn’t been able to show anything like the form he had with Blackburn Rovers, Lennon suffers from a lack of real consistency and quality of delivery. Of the two, Lennon has the extra option of blistering pace and can burn teams with it, but too many times his delivery lets him down. For Tottenham to progress to true title contenders, they need someone who can mix both Lennons pace and Bentley’s passing and set piece play.

The one advantage Lennon has is that he is still only 23, so perhaps there is time for Redknapp and his coaching staff to add the parts of his game that are missing or lack real consistency. To do that Lennon has to focus purely on improving his technique, pace alone at this level is no longer enough. Of the two, I’d rather keep Lennon due his undoubted potential.Added to this though is how the club are viewing their transfers in regards to the ability of new signings to play in the Champions League.

It certainly makes Tottenham more appealing, as Rafael van der Vaart’s arrival showed, but can Tottenham find the quality of players they need who are not cup tied in Europe? This will be a crucial transfer window for Spurs and their fans.

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Well, I have to admit I’m perplexed by some of the performances of the Premierships traditional powerhouses this season. A month ago, most people would have been hard pressed to think anyone could trouble Chelsea for the title, now 6 points separate the top 6 sides. Suddenly, a real title race has begun at last as Chelsea suddenly developed a soft centre and ran bang out of luck. Manchester United continue to do what no-one else has ever been able to match, a continual accumulation of points, despite playing below par.

Arsenal, a week after an impressive win at Everton, decided to reverse roles with Tottenham on Saturday and capitulate when victory seemed assured. Manchester City, suddenly discovered the benefits of pushing men forward. Bolton have gatecrashed the top table with a series of powerful, football displays. It is, for once, an exciting season for more than the usual set of fans.

The old adage in England is the title is usually won by what sides do over the Easter holiday period. Yet, the Premiership fixture list has decided to send a series of mouth watering and crucial clashes before the end of 2010. Chelsea have to play Tottenham, Manchester United, Arsenal and Bolton, the toughest Christmas run in in the top 6. United have Arsenal and a raft of games that could see them stretch away. Arsenal have the top two as well as tough games against Stoke and Aston Villa.

The pretenders, Tottenham and Manchester City, have games that they have to win to prove their title challenging credentials and Bolton have City and Chelsea and 3 games they could easily win as much as lose. Looking at the run in to the New Year, Chelsea will be cursing their luck that the fixture computer has decided to play this particularly nasty hand on them at this stage of the season. The performance against Birmingham had a lot of positives for the Blues, but they came away empty handed after meeting a goal keeper who played like a man possessed, Ben Foster.

The additional soap opera of the Ray Wilkins legal challenge has now added further mystery stirred today by Carlo Ancelotti’s comments and the loss of Terry, Lampard and Essien. Drogba and Alex are both struggling with illness and injury and the squad suddenly seems very light. It is an unusual situation for Chelsea to seem so threadbare on a squad level.

Bolton meanwhile, continue to improve back towards the level the showed under Sam Allardyce but with a footballing panache and verve. Continually labelled as a physical side, Wanderers have now shown that there was a footballing side that a mundane manager like Gary Megson simply couldn’t find due to his tactical ineptitude. Bringing Owen Coyle to the club is now beginning to look like Phil Gartsides best decision as Bolton Chairman. Keeping Elmander may be the next best thing he does.

Yet, as I enter my 19th Premiership season as a fan, the nagging feeling that the old order will return to the top 3 places continues to niggle away at me. Despite the euphoria that having a title race so close at this stage can offer the fans of clubs outside of the usual title suspects, history continues to point to the challengers falling away. It would be lovely it was to be a 6 or 7 horse race, but by New Years Eve, the league table will point to where the title may end up come May.

One of the things that has surprised me this season is the lack of praise being thrown towards Roberto Di Matteo and his very impressive West Bromwich Albion side. Of the three promoted sides, Blackpool have the best manager for soundbites, Newcastle have some off the field issues and strange living arrangments for some of the squad. West Bromwich have simply decided to play some impressive football in the first 3 months of the season.

It’s odd that a side that currently sit 6th in the table, with some fantastic results so far are not garnering more positive press. Yes, they started badly with a thrashing at Chelsea, but it’s hardly an exclusive club to be in, though a loss at lacklustre Liverpool perhaps was more of a disappointment. Other than that though, this is a side that outplayed Arsenal for an hour at the Emirates and won 3-2, held Tottenham at home and Manchester United away.

It seems that the Baggies can’t get the credit that they clearly deserve at this part of the season. West Brom have evolved from a middling Championship side in the 1990’s, to a club consistently pushing for promotion to the Premiership in the last 10 years. Through Megson, Robson and Mowbray this was a side that proved too good for the Championship but failed to utilise their top league credentials. Now though, Di Matteo has set his stall out with his side to try and build on Premiership football.

It seems to me rather odd that a side with the credentials and history of West Brom has struggled to make more of a Premiership impact over the last ten years. Sides that have spent less, with smaller crowds have stayed up whilst the Baggies continued to yo-yo between the top two divisions. Yet, they’ve not fallen in to the trap of getting stuck in the Championship and always been up around the movers and shakers of the promotion race consistently.

This season has seen a breakthrough for them as a Premiership side. No longer afraid to play away from home, with pace and slick passing, this West Bromwich side has the potential to be the best one in 30 years. Di Matteo has added some sublime skill to a good footballing side with some astute signings. Whilst Peter Odemwingie gets all the glory, I have to say two players that have really impressed me so far are Chris Brunt and Nicky Shorey.

Brunt is one of those criminally underrated players who simply doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves. A lovely footballer with a sweet eye for a killer pass or cross, Brunt has impressed me for several seasons. He is thriving in this West Bromwich team and it is richly deserved. He has consistently impressed me since he burst on to the scene with Sheffield Wednesday in 2004 and he has continued to improve year on year.

He is the Throstles key man for me, he makes the side tick and Di Matteo has rightly got him playing the best football of his career so far. Shorey on the other hand has had a torrid couple of years. He was touted for a bright future whilst at Reading, but lost his way after his move to Aston Villa turned sour. You know you’ve fallen out of favour when a right back is being played at left back instead of you. Sometimes it happens to a good player, some moves just don’t work out, David Bentley at Tottenham is a case in point.

Shorey though has begun to return to form, after a spell on loan at Nottingham Forest seemed to bring his confidence back and now he too is performing exceptionally well for W.B.A. and the side is really benefiting from it. This for me is the teams breakthrough season and about time too in my opinion, the Hawthorns is one of my favourite away grounds and the club is progressive and positive. I hope they can keep building on this excellent start to the season.

When Bolton paid a club record fee of £8.2 million for the Swedish striker Johan Elmander, a few eyebrows were raised. Yet, the former Toulouse striker had been one of the most consistent players in the French league during his time for the Téfécé and had built a reputation as a creative deep lying centre forward. Unfortunately, joining a side whose manager lacked any creative spark seemed an unusual step for the likable Swede.

It was as unusual for a manager as lacking in creative idea’s as Gary Megson decision to sign him. To put it mildly, Elmander had a nightmare first 18 months at Bolton, playing in a defensively minded side and struggling to cope with being used as a main striker, rather than his usual deeper role. His play suffered, his reputation fell and a nightmare 9 month barren spell seemed to be a millstone he couldn’t shift.

The sacking of Megson was not only a god send for the Bolton faithful, but for the striker as well. Owen Coyle brought a breath of fresh air to the Reebok stadium that removed all the negativity that had built up under the previous two regimes. Despite the continual negative press that Bolton continue to garner, Coyle’s appointment has been one of continual improvement and changing perceptions.

It’s always easy to label sides such as Bolton Wanderers as purely physical, but Coyle is trying his upmost to change the footballing opinion of the side. Any side that had players such as jay Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff cannot seriously be considered a long ball side. To counter this though the lack of credit for players such as Jussi Jaaskelainen and Kevin Davies showed their achievements were never considered seriously.

Coyle’s appointment has seen Elmander return to his previous quality that he showed prior to joining Bolton. It’s not just a flash in a pan either, he’s been playing consistently well since Coyle took over in January this year. The manager clearly identified Elmander as key to creating a new Bolton Wanderers and the club is beginning to reap the dividends of the change. As an avid watcher of French football, I was always impressed with the strikers ability, skill and quality.

It was a real surprise to see him struggle so much and of course, some players for one reason or another, simply cannot cope with playing in a different league or a new country. Yet Elmander had adapted to playing in Norway, the Netherlands and France so much easier, it was strange to see him look so uncomfortable. Coyle clearly identified the problems and addressed them immediately, allowing Elmander to release the stresses that had clearly held him back.

This season has seen him already equal his league goal tally from last season with 3 to his name so far and Bolton bloodied Manchester United’s nose on Sunday. This is a side clearly on the up, playing attractive, positive football and finally seeing the best of Johan Elmander. It should be a good season for the Bolton faithful and one that will see them bloody a few more noses of more illustrious opponents. Elmander has the skills to unsettle the best defenders and I hope we seem him continue to get the goals his approach play this year clearly deserves.

Being unbeaten at home for one of the smaller Premiership sides is something that should always be celebrated but at Birmingham City, things are never that simple. They have now equaled the clubs longest unbeaten home record of 18 games, it hides another story entirely. Now, 6 games in, the club have 7 points and sit mid-table but once again, the crowd was just over 2/3rds of the capacity.Fingers could be pointed towards the Wigan fans, not known for their travelling exploits yet that doesn’t cover it every other week.

City have had something of a stand off with the previous owners, when prices were kept at Premiership prices following relegation. A perceived lack of entertainment added to the fans frustration and despite a return to the top tier and the club being sold to Carson Yeung, attendances still leave the ground looking bare in certain areas. Despite the 18 game unbeaten home run, Birmingham have only won 2 of their last 12 Premiership matches.

Fans frustration can often be judged on what we call the George Graham formula. An often repeated mantra by fans who stop going is the lack of real football being played. This attitude is then criticised by others, who will often use George Graham’s period at Arsenal as proof of success over entertainment. The feeling is that if you win matches, then fans will come to see the team but as Birmingham City’s fans have proved over the last few seasons, it’s not necessarily true.

Of course, playing wide open attacking football gets the fans off their feet but it does leave you open to counter attacks. Against the better Premiership sides, this is akin to soccer suicide, offering the opportunity for the Chelsea’s and Manchester United’s to run riot. Crucially for promoted sides, keeping it tight, especially away from home can be all the difference. Yet, as Derby County showed under both Billy Davies and Paul Jewell, using those tactics doesn’t necessarily negate better sides.

After Liverpool had dismantled a Derby County side 6-0 who were playing what seemed to be a 5-5-0 formation, rather than the 4-5-1 it was supposed to be, fans were harsh towards the tactics. The feeling that by playing for a draw, they’d invited defeat left a bitter taste in the mouth. They were getting hammered and Davies kept to a tactical plan that clearly wasn’t working.

Birmingham yesterday entertained Wigan Athletic and played Cameron Jerome up front as a lone striker for an hour. I appreciate that using Hleb and Bowyer to bomb on as support helps but everyone seems to be playing 4-3-3 with just one striker and no wingers. Safety first at home against Wigan Athletic? Come on Alex Mcleish, show the fans some credit.

Birmingham City fans would be right in feeling that playing at home against anyone apart from the top 6, the side should at least show a little more attacking invention. No-one is expecting a side to go gung ho, but really, games like this are what keeps sides up in the Premiership, not what they achieve against the big clubs. The fans, as they did yesterday at St. Andrews, have a right to make their frustrations known.

If the fans begin to chant a formation or simply don’t bother turning up should tell you all you need to know. Alex Mcleish has been around football long enough to appreciate the fans concerns but yesteray had 3 strikers on the bench. For me, Birmingham’s best results in the last couple of seasons have been when they’ve gone with at least two strikers up front, rather than looking to negate the opposition.

The World Cup was full of sides playing a 4-3-3 system that employed wingers and strikers that could drop back when defending. Unfortunately, the new season has seen plenty of sides simply revert to a 4-5-1 and no option for width and balance. By replacing the attacking options with the safety first choice, the fans vote with their feet and their voices and no amount of unbeaten games will change that.

The frustration is born from playing so negatively against sides they consider at best, equals that they stop attending. When you’re only charging a top price of £34 for an adult ticket, cheap by comparison to some in the Premiership, you’d look to be selling out every home game. With almost 8,000 empty seats, that clearly isn’t the case. It may be value for money, but for some it certainly doesn’t represent entertainment value for the Birmingham fans.

Another Premier League game, another defeat and you’d be mistaken for thinking Wolves were a side struggling to play football. Oddly, Wolves have lost the last 3 league games when they probably deserved so much more for their efforts. After running Fulham so close at Craven Cottage, with two defensive slip ups gifting the hosts all three points, Mick McCarthy was honest in his criticism. His team had thrown the game away by simply switching off.

The winner goal in that match was a free kick from Dembele in injury time and it was dissected to distraction all weekend to show the wall splitting opened up the opportunity to score. There’s not much a manager can do when his defensive wall turn their backs on the free kick. As soon as they did that, they offered the chance to increase, losing all control all on the ball at that point. At least facing forwards, they have an idea where the strike may end up.

The following week, Wolves travelled to White Hart Lane, as Tottenham’s spluttering season continued. With good memories of the ground after last years 1-0 win, the visitors once again took advantage of some wayward finishing to take the lead. Spurs huffed and puffed for the best part of an hour, but it was an unusual tactical change that turned the game. Spurs brought on Alan Hutton, the attacking right back and he was involved in the penalty that gave Spurs a chance to get back in to the game.

Wolves simply couldn’t deal with the full back marauding down the flanks effectively and Spurs kept knocking, scoring another 2 goals include a rather fortuitous 3rd, score by Hutton, with a deflected loop over the goalkeeper. Another excellent display undone in 13 minutes by a lack of nous and experience.

Today continued the theme, desperate to impress the home fans in a West Midlands derby, Wolves pressed and pressed and then got undone on the counter attack. Once again they failed to turn possession in to real opportunities, with a large slice of luck allowing them to get level. It could be a concern that Wolves are taking games to sides but not being able to convert the opportunities or create enough clear cut chances to actually get the goals their performances perhaps deserve.

Similarly to Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers, Wolves have begun to seek to add some silk to the steely play they showed us last season. By employing the high tempo, pressurised game, Wolves were able to unsettle some more illustrious opponents. Now, by trying to entertain slightly more they are beginning to leave to many cracks for teams to exploit. Yet, despite losing 3 games on the spin, there is no need for hand wringing at Molineux.

The performances have been positive on the whole and should be taken with a pinch of salt. The league is still oddly tight, especially after Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester City and one win can send a side surging up the table. As Blackpool have shown, this season is nothing if predicatable. Wolves will probably win games playing a lot worse than they have in the last few weeks, so the need to keep positive is crucial for McCarthy and his players.

So after a somewhat belated start to his managerial career at Villa Park, Gerard Houllier will need little time to assimilate himself back in to the rigours of English football. His six year stint at Liverpool is still fresh in the memory for many, especially for landing us with El Hadj Diouf for the last six years. Despite that, Houllier has managed to keep himself involved in football in France but it was still something of a left field appointment for Villa to turn to the Frenchman.

His time at Anfield was something of a continual failure to turn potential in to real league success, culminating in his final season, 2003-2004, seeing them finish in 4th but 30 points behind Premiership winners Arsenal. 6 trophies in his time there perhaps gave something of rose tinted view to his tenure at the helm, but trophies are trophies. Similarly to Benitez, Houllier managed to get Liverpool to finish as runners up but failed to build on that good work with some unusual and ultimately unsuccessful transfers.

He inherits a side that have continually challenged for European places over the last 3 seasons but a fractious relationship between the previous manager and owner has left a side in a state of limbo. Aston Villa have so far been a Jekyll and Hyde side in this campaign, the 6-0 hammering at Newcastle clearly a low point in the clubs start to the season. Yet the transfer kitty was boosted by the sale of James Milner, so at least there is the option of strengthening in January but the loss of European revenue is a bitter pill to swallow for the Villa faithful.

It’s the lack of options up front for me that holds Villa back from pushing on from where O’Neill kept them. With 3 main strikers, the lack of a 4th option of proven quality has been there undoing in the last couple of seasons. Heskey’s work rate is unquestionable, but his dreadful goal return well documented. Carew is still so widely inconsistent, a trait he has never been able to shift from bursting on to the scene with Rosenburg and then Valencia 10 years ago. Of course, Houllier signed and then sold the striker during his spell at Lyon. How that relationship starts could be crucial for both sides.

Gabriel Agbonlahor is another one who’s potential has yet to be completely tapped into and Houllier often likes to build his sides around pacey strikers. The striker certainly falls in to that category but seems to still snatch at chances when it seems easier to score. Villa also have the option of using Ashley Young in a striking role, but he often drifts out of games, a frustrating side of his game with his quality of passing and blistering pace.

Villa have not had the worst start to the season, the hammering at Newcastle aside and against Stoke City were the better side for almost an hour but still contrived to lose the game to an injury time Robert Huth winner. What is crucial that Houllier can try and move on from the defensive counter attacking tactics that began to unravel his relationship with the Liverpool faithful. Perhaps somewhat, his spell at Lyon is sometimes overlooked, due to the squad he inherited and the financial strength the club had when he joined them.

As is often the case with these things, Houllier may be viewing the fixture list through gritted teeth, with derbies against Birmingham City and Wolves, trips to Tottenham and Sunderland and the chance to try and stifle free scoring Chelsea in October too making up his first 5 league fixtures. A tough Carling Cup tie at home to Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday is not the easiest game to make your managerial bow at your new club either. At least he’s been through it all before and forewarned is forearmed.

For some players, it can often take a season to settle in to a new club, especially when you arrive with a £30 million price tag around your neck. Sometimes, other aspects can slow the adaption to new surroundings. For Dimitar Berbatov, in his 3rd season at Manchester United, it seems he has finally begun to show Manchester United fans exactly what type of player he is.

Berbatov has had more than his fair share of critics for the first two seasons in Manchester, with accusations on his fitness, work-rate, finishing and waistline all being thrown at him. Despite Berbatov’s fine period at White Hart Lane, he seemed a little within himself whilst starting his Manchester United’s career. 46 goals in 102 games for Tottenham was a phenomenal return for a player experiencing English football for the first time.

It would always be difficult for Berbatov to hit the ground running at Old Trafford. He had moved from a club where he was the fulcrum of the side, the architect. Everything went through Berbatov and it allowed him a freedom of expression that would be difficult to replicate at Manchester United. There he became one of a number of star players, one of the cogs, rather than the engine room. Even the most technical players find that change difficult.

His technical abilities are in no doubt, but it always takes time to adapt to a new system, a new team and a new surrounding. For some people, these things should not be an issue when you cost so much money but as with anything in life, change always takes time to sink in. For Berbatov, it took longer than it perhaps should have for some people.

The new season though has seen Berbatov start with a bang with 3 goals in Manchester United’s first four matches, two of which have been stunning efforts. The deftly crafted lob with defenders baring down on him in the Community Shield clash against Chelsea was a phenomenal finish under pressure. The goal against West Ham United was an astounding scissor kick from a delightful chip from Nani.

Perhaps it’s removing the weight of his international career over the summer that has seen him return refreshed and firing on all cylinders. Berbatov has suffered continual criticism of his international career, but he’s still managed to become the Bulgarian sides all time top scorer in a  side that perhaps isn’t as strong as some of its predecessors.  For some people, constant criticism whilst you are breaking records would seem beyond churlish but that’s football. Some people are never satisfied.

For Berbatov, this season is crucial for both himself and Sir Alex Ferguson. Whilst many dare not criticise Ferguson, Berbatov is a transfer that he cannot hide from the critics. The fee, the players prior success before joining United and the ever constant eye of press coverage make it impossible to sweep under the carpet. This was no Ralph Milne from Bristol City dark days transfer but Berbatov could console himself with the fact that Ferguson will protect his players with an iron resolve and continues to do so.

There is no doubt that this is a critical season for Berbatov at Manchester United but already he is showing he is more than ready for the challenge. Have no doubt if he continues in this form, both he and Manchester United will have a very successful season.

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It’s often a question that football fans can never really answer, but why do certain players seem quite happy to sit on the bench? More often than not players are always wanting to play, so transfers to clubs where the opportunities are limited always confuses the fans. For example, one particular player is currently trying his very best to escape from Stoke City for no obvious reason.

Asmir Begovic, the Bosnian international goalkeeper, has begun a war of words with the chairman and his manager at Stoke City. Seemingly the whole reason for this is that he wishes to join Chelsea as a reserve goalkeeper for the foreseeable future. Stoke City feel that Begovic has been tapped up but for the second time 8 months, he’s involved in a transfer merry go round as deadline day comes around.

In January, Begovic had agreed to join Tottenham as a double deal that saw Younes Kaboul also arrive at White Hart Lane. Spurs, convinced that the deal was done, actually paid £1 million to Portsmouth as part payment of Begovic’s transfer fee. Yet the goalkeeper decided that despite agreeing a 4 year contract, he didn’t want to go there and joined Stoke City instead. This odd situation left Portsmouth, desperate for funds, actually owing Spurs money for a player who never joined them.

Begovic cited “sporting reasons” for his decision to move to the Potteries and up until last week, everything seemed fine. Then on Tuesday, Begovic apparently told manager Tony Pulis he wasn’t prepared to play against Shrewsbury in the League Cup. Pulis then indicated to the press that he had effectively gone on strike and refused to play. Begovic responded to this by describing Pulis’ comments as an “absolutely disgraceful accusation”

To be fair, Begovic is not the first player to allegedly refuse to play in a match, but it is a very strange situation for a club to find themselves in. At Stoke City, Tony Pulis is clearly a man in charge of his own destiny. James Beattie found that out when Pulis questioned his commitement and workrate last season. Beattie disagreed with that and made it clear to the manager. We also had the infamous did they/didn’t they come to blows in December last season at the Emirates.

Suffice to say James Beattie is now at Glasgow Rangers and Tony Pulis is still the manager of Stoke City. Pulis does not suffer fools at his football clubs and never has done. The club are adamant that they will not sell Begovic against there wishes, but no-one wants unhappy players at a club. What does surprise me is that Begovic is so keen to join Chelsea, with Petr Cech and Ross Turnbull cemented as the first teams goalkeepers. Would he really dispel either of those two from the match day squad?

With the new Premiership squad list rules coming in as of Wednesday morning, all Premiership clubs have to have a squad of 25 players registered. Clearly, Begovic wants to be registered as a Chelsea player by the time the transfer window shuts at 6pm UK time on August 31st but Stoke City are refusing to be bullied in to selling him. Asmir Begovic, with his latest outpouring is now desperately trying to engineer a transfer as quickly as possible.

The question is, just how much are Chelsea willing to pay for a player who seems so unsure of his own mind,as this gem proves from last year. He’d  refusedturned down an invitation to play for Bosnia, his birth place and stated his wish to continue playing for the Canadian national side in June 2009. “I’ve played for Canada for a long time. There’s no decision, I don’t want to switch” Two months later he accepted an invitation to turn his back on Canada and play international football for Bosnia.He is now a full Bosnian international.Good luck with him Chelsea.

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Last season, the one team who no-one was surprised to see to go down were Hull City. The dreadful run that began in November 2008 saw them go the rest of that season with just two wins, against Middlesbrough and Fulham out of 23 matches. Incredibly as we remember, they stayed up on the last day of the season as none of their rivals could win to overtake them.

Last year, they managed to get 4 more wins before December 31st to end with the dreadful record in 2009 of just 5 wins in 38 league matches. It was at times painful to watch, but strangely another team is currently on a run of 4 wins in 21 matches this year, Wigan Athletic. Yet unlike Hull, Wigan are beginning to ship goals like it’s going out of fashion.

Of course, some may say losing 6-0 to Chelsea is no shame, West Brom had conceded the same amount on the opening day visit to Stamford Bridge. Yet losing your opening two Premiership matches, at home, with a deficit of 10 goals against and none for is more than troubling. Chelsea have set off like an express train, but losing to Blackpool by 4 clear goals is disturbing. Of course, Wigan finished last season awfully, as once again Chelsea ripped them to pieces 8-0.

They lost by 3 or more goals 9 times last season, including Chelsea’s 8 and Tottenham thumping 9 past them. What astounds me is how a team, which at times plays an excellent brand of football, can cave in so spectacularly when they go 2 goals down. Surely Roberto Martinez has to say to his chairman that the club’s transfer policy has to change immediately. For me the chairman Dave Whelan has a part to play in the clubs transfer policy of buying young raw talent and then selling it on for profit. The team is woefully short of experience in all areas of the pitch and it is really beginning to show.

I’m not one of those people who thinks teams like Wigan shouldn’t be in the Premiership. They got there on merit and despite crowds being the lowest on average in the Premiership, the club rightly deserved it’s place in the top tier. Worryingly though, the club is beginning to haemorrhage supporters. The average of 17,884 last season has already fallen this year by 2,500, despite Blackpool and Chelsea selling their allocations of 4,200. The home fans are leaving in droves, the attendance fell by 1600 between those two game alone.

I appreciate in this day and age that some clubs need to be prudent with the finances but Whelan’s policy of selling every asset has had a detrimental effect on the side. Last year the club made a net profit of £25 million in transfer activity with the Valencia and Palacios deals alone coming to £28 million. Financially, it is excellent business but it has left a team completely bereft of any expeirence and guts. When the chips are down, Wigan simply fold time and again.

It is crushing to watch this side get taken apart so easily. The game against Blackpool must have been humiliating for Latics fans to stomach as they should have and could have lost by more. The performance improved markedly against Chelsea, but once again the game ran away for them and towards the end, certain players stopped trying. With the clubs player of the year, Charles N’Zogbia now wanting to leave, the club is sliding away already.

The transfer window is shutting on Tuesday and Martinez has tried to bring in some experience at the back, with Steven Caldwell joing brother Gary, but the team is crying out for more nous throughout its ranks. Martinez impressed people with his achievements at Swansea City but he is seemingly carrying the weight of financial responsibility at Wigan to the extreme. Whelan has to realise that fans will not come to watch their team get hammered week in and week out.

No-one is saying that they have to go out and spend stupid amounts of money, but they are in free-fall. Something needs to be done to help Martinez out. No one is in any doubt that without Dave Whelan, Wigan Athletic would not be in the Premiership. Of that there is no doubt, but at this rate they’ve only got 8 months left as a Premiership club and as Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Sheffield United and others can testify, it’s a damn sight harder to get back in to it once you fall out.
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Well Liverpool have certainly continued where last season finished for them, despite the removal of the dismal Rafa Benitez. Now, I’m not going to lie to you, I simply couldn’t stand Benitez, his abysmal tactics and his continual blaming of everyone else for his own failings. I don’t care about two fortunate cup victories that are now history. Yes the victory in Istanbul was amazing, but it is over 5 years ago and under Benitez Liverpool never came close to matching it again.

What has astounded me is that with Benitez having clearly lost the dressing room towards the end of last season, even the arrival of Roy Hodgson cannot paper over the cracks in this Liverpool squad. Hopelessly weak in areas it used to excel in, players shuffled about to try and make do and an attack so lightweight it looked made of paper. This is the worst Liverpool squad in 15 years, no question about it.

What may have gone unnoticed by Premiership fans was Hodgson’s statement last week about his attempts to re-sign Sami Hyypia from Bayer Leverkusen. That statement made me sit up and take notice, why on earth was he trying to resign a 36 year old centre half. On closer inspection, Hodgson wanted to bring him back as a player coach and then have him as Assistant Manager from next season.  Leverkusen wouldn’t budge and so Hodgson will have to wait at least 9 months to bring him in.

Tonight’s performance wasn’t awful, despite the scoreline, it was underwhelming and Liverpool looked leggy. What does concerns me is the whirlwind of rubbish that now swirls above Liverpool Football Club on a seemingly daily basis. Mascherano allegedly refused to play against Manchester City, the owners wanting not just ridiculous, but utterly stupid amounts of money for a club they’ve effectively bankrupted. A fan base determined to run the owners out of town and quite rightly in my opinion. A Stadium that has never made it off the drawing board. City pulled Liverpool to bits tonight at times without really playing that well. Couple this with some performances on the tail end of last season and it reminded me of the last time a Liverpool squad looked this thin on quality. Under Graeme Souness, Liverpool had become a shadow of a side within 3 years, struggling to qualify for the UEFA Cup as it was then, never mind the Champions League. All of Benitez’s acolytes constantly pointed to the lack of funds he had to work with but by god he bought some rubbish with what he had and let better players go. Hodgson is seemingly stuck with a unbalanced squad.

This position should be Hodgson’s chance to finally show people what he can do at a major English club but he’s caught between a rock and hard place. There are some less enlightened people out on the Internet tonight wanting Hodgson sacked. I think you can write what they know about football on the back of a postage stamp then. I’m stumped as to how Liverpool can pull themselves out of this slump, I really am. The owners are determined to hang on against all opponents to try and make a fortune they do not deserve.

What can the fans do? It’s like shouting in a vacuum to get Hicks and Gillett to listen at all it seems. Their arrogance and rank stupidity is up there with Mike Ashley’s first few months in charge of Newcastle. The general idea for this season was try and stabilise the club at worst yet it looks on face value as if that may be a tall order. All is not lost though, Torres is clearly still finding his feet, Joe Cole’s suspension hasn’t helped, the lack of a fit left back weakens the side.The striking options almost non-existent.

Despite the nationalities of Hicks and Gillett, which shouldn’t matter one jot as towards the running of the club, Liverpool are standing on a precipice. Stunts like burning the American flag are distasteful at best, anti-American songs make some protesters look like knuckle dragging buffoons and trying to incite anti-Semite abuse is simply abhorrent. They are falling behind teams they should be ahead of as Manchester City and Tottenham try to fill the gap they’ve left at the top table. Be angry at the situation, not the nationality.

Leaving the situation to fester much longer could see Liverpool facing a real struggle to keep up with the Europa League candidates, never mind the top 4. With just over 7 days until the transfer window shut, the club faces a real battle to bring in any quality to shore up this weak squad, never even contemplate the club being sold in time to end the disastrous reign of the Kop Football Holdings. The fans will hoping for a miracle in a time frame that seems like a fantasy at best.

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So William Gallas joins a very rare club indeed of players that have swapped Arsenal for Tottenham. I was stating the same to a friend the other day that I can’t remember it happening in my lifetime as a Spurs fan, for me it’s unique. I’ve seen it happen the other way twice, Pat Jennings moved to Arsenal after being shamelessly treated by the Tottenham board and I can’t quite remember the other one, some central defender or other.

Either way, moving to a rival club without the usual space somewhere else in between is highly unusual. Carlos Tevez completely misunderstood Manchester United fans by choosing to go to City. He didn’t think they’d be that bothered,  but when you add a billionaire and a loud mouthed chief executive, things change. Nick Barmby was also surprised by the vitriol from Everton fans after he sauntered across Stanley Park to join Liverpool. Ashley Cole virtually created the Chelsea/Arsenal rivalry single handed!

It’s still a fairly rare event in the modern era of hyperbole and spectacle that we call the Premiership these days. On Friday, Sky Sports seemed rather disappointed that Arsenal fans were not sending in death threats and Spurs fans seemed fairly relaxed about it. As controversial transfers go, this is not one of the bitterest ones, it’s hardly up there with Mo Johnstone or Luis Figo.

It’s interesting just how strangely people react to such transfers but see nothing wrong with doing it themselves in normal life. People will usually leave one company to join a rival one for better wages, sometimes they will leave a partner for one their friends for various reasons, sometimes they will want to get as far away from where they grew up as they could. Yet, leave your beloved football club for your bitterest rivals, it becomes simply unforgivable.

The emotive ties we have to our football clubs simply makes it an unforgivable act, something that is simply beyond the pale. Personally I think it’s a canny signing by Redknapp, who seems stuck between a rock and a hard place in the transfer market this summer. Clearly he has a set of targets, but everything depends on Wednesday nights result against Young Boys of Berne. Certain players will simply not entertain the thought of playing for a team that is not in the Champions League, unless you can offer them £200,000 a week like Manchester City are doing at the moment.

Gallas has certainly managed to avoid too much flak over the transfer but no doubt if he plays in the first North London derby of the season on November 21st will of course be booed. That is to be expected and I doubt he can even contemplate the furore that greeted Luis Figo’s visit to the Nou Camp as a Real Madrid player. The sight of a pigs head landing near him as he went to take a corner is still one of the strangest sites I’ve ever seen at a football match.

What does have me scratching my head is trying to think of any similar transfers where the player involved didn’t get any stick. Did Alan Smith survive after leaving Leeds to join Manchester United? As I mentioned before, Pat Jennings didn’t get any stick when Spurs shipped him out, the fans realised it was the board and not the player. Have I missed anyone who left a side to join their rivals with best wishes? Leave me your thoughts and points below.

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The World Cup in 2010 will go down in history for a few things. Vuvuzela’s, The first World Cup in Africa, England’s abysmal showing, Germany’s bright future, Netherlands awful tactics and the Spanish proving they are the best side in the world. Yet one other event for me outshone them all. The French camps implosion in to cliques, strike action and mole’s leaking information to the press.

Yesterday, every single member of the World Cup squad was put on suspension for the next match, a friendly against Norway on August 18th though most of them will return for the European Championship qualifiers that begin in September. It is a bold statement by the new manager, Laurent Blanc, but something had to be done, though the previous manager, Raymond Domenech is hardly an innocent in all this.

Domenech was universally disliked by the French media and public and I was surprised after the Euro 2008 debacle that he didn’t lose his job then. IN an interview after the tournament many people tuned in to see him resign, instead he proposed to his girlfriend. A man who picked the squad based on astrology was always going to be on shaky ground. The team struggled through qualification and of course there was the now infamous handball incident that tarnished the team, the manager and of course Thierry Henry. It was a millstone that ultimately broke the squad’s strength, they simply couldn’t deal with the bad press that came of it.

Even during the World Cup group stage draw, in the run through before the draw started properly, Oscar winning actress Charlize Theron, on drawing France’s name from the pot, announced “IRELAND” to rapturous applause from the crowd. From that moment on, the scene was set, everyone wanted the French to fail. It was a wall of negativity the team could never clamber over and the World Cup was 12 days of hell for everyone involved.

The 7 Premiership players who were part of that squad are all now unavailable though Samir Nasri will be glad he missed out and should return to the squad from here on in. The question is how can those players recover from the emotional and damaging campaign positively. Often, poor performances in a summer tournament can often lead to players wanting to hit the ground running when a new domestic season starts.

Yet the whole strike debacle, the Anelka argument, the trainer storming off the ground and throwing his accreditation in to the bushes only served to make everyone who wished the French ill highly delighted. Throw in the ongoing prostitute story and all of a sudden you have a lot of Irish fans invoking Karma! Coupled with the dreadful performances in all 3 matches and the players involved could suffer something of a post World Cup hangover.

William Gallas has still to find a club after his contract expired with Arsenal, Anelka’s reputation has never been very positive throughout his career. Patrice Evra, outed as ringleader has seen his normally cool exterior sullied and the Arsenal trio of Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Abou Diaby must have wondered what on earth they’d let themselves in for. At least they don’t still play in the French League, so they can be spared the reception that will meet some of their international colleagues.

It will be interesting to see how Arsene Wenger, Carlo Ancelotti and Alex Ferguson pick these players up and get them fired and ready for the new season.

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Every bookmaker and betting shop in the UK has them as firm favourites to go down, fans of other clubs are simply marking 6 points down for the two fixtures they have against them and the club are rushing to get temporary standing ready for the third game of the season as the opening day match has been switched to Wigan Athletic to allow them more time to complete the work. Football snobs don’t want teams like Blackpool in the Premiership, but they got promoted because they deserved it.

Of course clubs such as Blackpool, Wigan, Stoke, Bolton and Blackburn will always be looked down upon. Certain people will often point to attendances and performances and claim these clubs have no right to be in the top flight. Yet, all of them are here on merit, they didn’t win a raffle to gain promotion. All suffer from public relation assassination in sections of the media, because they’re classed at little clubs who diminish the Premiership brand.

Whilst clubs with much larger fanbases, such as Leeds United, Sheffield United, Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday are in the lower leagues, there are reasons for that. It’s not bad luck, it’s not unfortunate. All of them lost their Premiership places through bad decisions, poor management and boardroom suicide. They all deserved relegation, its a harsh reality but it’s true.

Blackpool know that everyone outside of Bloomfield Road seems them as cannon fodder, though a similar train of thought may have been there last season. They were heavily tipped to go down out of the Championship last season as were Scunthorpe and Barnsley and none of them did. No-one of course, apart from the most optimistic of Blackpool fans could have envisaged a situation that occurred, but promotion was achieved and that is that.

The club have absolutely nothing to lose and Holloway said after the Play-Off final victory that this promotion could be the making of the club. They’ve suddenly found themselves with £100 million on their doorsteps, an unimaginable figure for such a club that nearly went of business 25 years ago. For them, regardless of the results, being a Premiership side has completely changed the clubs future from hoping to get by to being able to do everything they never thought they could.

Holloway wants to completely rebuild the clubs infrastructure to support its future. He knows that he cannot spend millions on players because some players and agents will simply not give them the time of day. He will be scouring the free agent lists and looking to Championship clubs to see what he can get to strengthen the club and get value for money. Frittering it away on stupid wages for players who don’t care what happens is not they way they are going. Blackpool can now write their own future free of worrying. Having a player of the calibre of Charlie Adam can only help the cause.

Of course they face a massive task ahead to keep themselves in the league, but so what. They can’t let the pressure, the odds and the snobbery get to them. They need to simply go out and enjoy the experiences, everyone thinks they’ll get hammered every week, so why play with fear. The squad can relax and play football and give it 100% knowing that every point will be a very important and proud achievement for the fans, the club and the manager. No guts, no glory.

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After the disastrous conclusion to the 2008-09 season saw Newcastle fall in to the Championship, the only conclusion they wanted to last season was promotion. No other result was acceptable and the club cantered over the finish line as April began. A complete reversal of fortune from the doldrums the club went through prior to its relegation, The Magpies breezed to the title in imperious form.

With a squad with the quality of players such as Kevin Nolan, Steve Harper and Jose Enrique, they were always going to be favourites to return. Avoiding the perils of stagnation or losing large chunks of their squad to Premiership clubs, Newcastle were able to use the pain of relegation as a driving force for redemption.

Placing the quiet and softly spoken Chris Hughton as manager paid dividends for the club. As a player he’d played in some major matches for both club and country but last season was surely the pinnacle of his professional career so far. 102 points amassed, a goal difference of +55, unbeaten at home and only 4 defeats in the league. It was an impressive campaign from start to finish and 4 players, Nolan, Enrique, Carroll and Coloccini were all chosen in the Championship Team of the season. To top it off, Hughton was voted the Championship manager of the season too.

A more reflective sense of perspective seems to have descended on St. James Park this summer, as the club reflect on the forthcoming Premiership season. Transfer wise only two fairly low key signings have arrived, James Perch, the utility player from Nottingham Forest and Dan Gosling who has walked on Everton through a transfer loophole. Gosling is likely to be unavailable until at least Christmas as he recovers from a cruciate ligament injury.

It’s certainly not the usual hubbub of transfer action that we expect from the North East, but it seems lessons have been learnt from previous recruitment drives. My only concern is the lack of strength up front, though Andy Carroll certainly cemented a consistency that added to the expectations that had been laid upon him. The Newcastle fans love nothing more than one of their own leading the line and Carroll continues a tradition that goes back all the way to Jackie Milburn and beyond. Niall Ranger could also be another rough diamond that needs a polish up.

The majority of the squad know all about the Premiership, so for a promoted side it is unusual for them to not look towards major surgery. Getting Joey Barton fully fit and concentrating solely on football would be like signing a new player, such were the issues that over took his career in the last couple of years. There is top level experience running throughout the squad and Hughton knows that will be vital to keeping Newcastle up. Adding a few more bargains to strengthen the squad should be the main transfer aim before the deadline comes down.

Forget crazy ideas of finishing in the top ten, this club needs to concentrate on re-establishing itself in the Premiership before anything else comes to mind. No doubt Sky Sports will be scouring the town to look for the over optimistic nutters they only ever use when discussing Newcastle United who will be banging on about European qualification, but most Geordies know that stability and consolidation are the key words to any success, anything above 18th is all they need to worry about.

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Manchester City are continuing to flex their muscles in the transfer market with another massive signing looking set to join the club shortly. Aston Villa has confirmed that Milner has asked to leave them to join Manchester City and the club have agreed as long as City can match the valuation. Martin O’Neill, quite rightly has no intention of standing in Milner’s way knowing that he wants to leave and not wanting a protracted situation such as the Gareth Barry fiasco from 2008.

Of course the situation is very different but O’Neill realises the futility in keeping an unhappy player who could bring in upwards of £20 million in to Villa Park to strengthen the rest of the team. By looking to cash in on their most saleable asset, O’Neill is putting the club before anything else right now. Next season looks set to be the tightest Premiership race since it began with the Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal now realising that Manchester City and Tottenham will be up there again and Everton seemingly avoiding the usual summer injury crisis.

Add to that the fact that Liverpool can’t be any worse than last year and already shipping out the dead wood of the Benitez reign and of course Villa and you have 8 teams who could realistically be closer than ever before. Villa realise that to have any chance of even standing still, decisions like this have to be made for the long term benefit of the club.

It’s always disappointing when a player leaves you for what you consider at the least a rival side, but such is the financial muscle of City now, Villa simply need to get the very best deal they can to enable the team to better without Milner. Sometimes it’s hard to contemplate that you have to sell a great player to make the team better but sometimes you just have to do that. Martin O’Neill has been around long enough to know what he has to do to make Villa better.

City though are beginning to stockpile talent at an alarming rate, though yet to sign a truly world class player to push them into the bracket of Europe’s elite clubs just yet. They are now beginning to enter a second phase of replacing the players they signed to push them up the table with ones they feel can push them into the top 4. As last season proved, that was easier said than done and all the predictions were that Manchester City would replace Arsenal as one of the top four.

We now know that situation didn’t come to pass and it was Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool that swapped positions and City have shown a ruthless streak in strengthening an already good side with some interesting and inspired signings. The left side of the team looks set for a complete overhaul, with Silva and Kolarov coming in to join the January sigining Adam Johnson. Yaya Toure has come in to strengthen the midfield and Jerome Boateng who showed such adaptability and skill during the World Cup for Germany now looks a snip at £10.5 million.

Milner’s signing would take the clubs spending to over the £100 million mark this close season and with several players looking set to leave Manchester City, it seems that the club will be looking for another 2 or 3 players to bring in before the transfer deadline window shuts on August 31st. Perhaps it is this overhaul of the City playing staff that O’Neill may use to his advantage and look to bring in someone surplus to Roberto Mancini’s plans to strengthen Villa. One thing is certain, James Milner will be wearing sky blue come the opening day fixture at White Hart Lane.

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So it’s official, Martin Jol will not be leaving the Dutch giants of Ajax to take over at Craven Cottage. Despite Fulham’s courting of the likable Jol, Ajax’s chief executive Rick van den Boog flew back to deal with the situation. Jol had agreed a contract in principle but after discussions, decided to stay in Amsterdam. What did surprise me about the whole situation was just how bad the financial situation has become for a club with the history, stature and standing of Ajax.

Fulham of course now find themselves in a situation of not having a manager with just over 3 weeks until the new Premiership season begins. The success of Roy Hodgson’s tenure has made it an attractive position and the way the team has performed in the last two seasons gives all Fulham fans hope that the good work can continue.

The question now is, who will Fulham turn to. I must admit, I was surprised they went after Jol, not because I don’t rate him, I think he’s a cracking manager who was treated disgustingly by Tottenham Hotspur back in 2007. No one at Tottenham who was involved in that debacle can be proud of how it turned out. Jol, of course, had the last laugh as Juande Ramos’ disastrous reign ended in just under a year with the club rooted to the foot of the Premiership and sinking like a stone.

Going after Jol was a real bolt from the blue so it isn’t easy to point to who the club will turn to now. Their are several high profile candidates currently out of work and most notably Sven Goran-Eriksson has already stated his interest in the post. Despite his desperate love letter to the Liverpool board, it could be replacing the man who got the job he wanted that gives him a way back in to the Premiership. Eriksson was also harshly treated by his previous domestic employers Manchester City, so he would be keen to get back quickly.

Unfortunately, his positions since leaving the City of Manchester Stadium have hardly extended his reputation, with a dreadful spell in charge in Mexico and an underwhelming spell looking after the Ivory Coast. Yet Fulham do have a reputation of being quite left field with managerial appointments. With Kevin Keegan, Jean Tigana, Chris Coleman, Lawrie Sanchez and then Roy Hodgson, none were expected to take the reins but did so with varying levels of success.

Craven Cottage has seen such progress over the last two years under Hodgson that any new manager could have to deal with raised expectations. A highest Premiership finish in 2008-09 was followed by a wonderful run to the final of the Europa League which could not have been anywhere near the expectations of the fans two years ago. A nucleus of a fine footballing side, filled with experienced, talented players has made Fulham more than just another London club.

Following Hodgson is of course going to be a hard act to follow, but the quality of the playing staff, a lovely ground on the banks of the Thames and renewed sense of belief in the stands makes it a very attractive club right now. The new manager will have plenty of tools at his disposal to continue the upward progression of the last two seasons and fans will be disappointed over Jol’s decision to stay in the Netherlands. The club, in choosing to court Jol showed a desire to continue that and the future looks very bright for the Cottagers.

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There is a current malaise effecting almost everyone in England that follows the national side, from fans, retailers, journalists and TV executives. The finger of blame is being pointed fairly equally between Fabio Capello and the highly paid, highly hyped and self important members of the squad. Ashley Cole, despite being the only first team regular who can honestly hold his head high after the South Africa debacle, is now being accused of hating his country due to text messages apparently sent prior to the tournament.

Yet there are two points that are seemingly being papered over and as long as it continues, England will continue to regress. Firstly is the ineptitude of the Football Association and the second is the quality of coaching in England. The F.A. board, when it’s not embroiling itself in comedy crisis that are usually self inflicted is a strange beast. Made up of a set of people who’s only interest is themselves and self protection, it is a collection of administrators and people who have progressed through the amateur ranks of the game.

On the 12 man board are 4 members from the County associations, representing those hotbeds of English football, Kent, Hampshire, Gloucesteshire and Essex. One member represents the Scottish football association, for reasons lost on me and 7 other members who have never played football at a decent level. This apparently means these people, who other than working on the administration side of football, are in charge of the English game, its infrastructure, its future and it’s present. An organisation that spent £760 million on a football stadium without a roof and a pitch that has now been relaid 13 times in 3 years. That has had 6 Chief Executives in 12 years and seen 6 different national team managers in the same period. That signed up to a £450 million pound television deal that lasted 18 months until Setanta went bust and treats the Women’s game with utter disdain. Apparently, this is without criticism as they survey the wreckage of South Africa 2010 from the ivory tower of Soho Square.

Why do these people, who have no experience of the game, other than the money making side or administrating side of it, feel they can run the football side of it astounds me. It is beyond belief that people of the abilities of Bobby Robson, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Nat Lofthouse, Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney were not involved over the years is a disgrace. This is the organisation that shut the Lilleshall Football Academy in 1999 and is still stalling on its replacement, in Burton Upon Trent which is currently 7 years behind schedule and will apparently be open by 2012. No really it will.

These are apparently all things that we should ignore. Well I’m sorry, you can’t ignore them anymore. Every single one of them should resign immediately, they have created the situation that English football is beginning to feel to its very core. They have strangled the talent, the abilities and the opportunities for skillful, exciting footballers and left us with an academy system that simply produces strong athletes that can run a lot and now clearly cannot play football. It is a national disgrace and leads me to my second point, the quality of coaching.

English football coaching is run by a cabal of men who are obsessed with power, pace, stamina, heart, guts and determination above any technical ability. Skill and technical ability come well down the list of priorities in the coaching system in this country. I have seen this at 3 clubs with my own eyes, players are judged on how strong they are, how tall they are, how long they can run about for. I have been told by two separate football coaches at two clubs that British Asian kids don’t make good footballers because they’re not strong enough. There was no hint of irony or the racial connotations that the statement conjours up. The last great crop of really talented players that came through in English football came through before the academy system came in to destroy any semblance of talent. This country will never discover a Messi, a Ronaldo, a Totti, a Ribery because they would be classed as luxury players. They would never get through the academy system in this country because they are not giants who can run all day. England and its fans often claim that the national side has 5 or 6 World Class players. South Africa has proved that it has one and everyone seems to hate him, Ashley Cole.

Only Rio Ferdinand can possible be held up in Cole’s company now, the rest have been shown to be the overhyped, cossetted athletes honest people believed them to be. Yet, this is what the English coaching system has produced and I’ve seen so many posts, letters and status updates berating the English teams lack of fight, guts, effort, strength. Hardly anyone mentions technical ability or skill and that’s the problem. Fans seem to only judge a player on how much he runs about and gets stuck in. Not the sweet pass, not the dribble, not an ability to control the game.

The situation will not improve until the coaching system is completely changed from top to bottom, allows kids under 16 to play football and not worry about results in junior games. Talent needs to take the place of the winning at all costs method kids have to suffer from, the mad situation that sees 10 year old children playing 11 a side games on full sized pitches that resemble bogs most of the season. No wonder the English players natural defence is to simply learn how to kick high and hard as often as possible. That sees parents of children scream abuse at referees, coaches and opponents if little johnny is tackled or doesn’t score.

Of course, the F.A. will not install this blueprint and will try and fudge South Africa as an aberration. It is not, it is a stark warning to everyone involved in English football of the future. Blaming foreign players, Adidas balls, only playing 4 rounds of golf a week, too much camp discipline or dodgy referees will be put forward as the reason for the death of English football. English football needs major surgery now or South Africa will be the starting point of the end of English football. I fear that once again, the F.A. will blame everyone else but themselves and we will slip away into the shadows of world football.

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For some, the end of Rio Ferdinand’s World Cup also sent a blast across the bows of English hopes of winning the trophy. One of the squads truly great players being forced out simply weakens the side is the consensus, but me I’m not so disillusioned by the news. Yes it’s a blow and I feel dreadfully sorry for Ferdinand, but thankfully, England have something as good as to fall back on. Ledley King.

None of the waling from this England fan, no panic, no fear, no lack of conviction because I have the pleasure of watching King on a regular basis. He is my favourite Tottenham player in recent memory, a product of the Tottenham Hotspur youth system, a footballing diamond. Don’t give me the nonsense about his knee. King on one leg is better than most central defenders in Europe. Capello knows this, it’s why he’s wanted him as part of the squad since he took over as England manager. He knows how good Ledley King is and he knows he makes England stronger.

King is a freak of nature, the likes of which I’ve only ever come across once before in the form of the Irish colossus, Paul McGrath. Yet what a player he is, comfortable on the ball, strong in the air, dangerous at set pieces. Like McGrath before him, chronic knee problems curtail his training to a bare minimum. Yet there is, playing at the back for Spurs, slotting seamlessly back in. The club have had to tailor the tactics to suit him, fit the team around him, when his knee allows it, he plays. In a World Cup competition, the break between games gives him ample recovery time.

Yet, for all Kings problems, he looks after himself far better off the pitch than McGrath did. If I could ever recommend a book about football, Paul McGrath’s autobiography would be it. It’s frightening he was able to play with damaged knees, never mind as a chronic alcoholic as well. King, Carling Cup winning celebrations apart, tends to keep himself in good condition. He has to, he needs to, his body can’t be allowed to slip away from the conditioning he uses in his training.

People forget back in Euro 2004, King came in for the injured John Terry for his competitive England debut against France and was immense. He then played as a substitute in midfield against Croatia and calmed the team down.  He was a shoe in for the 2006 World Cup until a metatasal injury ruled him out of the tournament. Then his injury problems began and here we are 4 years later facing the fact that King will be playing.

With only 68 league appearances since 2006, it is nothing short of amazing that he is here, ready to put his body on the line for his country when it needs him. Do not underestimate Ledley King or suspect him to be a weak spot in the English defence. He only needs to play against USA and Algeria and help England try and gain maximum points. 6 points there will be enough to see him rested against Slovakia and saved for the second round game. The way the tournament has fallen, he could effectively play one game every 5 or 6 days, just enough recovery time and play every match bar the 3rd group game.

Yet, in Tottenham’s final 3 matches, he started all 3 in 8 days. The first time he had done so in nearly 3 years and that alone stands as a testament to the man. No training, no tactical practice, he simply keeps fit and plays, it’s an astounding achievement.England have only lost one competitive game when he’s played out of 12 and he can partner John Terry without breaking a sweat. That kind of record speaks for itself, great players can slot in as when required and there is no doubt that King is indeed a great player.

For Scotland fans, there is one goal above all others than stands alone as a probably the best goal they’ve ever scored in a World Cup. In fact, lets be honest, it’s one of the best goals scored by any team at a World Cup. It’s certainly one of my favourite goals in the tournaments history. Argentina 1978 had been something of a disaster for the Scottish side, who had gone to the finals in Argentina with high hopes.

During English football’s dark days of failure, Scotland carried British hopes in both the 1974 and 1978 and on both occasions failed to progress from the group stages due to goal difference. Yet despite the disappointment, Gemmill’s goal stands out as a moment of pure football genius on every level.

The Scottish manager at the time, Ally MacLeod had fuelled the hopes of the Tartan Army by insisting his side could come home with a medal but as soon as they arrived in Argentina things began to unravel. The side were on a positive wave, created by beating England at Wembley in 1977, snapped crossbars and pitch invasions et al as they won the British Home Championships.

The first group game saw them face Peru and come unstuck when faced with the majestic talent of Cubillas. Despite taking the lead, Peru pegged them back and then Don Masson saw a penalty saved before Cubillas hit two goals to help the Peruvians to a 3-1 win. After the game Willie Johnston tested positive for a banned substances. Despite the fact is was a simple hay fever remedy, it was enough to engulf the team in a doping scandal. No bitterness from the English press there then eh!

Johnston was sent home in disgrace and the team lurched into the next game, against Iran. Once again, Scotland took the lead but couldn’t hold on and Iran levelled, if anything unfortunate to not win the match. The pictures of MacLeod slumped in his dug out, head in hands summed up the mood of the nation. How could it all go so wrong? Simply, they underestimated the opposition and paid the price.

The final group game saw the Scots face the dynamic Dutch and needed to win by 3 clear goals to have any chance of qualifying for the next round. After the two previous games, they were expected to be lambs to the slaughter. An early goal for the Netherlands, through Resenbrink seemed to be an opening of the flood gates, but Scotland rallied. Kenny Dalglish equalised to go into half time level.

Gemmill then got his first goal of the game, replacing Masson as the penalty taker and slotted one home to put them 2-1 up. Yet, it was his second goal and Scotland’s third that will live long in the memory. The Scottish newspaper, The Scotsman described it thus: “In 68 minutes, however, Scotland went 3–1 up when Archie Gemmill scored one of the great goals of this World Cup so far. The little midfield player homed in on goal, played a magnificent one-two with Dalglish then sprinted into the box and thumped a glorious goal past Jongbloed to revive all the hopes which had died the death this past fortnight. It was an extraordinary goal and an extraordinary moment. Suddenly Scotland were dreaming of glory again”

Of course, it was not to be, Rep scored a screamer to make it 3-2 and whilst the Scots held on for a famous victory, they went out once again on goal difference. A tournament that promised so much, finished with disappointment again. So near, yet so far and Scotland would have to move onwards and upward. The goal became a central point in Trainspottingwhich saw it moved from being the sole love of Scotland fans, to a worthy mention as one of the best goals in the competitions history.

Gemmill’s career saw him play for Derby County, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City amongst others as well as playing in the USA for the Jacksonville Team Men in 1982. A delightful passer of the ball, he was a tricky midfield play-maker who got his fair share of goals. Currently the manager of the Scottish Under 19’s team, he is a popular speaker on the after dinner circuit, as anyone who spent so long working under Brian Clough could never be short of an anecdote or too. So all hail, Archie Gemmill, scorer of one the greatest World Cup goals ever and certainly Scotlands best.

Please leave  me your comments below and you can follow me at http://twitter.com/paulbestall

The Molineux faithful can be pleased with the efforts of their team last season on returning to the Premiership under Mick McCarthy. With plans afoot to increase the stadium to a 50,000 capacity, things are looking brighter for Wolves across the board. Now, McCarthy has begun to strengthen the side to continue progressing upwards and onwards. Two major signings have come in and I have to say I’m impressed with both of them.

Equalling the club record signing of the industrious Kevin Doyle, is Steven Fletcher from Burnley. I thought Fletcher had an excellent season for the Clarets, in what was a tough learning curve for both himself and the club. Wolves, for all the industry and opportunities they created, struggled for goals. With just 32 goals in the Premiership they were the lowest scorers in the league, which considering they finished 15th, is remarkable.

It was crucial that they strengthened the options they had upfront and with Fletcher already having one season under his belt, it made sense to go for someone who knows the league. Added to that, surely Sylvan Ebanks-Blake can’t have as disappointing a season as last year. It was surprising that he struggled so much in front of goals. I appreciate he missed pre-season, which can have a massive effect, but he still has a nose for goal.

The signing of Jelle Van Damme is an inspired signing in my opinion, he’s really looked a top quality player these last two or three seasons at Anderlecht. Belgium seem to have a crop of really talented players coming through again, which I’m pleased to see. They’ve really struggled internationally the last decade or so and European football is the duller for that. With Anderlecht and Standard Leige bringing a good crop of youngsters through, Van Damme is one of the more experienced of the crop.

He’s already played in the Premiership, all be it for Southampton, spent a year in the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen and has now been playing regular Champions League football with De Paars-Wit. He can only strengthen the Wolves defence across the board and Wolves fans should be pleased with this aquisition. McCarthy and Jez Moxey, the Chief Executive should be applauded for moving in to the transfer marker so quickly and quietly. No fuss, no messing about, they’ve chosen their targets and gone and signed them without playing fantasy football in the media.

With both players being signed nice and early they can get a full preseason under the belt with their new team-mates and ease the intergration in to a new side and set up. Since Steve Morgan took over at Wolves, they have continued to progress steadily and positively. No going mad and chasing a financial dream that weighs the club with debt here. The club simply go about business quietly and considerately.

It’s a long way since the days of Mark McGhee whining every week in the late 1990’s and a trail of big name managers that simply couldn’t cut the mustard. Liverpool fans must sometimes wonder what would have happened if Morgans attempt to invest in the club wasn’t blocked at every turn by David Moores. Moores clearly didn’t like Morgan, but for someone who claimed to only care about Liverpool’s future, Moores must take a large portion of the blame in regards to the chaos that surrounds Liverpool.

Wolves fans will not care one jot about Liverpool, the club is riding the crest of a positive wave and the things continue to move onwards and upwards for one of English footballs most famous names. Good luck to them and long may it continue.

Please leave  me your comments below and you can follow me at http://twitter.com/paulbestall

So it seems the end is drawing close for Rafa Benitez at Anfield, with reports all over the place pointing to the Liverpool owners offering Benitez £3 million to leave immediately. Quite what has happened to bring Liverpool lurching in to another crisis so soon after the season has ended is unsure, but for me, he’s been under pressure ever since he guaranteed the club would finish 4th back in January.

That at the time looked a long shot as Liverpool huffed and puffed there way through turgid performance after turgid performance. Even the most biased Liverpool fans were unsure if it was attainable but come the May 9th, the club had crashed from almost winning the Premiership in 2008-2009, to almost not qualifying for Europe in 12 months. No doubt it was all Sir Alex Ferguson or referee’s fault. At the moment the Daily Mirror are claiming he’s actually been sacked, most of the other stories are saying he’s been asked to leave.

Now, I’ll be honest, I simply didn’t think the club would see sense and try to get rid of him. I’m sick of the apologists blaming the board for Liverpool’s problems. It’s a phony war, it doesn’t cover the fact that Benitez has spent so badly, so consistently over the 6 years he’s been at Anfield. Yes, the board are culpable for some of the problems, but it doesn’t cover the fact he has sold 34 of the 77 players he has signed. Almost half, that is a frightening amount, that is probably the worst turn over of a manager at a club in the modern era.

The club are not in a position to sack him due to the financial situation, Gerrard and Torres are being linked with clubs, Mascherano wants to leave for family reasons, Benayoun is on the verge of joining Chelsea. Transfer targets have now had to be downgraded from Champions League players to Europe League targets. Yet for all that, people still go on about that night in Istanbul. 5 years ago. Or winning the F.A. Cup on penalties against a newly promoted West Ham side. 4 years ago.

This is a club on the edge of the precipice, financially and football wise. Last summer I wrote that Aston Villa had more chance of winning the Premiership than Liverpool and was roundly castigated by Reds fans who thought I meant Villa would win the league. I didn’t, I meant Aston Villa had more chance of winning the Premiership than Liverpool. As it turned out, they finished higher in the table but neither of them had a chance of troubling the top end of the table.I just thought Liverpool had no chance of winning the title.

This is a manager who sold Liverpool’s best prospect in years, Stephen Warnock to Blackburn and then replaced him with abysmal left back after abysmal left back. Warnock’s career has continued to blossom since his departure and is developing in to one of the leagues best left backs. This is a manager who spent the summer of 2008 trying to flog Xabi Alonso and then whined all summer 2009 when Alonso told him he wanted to leave. Then replaced him with an injury prone midfielder who he then seemed to fall out with. Outstanding.

The only people I imagine who will be sad to see Benitez go are anyone who supports anyone else in the top eight. Of course there will be plenty of Liverpool fans, still blinded by the amazing comeback in 2005, unable to see just how far the club have fallen since that night who will be distraught. I don’t understand it. If Liverpool had won the league in 2008-2009, for me they would have been the worst Premiership title winners since the league started in 1992 and probably the worst league winners in nearly 30 years since Villa won it in 1981.

I won’t fall into this trap of speculating who’ll replace him, but I don’t doubt CV’s will be whizzing themselves to Anfield as we speak. I doubt anyone else, apart from Graeme Souness, could make a worse job of it than Benitez has the last 4 seasons, 2008-09’s second place excluded. The added bonus is the club have Kenny Dalglish there to steady the ship in the current climate and that alone will make sure the club will move onwards away from Benitez’s dire tactics and referee baiting.

Leave me your comments below and you can always find me on http://twitter.com/paulbestall

So you may now recognise him as the head of U.E.F.A. and the man that moved the Champions League from a Wednesday night to a Saturday night. What you may not know is that Platini, for 3 or 4 years, was the best player in the world. A fabulous midfield play-maker of the highest level, Platini could destroy teams on his own when he was in the mood. The French side of the early 1980’s was a fabulous flowing football machine that perhaps should have won a World Cup but for one problem. West Germany.

Both in 1982 and 1986, France got to the semi-finals of the World Cup and both times they failed to get past West Germany. In between those semi-final heartbreaks, the French had won Euro 84 on home soil and were one of the best sides in the world. Platini’s artistry on the ball saw his country achieve heights they hadn’t matched for nearly 50 years but they fell short when it really mattered. During this period the French midfield were known as the “magic square”.

The only real issue the French had was the lack of a top quality striker and the teams tactics were designed to allow Platini to switch from midfield play-maker to centre forward with ease. It seems odd these days, but it sometimes falls that a country simply miss a player of real ability in a particular position for years. England had problems with both full back positions in the last few years but it was probably the lack of a top quality striker that held the French back on the world stage.

Of course, psychologically, West Germany had the Indian sign over the French especially after the horrific Schumacher challenge on Patrick Battison in the 1982 semi-final and whilst they were 3-1 up in that game, in 1986, the Germans never let them have a sniff at goal and won 2-0. Platini would join the ranks of players who never managed to win the World Cup despite being probably the best player in the world and is also in a select band of players that scored in 3 different World Cups, 1978, 1982 and 1986.

Platini was such a beautiful player, he never looked rushed whenever he was in possession. World Class players always seem to have so much time on the ball, but that’s what separates them from the rest. They just have that something else that allows them to achieve more than their contemporaries. Platini, for a midfielder scored so many goals and is currently France’s second highest international goalscorer, with 41 which he looks likely to hang on to for some considerable time.

His club career as well saw him leave the confines of the French League, after playing with AS Nancy and St. Etienne, to join Juventus in 1982 and he continued to deliver excellence after a difficult first 5 months in Italy. Playing in tandem with the Polish maestro Zbigniew Boniek who also joined the same year, Juventus were a force of football throughout the mid-1980’s. Under a youthful Giovanni Trapattoni, Juventus challenged for titles both at home and abroad, all built on the abilities of Platini.

Ironically, when Zidane retired immediately after the 2006 World Cup, it reminded me of when Platini bowed out in 1987, still only 32. No fuss, no real reasons, they’d just had enough of the game. Yet for the last 15 years, Platini has climbed the ladder in Eurpean football since being involved in running the 1998 World Cup and has been head of UEFA for 3 years now. From the footballing king of Europe in the 1980’s to the ruler of European football is some ride, but Platini never turned away from hard-work and dedication. A true World Cup legend of the modern age.

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It’s been one of the worst kept secrets in English football, but it’s official now that Jermaine Beckford has completed his free transfer to Everton. Leeds had cancelled his contract on Friday which is an unusual step. Regardless of the fact a player has agreed to join another club, clubs usually keep the registration until the very last day of the contract. Often this runs until June 30th but both parties seemed to agree to part the ways earlier than required.

Questions are liable to raised in regards to Beckford’s abilities, as he’s jumped 2 divisions after firing the goals that helped return Leeds United to the Championship. Yet taking a risk on such a player who has scored 85 goals in the last 3 seasons for Leeds is hardly risky. There’s no fee involved and the wages that Everton will be paying him will be more than he earned at Leeds but nowhere near the top end of Premiership players.

Beckford’s star has certainly been rising over the last few years, he struggled at Leeds after joing the club from Wealdstone in 2006, but he’s quickly become one of the most feared strikers in England outside of the Premiership. His goal at Old Trafford certainly gave him column inches world wide and made sure that people outside of the U.K. became aware of his potential. By joining Everton, he’s at a club that will give him the support and guidance he’ll need.

Moyes has been searching for more striking talent to back up his current crop of attacking options. No-one doubts the abilities of Louis Saha and Ayegbeni Yakubu but both are not getting younger. Saha has developed a reputation of being injury prone but has managed 68 appearances for Everton in the two years he’s been on Merseyside. Yakubu, for all his early promise at Portsmouth has found goals hard to come by since he joined up with the Toffees.

I’ve always thought troubled Everton for the last few years is the lack of depth in the striking department. They would usually have two first choice strikers, but then the back up would fall away. Victor Anichebe has struggled for goals when he’s had the opportunity of being giving a chance for Everton and James Vaughan seemingly suffers from a rotating knee injury that have blighted his early promise. Both have simply had some bad luck.

One thing Beckford will bring to the club is pace, he is lightening fast and he gives the striking options more weight. Moyes will be delighted to have captured him in face of some healthy competition and it increases the clubs options. As I mentioned earlier, people will point to his lack of Premiership experience, but sometimes you’ve got to take a risk on players. Some will relish the opportunities that will come their way and of course it will take time for Beckford to settle in to the top flight, but that’s only natural.

Everton will be hoping to avoid another slow start to the season which derailed an excellent campaign from being even better. Surely they’ll get the breaks they need next season and with one or two additional signings, they’ll be back up there again. No doubt, they’ll be also hoping to avoid a repeat of the Joleon Lescott transfer saga and strengthen a side that can consistently push into the Europa Cup qualifying places.

How do you think Beckford will do? Leave me your comments and you can find me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/paulbestall

Picture the scene, the World Cup is being displayed in London, as part of the build up to the country hosting the tournament that summer. A rare stamp auction is being held at Westminster Central Hall and the Jules Rimet trophy has pride of place as the centrepiece of the day. Yet, at some point on that Sunday afternoon, someone broke in to the case that was housing the trophy and stole it. The exhibition had only started 24 hours earlier on March 19th and the trophy had round the clock security.

It was a strange affair and despite someone claiming to have the trophy and would return it for a ransom of £15,000. Oddly, the trophy was only valued at £3,000 and when it was stolen, the thieves had ignored stamps worth over £3 million to take the Jules Rimet trophy. Over the next few days, leads and false alarms led the police in circles. Even when the career-criminal Edward Bletchley was arrested when claiming to be acting as a fence for the real thieves, the trophy still hadn’t resurfaced.

The F.A. had been sent the lining of the trophy, which was removable, but other than that the trail had gone cold. Blame was being fired at all corners and Scotland Yard had over 100 detectives working on the case. It was an embarrassment for all concerned and proved that the F.A. have always had an ability to create confusion and chaos for a lot longer than the recent World Cup bidding scandals.

One week later, David Corbett was taking his dog, Pickles, for his daily walk when the dog found a parcel under his owners hedge. Sniffing away, Corbett went over to see what Pickles had found and was shocked to discover the parcel was in fact the Jules Rimet trophy, wrapped with newspaper and tied up with string. Despite handing the trophy in at his nearest police station, Corbett was actually an early suspect but the suspicions proved false.

Pickles was thrust in to the mainstream and became the most famous dog in England for most of the year. Along with his owner, his picture appeared around the world and both of their lives changed forever. The trophy was returned to the F.A. in April and was kept under lock and key for the remainder of its stay in England. As a reward, Corbett received £6,000 from the F.A. which was an enormous sum of money for the day, enough to buy a large house at the time.

Of course, the rest of the tournament lives on long in the memory due to England’s victory that summer but the story didn’t finish in March for Corbett and Pickles. Both were invited to the England celebration dinner as guests of honour, receiving a standing ovation from the squad, manager Alf Ramsey and the F.A. Pickles was even given the honour of being able to lick all the plates clean after the reception and was spoilt rotten. Unfortunately, Pickles died the following year, but still 44 years on, his name is legendary in England in one of the strangest moments in World Cup history. Oddly, the trophy was stolen again in 1983, from the Brazilian F.A. and was never recovered.

It seems like only yesterday when Italia 1990 took place, probably the first World Cup that could honestly begin to claim it was a global spectacle. As if by magic, the Cameroon side that qualified for the 14th World Cup were able to explode all over the world and show people that African international football had arrived. It wasn’t that previous qualifiers from Africa hadn’t given a good account of themselves, Algeria in 1982 were cheated out of qualifying for the 2nd round. They’d just not been consistent throughout a tournament.

1990 changed all that almost immediately. The World Cup traditionally opened with the defending champions playing in the first game, and Italia 90 was no different. It was expected to be a turkey shoot, as Argentina faced Cameroon on June 8th in Turin. After 90 minutes, African football had come of age thanks to Omam-Biyik’s 67th minute header condemned the holders to a 1-0 defeat. It was a result that made football fans the world over sit up and take notice.

Other than the win, the game featured quite possibly one of my favourite ever tackles in a game of football. Suddenly, anything was possible and Cameroon would have an adventure that almost reached fairytale proportions. It would be the story of the 1990 World Cup and especially thanks to one player it would live on in the memory long after the finals had drawn to a close. Cameroon’s fantastic run was built on a foundation of pace, strength and the lethal finishing of a 38 year old journey man striker called Roger Milla.

Milla had been a striker of average talents that had plied his trade in the French First Division throughout the 1980’s but by 1989 had moved the the French island of Réunion to take up a post of player coach for St.Piere. His French club career had seen him play for Monaco, St. Etienne and Bastia amongst others, but had retired from international football. The country managed to talk him back for a 3rd World Cup and he was instrumental in the achievements throughout the World Cup.

After dispatching Argentina, Cameroon beat a well fancied Romanian side 2-1, with Milla getting both goals before a final defeat came against the Soviet Union 4-0. It mattered not, they finished top of the group, even with a negative goal difference, but found Colombia in the next round. To all intents and purposes, the dream would surely run out of steam against another South American side, but after 90 minutes the games was level at 0-0. Milla had come on as a substitute and they were hanging on.

Suddenly in the second half of extra time, Milla came alive, scoring 2 goals in 2 minutes, the second one that will haunt Rene Higuita, Colombia’s iconic goalkeeper for the rest of his life. He came sprinting from his goal to try and play sweeper, dallied and Milla robbed him, ran on and slotted the ball in to the empty net. 2-0, game over, the legend of the Indominatable Lions was made in those minutes. Colombia stole a late goal but to no avail, they were out and Cameroon became the first African country to make the quarter finals.

The next match will live long in my memory, mostly because of how much England struggled, despite taking the lead through David Platt. Cameroon’s movement and pace had unsettled England to the point that they were 2-1 down, once again with Milla taking centre stage. Coming on as a substitute he set the first with a beautiful pass and was brought down for a penalty, which was converted to put Cameroon 2-1.

England were facing the exit but with 7 minutes remaining Gascoigne played Lineker in and a rash tackle gave a penalty away. Lineker, ever the predator, scored and in to extra time we went. It was then that the Cameroonian legs began to tire and the English pushed on for a winner. Both sides had been involved in extra-time tussles, but Cameroon seemed to be feeling the effects more. A carbon copy pass from Lineker once again invited a rash challenge and once again the result was the same.

It was an effort too much for the Lions to try and pull level and England’s experience told as the clock ticked down to the final whistle. They were out, but to a man, every fan in the ground and stood and applauded the Cameroon team as they waved Italia 90 goodbye on a lap of honour. They had come so far, achieved so much and won so many admirers for the passionate way they played the game. African football grew in stature that month in 1990 and all football fans around the world should be thankful for Roger Milla and the Cameroon team that won Italia 90’s hearts.

Ever since the World Cup draw was made back in December, all eyes in the United States have been on the first game in Group C. The match against England is widely anticipated in America, but here it’s just another group game. There’s not the same level of excitement, sure England fans are looking forward to it, but because it’s the first game, not because we’re playing the United States.

Everything in England is geared to the tournament finally getting underway. There is no real sense of trepidation or concern for the game against the USA. Don’t mistake that lack of fear as arrogance, it’s simply that there is no real rivalry for England fans to gauge their feelings towards the USA on a football basis. We don’t view the first opponents in that way, we don’t have any footballing history against America.

The view over here is that we’ve been drawn in the easier side of the draw and our group could have been a lot worse. Looking back, it’s probably viewed as the easiest group we’ve had since 1986. Yet that should serve as a stark remainder of what can happen if you take your eye off the ball. A group containing Portugal, Morocco and Poland was viewed as a matter of course for qualification and it simply seemed a case of who would finish second behind England. How wrong those feelings were.

England were drab and lifeless in the first game against Portugal and deservedly lost one nil. England have played Portugal several times since then and are still awaiting another opportunity to end a run that now stretches to 44 years since the last competitive victory against our oldest allies. The next match saw England once again fail to produce and were in danger of imploding, Bryan Robson injured and out of the tournament, Ray Wilkins sent off and 0-0 draw against Morocco left qualification in the balance.

Everything was on the last game, against Poland but the team had been altered due to the loss of Wilkins and Robson and the failings of Mark Hateley up front. The rest as they say is history, with Gary Lineker’s hat trick catapulted England through. It’s certainly not a situation that anyone in the UK sees repeating itself this time in South Africa. Confidence is high amongst the fans, but the ridiculous tub thumbing bravado of the Eriksson years has settled away to something more reflective, more assured, more believable.

The usual four year worrying about key players has also subsided, concerns remain against several members of the squad, through form, injury and personal worries that dogged certain members this year. Yet for all that, most England fans are already plotting England’s opponents in the Second Round. Will it be our old nemesis, Germany, or the hard working Australians or as some experts predict, the dark horses of Ghana. Any of those permutations is already being discussed and dissected.

That’s not to say they’re right in thinking that, but that’s football fans the world over, daring to dream. The players will be under no doubts or allow dreams to cloud the thinking. Capello will have them facing each game and each opponent one at a time. There will be no excuses for getting ahead of themselves. As a USA fan, you may be thinking this is all rather conceited and arrogant. I assure you, it isn’t. No-one is expecting another 1950 and we all know enough about the US team, the key players and the tactics, that surprises like that warm Brazilian day on June 29th won’t happen again.

The defeat is now classed as so long ago by the media, that it doesn’t allow the option to stir up the primal need for revenge that say matches against Argentina, France, Germany, Scotland and Portugal brings. Even allowing for the 2-0 defeat in Boston back in 1993 fails to raise the hackles of English fans. That period of failure is written off as the “Graham Taylor era” and no-one likes opening that particular box back up.  Wedged between the semi finals of 1990 and 1996, it’s glossed over at any given opportunity. It’s not that England fans don’t care or feel the result is a forgone conclusion, they just expect the team to win.

Some parts of the media will try and stir it up, get some anti-American feeling going, but in general, it’s not there to stir and I feel it’s vice versa. I couldn’t have met a friendlier bunch of people when I was in the States, I really like the place and the people. It suited me. Honestly, I could think of nothing better than living in either Florida or California, I’d love to live the States. I’d bite your arm off to live there, I really would. Especially now that football is growing as a sport.

What has surprised me are some attempts at belittling England, such as the laughable comments that England had an easy group to get through. Despite the excuses being made for Croatia having two players missing, which I think certainly overplays the amount of ability and influence Eduardo has on the national side, beating them 4-1 away and 5-1 at home is not something to write off so easily. Croatia were on a 14 year unbeaten home run. 14 years, now come on surely that deserves a little credit? No, well disputing that as two excellent results is pointless.

Just because we’re not banging on about the game doesn’t mean we think less of the USA as a footballing nation, or that we don’t rate the team, the talent and tenacity are clearly there. It doesn’t mean we don’t view the USA as a threat, we do. It’s just that as with Algeria and Slovakia, the team are expected to win. Nothing more, nothing less. Me, I’m expecting it to be the toughest game of the group stage and I do honestly hope the USA get through to the second round too. It’ll be tough, but it’s certainly an easier group than you got saddled with last time.

No-one is taken the USA lightly, don’t judge us on our media and some of the chatter that descends through the Internet, like a room full of monkeys tweeting. Talk to us, ask us what we think, don’t make outlandish sweeping statements about how crap England are just to get a reaction, that’s just juvenile. We see enough football to know when someone’s talented.

We were all impressed at Landon Donovan finally having a productive spell in European football, we know what Clint Dempsey offers the team. We know Freddy Adu has dropped off the edge of the world by getting too big for his boots. We’ve seen some of the best players the USA has produced week in, week out in all our leagues. Don’t mistake our silence or reticence for arrogance.It just means we quite like you and surely that’s a good thing isn’t it??

Leave me your comments below, or you can find me on twitter.com/paulbestall where I can talk football all day.

So Saturday will see which one of two former top flight clubs return to the top level of English football with the Championship Play-Off final. As neither have troubled the top division in quite a long time, newer fans to Premiership football may be left scratching their heads as to who either of these sides are. As such, I thought I’d give you a low down on both sides competing for the one remaining Premiership place next season, starting with Blackpool.

So you may have seen Ian Jones lovely little piece about Blackpool earlier this month, but what else do you need to know about one of English footballs most iconic names? Let me try and give you some more knowledge on the Tangerines, so if they do triumph on Saturday, you won’t be struggling to know anything about them when your none epltalk.com reading friends question you about them.

First up, Blackpool are synonymous with three of the 20th Century’s iconic England legends. Stan Mortensen, Stanley Matthews and Jimmy Armfield are warmly remembered by football fans of a certain age. Matthews is probably the greatest English player in history and I covered his career in depth last year in my Legends of English Football series. Matthews is one of the few players who is loved and revered equally at two clubs, Blackpool and Stoke City and his achievements speak for themselves.

Gentleman Jimmy Armfield played his entire career at Blackpool, and is currently working for the BBC in England. Highly respect as a player and pundit, Armfield is respected throughout the game and retired after Blackpool were relegated the last time they were in the First Division in 1971. Another notable great player was Alan Ball and more modern names include Trevor Sinclair, Paul Stewart, Alan Wright and Brett Ormerod.

Blackpool had never played below the second tier until they were relegated from Division Two in 1977-78 and then found themselves stuck in a hell of lower league football for over 30 years as the club strove to escape the clutches of the bottom two leagues. They almost dropped out of the league in 1983 when they finished 4th bottom of the Fourth Division. In those days, all league clubs voted on who came up from the conference and who went down. Votes saved the club from falling out of the league only 12 seasons after last playing in the top division.

Notable managers at the club have included Joe Smith, who managed the club through the Matthews and Mortensen era, Alan Ball, Stan Ellis, Gary Megson, Sam Allardyce and current Leeds United manager, Simon Grayson. The current incumbent, Ian Holloway is legendary in English football due to his unusual comments, phrases and anecdotes. Prepare to be confused if Blackpool win promotion and Holloway interviews are viewed anywhere outside the UK.

The ground is called Bloomfield Road and is currently undergoing a massive rebuilding job. Suffice to say it had become a dreadful indictment of Blackpool’s struggles in the 1980’s and 90’s and was in need of serious renovation. I remember my only visit to the ground in 1991 for a 3rd round F.A. Cup tie and it was like a trip back in time. Coming two years after the Hillsborough disaster, it was a strange and morbid looking ground. It looked and felt unloved and served as a sad reminder of the clubs far away glory days.

A crazy idea floated in the 1990’s saw the club consider building a ground off the coast of Blackpool. Currently 3 sides are completed, with the latest, the Jimmy Armfield Stand opening in March this year. The current capacity will see them have the smallest ground in the Premiership if promoted with a capacity of just 12,555. When the final stand is completed, capacity should rise to 16,000 but of course, promotion to the Premiership could see the money re-invested in to increasing the capacity further. Whether or not temporary seating will be used for next season if they do go up will be interesting to see.

Blackpool’s fortunes have improved steadily since the arrival of Latvian millionaire, Valeri Belokon, who has invested money consistently since arriving at the club in 2006. The last 4 seasons have seen improvement on improvement and the club is flying, bang in form and put Nottingham Forest to the sword in the Play-Off semi-finals. With the influential Charlie Adam pulling the strings, they’ve as good a chance as Cardiff for promotion and people will underestimate them at their peril.

Promotion and the £100 million that the club will receive at the very worst could see a former footballing power return to the top table on a regular basis. They’d also become very popular with away fans as Blackpool is the holiday destination and drinking scene for most northerners at some point in their lives. Expect to see many a “Kiss Me Quick” hats in the away end next season if they return to the top flight as well as images of popular mascot Bloomfield Bear.

So there you have it, a brief synopsis of Blackpool FC. Let me know your thoughts below or find me through twitter on http://www.twitter.com/paulbestall

There are green shoots of recovery around the Reebok Stadium, after several winters of discontent under Gary Megson. With Owen Coyle’s arrival, suddenly Bolton Wanderers are playing football again and trying to win games, rather than bore teams to death and hoof it skywards. Megson’s long ball banality has no place in modern football and I feel sorry for the next bunch of fans that have to suffer the tedium of his tactical ineptitude.

Thankfully, Phil Gartside realised that he preferred being the chairman of a Premiership club more than defending a manager who had lost the entire crowds respect. His own position was under threat and no matter how well a chairman and a manager get on, eventually it becomes a question of self preservation. Gartside made the selfish decision after two bad, bad managerial choices almost finished the club off. Now things are a whole lot rosier down Burnden Way and the club can look to a more positive future.

At the time when Coyle left, I was critical of the decision, mainly as I didn’t think Bolton could strike up the pace as quickly as they needed and Burnley seemed to be doing well. I didn’t understand it, but then again, not many people did other than Bolton Wanderers fans. The Green half of Glasgow were certainly left scratching their heads as they watched Tony Mowbray’s reign imploded in a series of bizarre transfer and selection issues and wondering how they couldn’t attract Burnley’s manager over the summer.

So Coyle kept his part of the bargain, he turned his back on devotion and demi-god status at Turf Moor, to ride to Boltons rescue and try and keep them in the Premiership. He did it and with points to spare, such was the dearth of quality shown by the bottom 3 sides for most of the season. Whilst the bottom 3 were nowhere near the worst the Premiership has seen, the lack of a consistent goalscorer in all three relegated sides was too much to bare.

Now Coyle has a few weeks off, and will look to pre-season training in July to begin to continue the good start he’s made to his 4th managerial position. Bolton fans came in for some criticism last season with their campaign to get rid of Gary Megson. “Ideas above their station” ” Spoilt by the Allardyce years” and “Small club punching above their weight” were just some of the delightful accusations levelled at the fans. Quite why wanting rid of a manager who messed up the biggest night in the clubs modern history and would send his teams out not to lose, rather than to try and win games is such a problem.

They pay money and are rightly entitled to their opinions, whether we agree with it or not. I’ve never understood how Gary Megson keeps getting jobs, his record other than at West Bromwich Albion is abysmal. Only Megson could unite Nottingham Forest and Leicester City fans in their hatred of him, such is the feeling of anger towards him from both sets of supporters. Now that takes some doing in anyone’s book, at least Coyle only has one clubs fans anger to deal with, probably for life. Bolton wasn’t a massive rescue job, he just needed to remind the players how to play football, as daft as that sounds.

He simply needed to get the core performers back in unison and on song. The spine of a decent Premiership side was always there, it just wasn’t allowed to be a football team. With Jaaskelainen, Davis, Elmander, Cahill, Taylor and Davies to call on, it simply needed the depressing air lifting from the place and things would soon settle down. The first 6 weeks were tough, but eventually, points started to come, performances started to come and the team began to climb the table.

Next season will be Coyle’s biggest test so far as a manager. He had nothing to lose at the other jobs he took, Burnley achieved more than even the most loyal fan could have imagined, but I doubt Bolton will be scraping around the relegation zone next season. Despite what their critics may say, Bolton have now been back in the top flight of football for ten years and are an established Premiership club. The troubles of the last 3 seasons should prove nothing more than a bad dream for the Wanderers fans, mid-table is more than realistic for next season.

You have to feel for a player of the calibre of Michael Ballack and for fans of Germany. Things haven’t always gone swimmingly for Ballack at Stamford Bridge since he joined in 2006, but there is no doubt he is Germany’s most accomplished player of his generation. Be it at Munich, Leverkusen or the national side, Ballack has been one of the most consistent performers in the last 10 years of European football.

My first reaction to the challenge by Kevin-Prince Boateng on Saturday was it was a nasty little challenge. Numerous replays have simply strengthened that belief and it was the end to a little spat that had been running for the previous 15 minutes in the F.A. Cup Final. Now, Boateng is not alone in having a spiteful side to his play, but the irony of the impact it would have on his and Ballacks summer is now becoming apparent.

June 23rd has now gained a new significance in the World Cup as it is the date that Ghana play Germany in South Africa. Now normally, any game which features a player going against a side who have lost a player due to a nasty challenge would be interesting. Add the fact that the player is Germany’s captain and talismanic leader and the stakes are indeed raised, but there is an even more tantilising twist to this tale.

You see, up until April, Kevin Prince Boateng was classed as a German international, having represented the national side at both Under-16 and Under-19 levels. Now he has been granted permission by FIFA to represent Ghana at full international level and is expected to make the cut for the World Cup squad named by Ghana’s manager Milovan Rajevec. It’s a new move and one that should be applauded, though I doubt FIFA had this kind of comeback in mind when they allowed him to join up with Ghana.

Now the game has a whole new dimension for both sides. It was always going to be a pivotal game for both sides, with the dangerous Australians and Serbia making up a tough group. I’m not one for advocating revenge, but I’ve a feeling certain members of the German squad will be gunning for Boateng. Not only for the injury that Ballack has sustained, ruling him out of the World Cup but for turning his back on his country of birth.

I appreciate the draw a country could have on a player, but the decision seems to be made based on taking the easier option for me. Boateng’s career has certainly stalled whilst he’s been in England, he has the air of a player that sometimes looks like he can’t be bothered. His appearance for Portsmouth against Coventry in this season’s F.A. Cup run was peculiar to say the least. At one point in the second half, he was too injured to run but magically had the ability to dribble and shoot when the ball was played to him.

Since being at Portsmouth, he’s certainly gained some playing time, but his spell at Tottenham was a dreadful indictment of the previous regimes slapdash transfer policy under Daniel Commoli.The only thing that shocked me was that Tottenham managed to get anywhere near the £5 million they paid out for him.

Poor Michael Ballack, suspended for the 2002 World Cup final, will now probably never play in a World Cup again. He’ll be 37 by the time Brazil rolls around in 2014, so time and common sense is against him. Boateng, all being well, could be on the cusp of a wonderful career for the Black Stars over the next decade or so. So all German eyes will be on Johannesburg on June 23rd as the two sides clash. By the way, did I mention Kevin Prince Boateng could be there with his brother, Jerome. Trouble is, Jerome’s been picked by Germany in their provisional squad. Talk about a twist having a twist.

Stoke once again have compounded the critics and not only avoided the dreadful “second season syndrome”, but actually improved their points and placing from last season. It’s a fantastic achievement for the club and its passionate and noisy fans. I have to say that as an away fan at either the Brittania Stadium or the old Victoria Ground, listening to the Stoke fans regal you a blast of “Delilah” is an experience you have to witness. Hats off to them, it’s an impressive sonic attack that seems to come from everywhere.

To the modern fan, most people assume Stoke have seemingly come from nowhere and when I started watching football, Stoke City were unfortunately on the way down. They have suffered over modern seasons, but don’t be fooled by the clubs league standings over the last 20 years. Throughout most of the 20th century the club were a well established First Division side.

Now they’ve begun to re-establish themselves and a lot of credit has to go to Tony Pulis for the work he’s put in at the club since he returned for his second stint as manager. Today he’s had an interview with the BBC’s underated Juliette Ferrington in which he’s opened up about some of the leaks and gossip that threatened to derail the clubs progress earlier this season. Following on from Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s refreshingly honest interview in the Guardian, it makes such a refreshing change for someone to deal with the issues fans actually talk about.

I find Pulis an interesting interviewee, his experiences in the lower leagues as a player and manager stands him in good stead. He’s been where it really matters in football, rather than the cossetted world of top flight football. He has an astounding record of never being relegated as a manager so far at the 6 jobs he’s had since he replaced Harry Redknapp at Bournemouth in 1992 and he knows what a club needs to keep it up. It may not be pretty sometimes, but it works.

In the interview today, he’s named names and laid it out for all the fans to see. He’s fed up with people running to the press and leaking stories, which in his opinion destabilises the club.“I thought Beattie was one of the main reasons we stayed up in the first year, he was exceptional, but he hasn’t had a good season in my opinion. “Kitson was our record signing, and I don’t think we’ve got what we thought we were going to get, to be perfectly honest.”

Regardless of what players may think or what John Terry may say to the press, the power at a football club has to lay with the manager. Fans may have favourite players, but ultimately it is the manager who’s neck is on the line every time his team kick off. He’s the one who gets the stick if the side loses and stands back when the team win. Players don’t get sacked when the team struggles, the manager does. The last thing a newly promoted side needs is a couple of ego fuelled players thinking they’re the only thing that matters at a club.

The two players he names can point the fingers all they want, but they simply haven’t performed this season at all. Kitson’s tenure has been a bit of a disaster to be honest, but you can’t go shouting your mouth off about the manager. He was bought to score goals and simply hasn’t produced anywhere near the form he showed at Reading. Beattie on the other hand, has always had a reputation as a bit of a “prima-donna”, so it was seemed more a question of when he’d blow up rather than why. He is a classic example of potential being wasted by poor off field discipline. Ironically both have drink driving convictions.

Martin Keown tonight criticised Pulis for his comments, but I applaud him for his honesty. I’m sick to death of pampered players whining because they are not the be all and end all at clubs they clearly feel aren’t big enough for them. Pulis would do well in selling the pair of them and investing in some raw talent that has it all to prove rather than two players who feel they are bigger than Stoke City. No doubt, someone will want them but Stoke City are better of without them.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve seen a few articles around stating it’s the biggest game in Fulham’s history. Sorry to deflate the collective bubbles, but that simply isn’t true at all. It’s possibly the craziest day in an average Fulham fans lifetime but it’s not even close to biggest match in the clubs history. I doubt even the most ardent Cottage regular would have even considered getting to the final when you look at the teams they were up against. It’s a brilliant day and they will want to win it, but I’ll look at the clubs biggest game in the modern era further down.

Of course, I will be rooting for Fulham on Wednesday night in the final as if it’s my own team. I like Fulham, I like the way they play the game, I like Roy Hodgson, so I naturally want the best for them. I’d love it if they won the game, but do not underestimate Athletico Madrid. Despite the fact that they are clearly the most disaster prone side in European football and have somehow got to the game by only winning 2 matches, they still have some quality in the team.

If any team can implode and throw any situation away, then Athletico are the team to put your money on. For example, they won the Spanish double in 1996 with Raddy Antic as manager and then four years later they dropped out of the Primera League. Their greatest era as a club coincided with Real Madrid being the greatest club side in the world for about 15 years. The fans burnt the club shop down in 2005 when the new Nike kit was discovered to have scrapped the red and white stripes. This is a club that make Tottenham look the model of consistency.

Despite all that, Fulham stand on the threshold of an amazing achievement. Don’t patronise them by assuming by being in the final being good enough. Hodgson and his players will want to win the trophy. By falling at the final fence, everything will have been in vain. All the sweat, the comebacks, the fighting spirit will have come to nothing if they fail to come home without that trophy. Being there doesn’t count unless you win the damn thing. Ask the Middlesbrough faithful.

Now, as for the biggest game in Fulhams modern history, the day they played Torquay United in a battle between the two lowest placed league sides in 1996 has to be up there. Only 14 years ago, Fulham faced relegation out of the league and financial implosion. Crowds were little better than 4,000 a game and they had less than a 1,000 season ticket holders. They lost the match and faced ruin and that was just 14 years ago. The same season, Hodgson was leading Inter Milan to a 7th place finish in Serie A and Fulham managed to survive by bringing Mickey Adams in as manager.

That’s how far this club has come in such a short time and for all the hype and posturing, the Fulham fans will always look back to the day they were facing oblivion in the face. Football is indeed a funny old game, but for Fulham and Roy Hodgson, only a win at the HSH Nordbank Arena will suffice in bringing a smile to their faces.

Despite the superstars that have graced the World Cup over the decades, there is one record that may never be beaten by any player ever again. Only 3 times has a player scored double figures in a World Cup tournament, once in 1954, Sandor Kocsis scored 11, in 1970 the legendary Gerd Muller scored 10 goals. Yet one man surpassed both of these incredible efforts when he scored 13 goals at the 1958 World Cup, French legend, Just Fontaine.

It often astounds me that whenever lists of great strikers appear, Fontaine is rarely on the list. It’s not like the Swedish World Cup was a flash in the pan for him. He scored goals wherever he played throughout his entire career. Domestically or Internationally, Fontaine found the back of the net with unfailing regularity. It would seem yet another wonderful player is often overlooked in the modern era simply because people don’t look hard enough.

In those far away days before football became the global sport, the European Cup and European Championships were in their infancy and with only 16 teams qualifying for a World Cup, many great players missed the opportunity to play regularly on the main stage. His international career was only 7 years in total from 1953 to 1960, he missed out on 1954 through a lack of experience and was struggling with injuries by the time Chile held the competition in 1962.

That shouldn’t take anything away from his achievements and in normal circumstances scoring 13 goals in a World Cup should see you lift the trophy but for the greater strength of one team: Brazil. Yet we’re getting ahead of ourselves, before we’ve even begun. Fontaine was born in Morocco in 1933, or French Morocco as it was known then. At 17 it was his move to Casablanca that catapulted him towards history as he scored for fun in the league. French league sides fell over themselves to scout him but it was Nice that managed to get his signature first. Aged just 20, Just moved to France and his career went through the roof.

In 3 seasons at Nice, he scored 44 league goals in just 69 matches and attracted the attention of Stade Reims, who were the giants of French football in the 1950’s and 60’s. Reims are a team that we have also lost sight of, struggling in the French Third Division these days but incredibly reached the European Cup final twice, in the debut tournament of 1955-56 and 1958-59. The Olympic Lyon of the day, Fontaine was brought in to replace another French legend, Real Madrid bound Raymond Kopa and hit 30 goals in his debut season.

Ironically, it was the relationship at international level between Fontaine and Kopa that would prove so decisive in the 1958 World Cup as they combined so beautifully that Fontaine and Kopa seemed to have a psychic link. In Sweden, the bond was at it’s dizzying peak and it was almost rewarded with the greatest honour in the game. As strike partnership go, it’s certainly up there in post-war club and international football.

It is odd, especially in the UK that Fontaine isn’t more widely known as the 1958 World Cup is a watermark in British football. It was the only tournament that England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all qualified for and some should remember him more than others. In 1954, the French side had failed to qualify from their group so hopes were high for a more positive tournament in Scandinavia. The group was tough but not impossible and they had to play against Yugoslavia, Scotland and Paraguay.

The first game saw them face Paraguay and by half time the match was tied at 2-2 with Fontaine having scored both of Les Blues goals. 45 minutes later, he was walking off the field with the match ball after scoring his third and France’s 5th as Raymond Kopa destroyed the Paraguayans resistance in a 7-3 mauling.

The Irish had impressively finished 2nd  in a tough group and had a goal getting striker of their own, AstonVilla legend Peter McParland who had scored 5 goals in the group. Fontiane and the French were just too good and routed them 4-0, our hero scoring another 2 goals to take them in to the Semi-finals to face the favourites, Brazil.

Despite how impressive France had been so far, they couldn’t hold a candle to the Brazilians. With Vava and Garrincha running rings around them and a young striker by the name of Pele scoring a hatrick, even Just Fontaine couldn’t keep them in it. Brazil were too good and despite recovering from going a goal down after 2 minutes, thanks to his 9th goal of the competiton, Fontaine and France faced a task too far. Brazil ran away with the game, winning 5-2 and the only consolation for them was the opportunity to play for 3rd place.

To say the next game had a bit of needle would be an understatement as they were to face the defending champions, West Germany. The reasons for the animosity were still fresh in the minds of the French and as if possessed, they ripped the legendary German defensive unit to shreds. Kopa seemingly single handly passing them to death at every opprtunity and Fontaine was at his lethal best. 4 times he struck the ball pase the German keeper, Kwiatkowski as the French ran them ragged in a 6-3 victory.

So, 6 games, 13 goals and scored in all 6 matches the French played. Two hat tricks and the French had arrived on the international stage again. Fontaine returned to scoring goals for fun in Ligue 1 and in 1959 was rejoined at club level by Raymond Kopa. Unfortunately for him and Reims, they only managed one season together until a knee injury curtailed Fontaine’s career at just 29 years of age. Who could have said where he would have ended up rather than limp through his last two seasons.

He could only manage 14 games and 6 goals in his final two years before injury robbed football of one of its most underated strikers. He tried his hand at managing to no great success apart from a spell as the Moroccan coach, leading them to 3rd in the 1980 African Cup of Nations. Fontaine is now 76 and is a legend in France. In 2003 he was voted the Greatest French player of the last 50 years and still holds the World Cup record of the most goals in a single tournament.  Il était magnifique!

All great relationships come to an end, the natural course having run as far as it can. Sometimes they start passionately and brightly and quickly burn away to nothingness. Sometimes, they are a slowly burning and taut affair that consumes all within them in a supernova of passion oblivious to all around them. Occasionally, despite saying the opposite, things simply aren’t working. The public face presents a lie, when everything behind the scenes falls apart.

Of course, finishing 7th is no insult and 6th is not out of the question but this is Liverpool. European Champions on 5 occasions, runners up twice. League Champions 18 times and runners up on 12 other occasions. The most decorated club in English League history can end up qualifying for the Europa League because Portsmouth are not allowed to enter. Is it good enough to be surviving on scraps thrown by clubs imploding financially? Simply put, no it isn’t.

I saw Benitez’s post match comments on Sunday and was astounded. You can’t position yourself as a champions of the fans and then refuse to commit yourself to confirming whether you intend to be at the club next season. Benitez owes that to the Anfield faithful at the very least. They have backed him 100% throughout his consistent battles with the owners and the boardroom and now he throws it back in their faces. I think most fans of other clubs would be hard pressed to have kept the patience with a manager like the Liverpool fans have with Rafa Benitez.

Of course, his supporters will always point to the 2005 Champions League final victory and to a lesser extent, the F.A. Cup victory the following season over West Ham United. Last season saw Liverpool come within a whisker of winning the title but ultimately missed out due to the points dropped against “lesser” sides. The beginning of the season saw them lose as many leagues games in 8 days as all of last year. Complaints about Real Madrid tapping up Xabi Alonso were treated with the contempt they deserved after Benitez had spent most of the summer of 2008 trying to flog him.

He claims the club needs 4 or 5 great players, unlike the majority of the 77 he’s signed. With the exception of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, every single player at Liverpool is a Benitez signing. Incredibly, of the 77 players he’s signed, 30 of them have been sold on. His supporters claim the board have tied his hands in regards to the money he’s had to spend, but looking at his transfer record, honestly, can you blame them? A scatter gun transfer policy that currently sees Liverpool using Mascherano as a right back and a £7 million left back in the reserves. A depth of striking talent after Torres that a Championship club would be embarrassed to have at its disposal.

This refusal to commit himself to Liverpool next season surely treats the fans like idiots. He has more support from them and delivered probably less than any Liverpool manager since Graeme Souness’ dreadful tenure in the early nineties. He eventually fell on his sword and resigned after they were beaten by Bristol City at home in the F.A.Cup in January 1994.Yet the 3 seasons he’d spent there were littered with dreadful signings, arguments and badly judged media interviews, such as with the Sun newspaper on the 3rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. Yet even he won the F.A. Cup in 1992.

Souness finished 6th, 6th and 8th and the club were at the weakest they’d ever been in the modern era. Liverpool have finished outside the top 6 twice in the last 20 years and only 4 times in the 47 seasons they spent in the top flight since winning promotion back to the top division in 1962. Of course, they may still finish 6th but that’ not Benitez’s weakness for me, it’s his refusal to treat his supporters with the respect they deserve after all the support they’ve given him and tell them if he’s staying.

Perhaps of course, he’s playing the protection card, asking the board for the moon and then quitting when they quite rightly tell him to get stuffed. Only then will he consider the offer from Juventus that is on the table and has been for weeks. Added to this the fact that he absurdly claims he’s trying to meet up with the new chairman after canceling two scheduled meetings in the last fortnight weakens his position even further.

Liverpool’s fans deserve better, the club deserve better and no-one is happy. Rafa looks fed up and coming from a family of Liverpool fans, they’re fed up. The relationship has run its course and if Rafa Benitez really cared about Liverpool he’d do the right thing and quit. When you get to a point in a season where you want your team to lose to stop a rival club winning the title, I think that’s all you need to say and that’s a fact Rafa. It can only get worse from here.

Don’t panic, I’m not going to go all Oprah on you all, but I’ve got a confession to make that a man of my age can’t hide. Every 4 years, the World Cup comes around and over here in Europe we’ve a company called Panini who make sticker books for most major tournaments and leagues. Since the 1980’s I used to collect them until about 1988 until the surly teenager in me decided I was far too mature to muck about with such childish entertainment. No more swapping  Ian Rush for Gary Lineker in the school yard, oh no. I’d got beer, music and girls to keep me interested instead.

I know in the States that the big thing for junior sports fans is trading cards, which have only recently taken off here in the UK, so I’m unsure as to what anyone based in North America will make of them or even know what they are, but in Europe they’re big business. Yet, since the 1998 World Cup, I’ve always bought a Panini World Cup sticker book. I can’t help myself and I got the latest one last week. No really, I did.

Of course these days, the Internet is here and I can trawl through cyberspace laughing away at some of the ridiculous haircuts, mustaches and kits of yesteryear. There is such a wave of nostalgia for these sticker books that I’ve even seen articles from Germany discussing the way players used to look, which you can read at Bild’s website here and see if you recognise any of the names mentioned!!

It’s just weird that here I am with all the modern entertainment I have at my disposal, from my X-Box, to Digital TV, DVD’s and my I-pod that something so basic, so simple should still have such an emotional attachment to me. On the Guardian website the other week, someone sent in a link to this fantastic site which has scanned the entire Italia 90 sticker book online! A virtual reality treasure trove of memories, both good and bad of such an amazing tournament.Have a scroll through it, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

That was probably the catalyst for me to delve back in to trying, once again to complete the album, which I know now I won’t do, even though I tell myself I shall. It’s amazing that something so trivial can transport you back to a more innocent time and looking back you can see so many names that have drifted away in to the depths of time.

Grown men all over the UK have started to secretly pretend they’ve got kids now to try and cover up their sticker based addictions, as this current thread on a Crystal Palace message board proves. I am not alone in my addiction, though I doubt I can seek counseling over such vices but it’s nice to know I’m not the saddest man out there. After purchasing my latest sticker book, I was disappointed to only get 2 England players out of 70 stickers which means of course that’ll keep buying them! The seminal British magazine When Saturday Comes has also seen some of its contributors weigh in with some memories of those days too. An amusing discussion is still trundling along here.

For me, it’s a fundamental part of the World Cup experience for fans over here young and old and even now, nearly 30 years on from my first sticker book, Espana 1982, it’s heartwarming to see the Panini World Cup sticker book on the shelves in stores. It’s one of those things that sets the clock ticking down towards the kick off to the tournament and with it, a little bit of me thinks back to those faraway days of swapping stickers with school friends.

Fulham’s amazing transformation under Roy Hodgson just keeps reaching new heights and sending their fans in to raptures. I know I’ve written about Roy Hodgson and the fact that the British press have virtually ignored his career until he took over at Fulham, but no-one could have expected this level of improvement from the Cottagers.

2 years ago they were all but relegated from the Premiership and when they went 2-0 down in a league game against Manchester City, they were technically down. Amazingly though they recovered and won that game 3-2, going on a run that saw them survive on the last day of the season. Now here we are in April 2010 and they have a Europa Cup Final to look forward to in 13 days time.

I’ve been sick and tired of people doing the Europa League down, for Fulham and their fans it is a monumental achievement and they deserve to celebrate long in to the night. The achievements of Roy Hodgson can no longer be ignored by the British media who will no doubt be jumping on the bandwagon as we speak, propelling the Fulham manager to demi-god status. They’re about 10 years behind but they’ll never let on just how much they’ve underestimated the like-able Londoner.

As much as Fulham’s European success has been a revelation for the club, it has cemented the managerial abilities of Hodgson. He has taken London’s smallest Premier League club to their first ever continental final and achieved something that some more celebrated English managers have not achieved. I’m truly delighted for them, for him and the Fulham fans.

After the game, Hodgson said “After going a goal down against the run of play I think we made a major piece of history here tonight in a very special atmosphere. We have beaten a very good team and I’m drained after the emotional roller-coaster. I think lots of teams would have lost their discipline and shape, but we stayed strong.”

They’ve seen off more famous and illustrious opponents throughout this cup run and just when you thought they’d come a cropper, they found hidden reserves of mental strength and fortitude to fight back in every knock out tie. Shaktar Donetsk, Roma, Juventus, Wolfsburg and now Hamburg have fallen when all common sense told you that Fulham couldn’t or wouldn’t beat them. They did and with such lovely football too.

Of course, they’ll now face Athletico Madrid who have put Liverpool out tonight, which I’m delighted with. Not disrespecting Liverpool, but now all the build up in the UK will focus on Fulham, which is what they deserve. If Liverpool had made it, we would have had constant coverage of Benitez’s miserable and moronic press conferences which I’ve seen more than I deserve to over the last 5 years. Now Fulham and their fans can bask in the next two weeks as the excitement builds towards Hamburg.

They must be in shock, stunned as they’ve seen the transformation of their team in such a short space of time. Enjoy it Fulham fans and I truly, really want you to win the cup. Congratulations to all of you. Now get drunk!

Fast forward 4 years and things despite the odd injury scare here and there are much rosier for Fabio Capello. Wayne Rooney is in the form of his life, Jermaine Defoe has made himself a crucial member of the squad, Peter Crouch’s reputation is more positive and certain players are jostling for the remaining squad places. The question is, who will make up the 5 strikers that Capello should choose as his options up front.

There’s no point discussing Rooney and Defoe. They’re on that plane unless something incredibly cruel happens but the 3 other positions are a free for all. Certain players over the last 18 months have made cases to be included but some will face the cruelest cut of all and miss out on a chance of going to South Africa. It’s those strikers I’m focusing on and deciding just who should join the first two names I’ve mentioned.

Yet, I have to say that it is some relief that Michael Owen is injured. Surely I can’t be the only person who was sick of his constant bleating in the media week after week. Capello rightly judged Owen to be damaged goods and whilst no-one can doubt up to 2005 he was one of the Premier strikers in world football, he is no where near the level he was. Capello knows that Owen simply cannot cope with the demands of top level football anymore, which is a shame.

Owen will probably never add to his goal tally for England, which currently stands at 40 and it is a sad way for his career at international level to finish. It looked for years as if he would smash Bobby Charlton’s record, but that achievement looks set to become Wayne Rooney’s mantle. With Owens absence, the stage looks set for someone to come in from the left field but surely the highest scoring English striker in the Premiership, Darren Bent.

With 24 league goals this season for Sunderland and pace to burn, Bent should be a shoe-in but something just seems to rub people up the wrong way with him. In any other country, Bent would probably be in the squad without doubt. He reminds me of Mario Gomez, the German striker, who scores goals for fun in the Bundesliga but has yet to find that form at international level and his goals have all come against lower rated international sides.

Should he be there? Yes, he should and I don’t feel he’s had a fair crack of the whip internationally. He deserves a chance to go to South Africa this summer and you have to wonder just where Sunderland would have finished this season without his goals. Of the target men that Capello seems to use, Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch have all had difficult seasons but Crouch has continued to perform for England when he has had the opportunity. That alone should subside any fears that his absence from the Tottenham starting line up may have and I’ll be amazed if he isn’t one of the picks up front.

Cole has been involved in a dreadfully difficult season at West Ham United and he is not alone at Upton Park in seeing his form suffer. Heskey has meanwhile seen his form go up and down as Aston Villa have continued to prove that they are back as a consistent challenge at the upper end of the table. Heskey does so much for his team mates that I’m sick of trying to explain why strikers don’t have to score goals to be good.

It’s not been the easiest season for his team mate Gabriel Agbonlahor either, but Villa are still chasing down 4th place in Premiership. For all his pace, he’s still too wildly inconsistent for me at league level never mind international level. I wouldn’t take him if I had a fit Darren Bent to choose.

Of the other two options, both would usually be laughed out of hand, but this season has seen both of them receive praise that has been short throughout their careers. Firstly, Bobby Zamora has had the season of his life at Fulham and has been touted as a possible option for England but he seems to have been patched up more than the 6 million dollar man over the last few weeks. He apparently needs an operation but Fulham have delayed surgery until the England World Cup squad has been announced. I’m sorry Bobby, but I just think there are better options available.

The other choice, may make you laugh, but I think it’s a disgrace he’s never been picked for England. Bolton Wanderers fans will tell you just how good this lad has been for years, but Kevin Davies is so underrated it’s become something of a joke. Yes, he perhaps doesn’t score as many goals as he should but his work rate, strength and technical ability are consistently overlooked. If Crouch wasn’t fit to play, he’d be my first reserve.

So the five strikers I’d take are, Wayne Rooney, Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Darren Bent and Emile Heskey. What do you think? Who would your choices be? Please leave me your comments as usual.

Last year, I was lucky enough to do a fabulous series on English football legends, which saw me delve back through history to cover 11 players that perhaps never get the credit they deserve. Football is such a fickle sport that these days, people forget just how many great players passed through the annals before we became used to such wall to wall coverage as we have today.

It was a pleasure to write about such legends as Steve Bloomer, Dixie Dean et al and next month I’ll be tackling 80 years of World Cup history to whet your appetites as the greatest show in football hits South Africa. Not only is it monumental that the World Cup is coming to the African continent for the first time, but the quality of players on show could be up there with some of the greatest tournaments we’ve seen. Add to that wall to wall HD coverage for the first time as well as the highly unusual decision to screen some games in 3-D and we could be in for a treat.

The World Cup is just something special for me, I just immerse myself in it, taking in everything, every game, every supplement. I have to digest as much information as I can to sate my appetite for the tournament. The first World Cup final I watched was 1978 when Argentina beat the Netherlands and by 1982, I was hooked. The gap between tournaments seemed to last forever and I remember 1994 so sorely as England had, quite rightly failed to qualify.

I been priviledged to see some off the worlds greatest players and some of the best matches in my life in the World Cup but I’m going to be looking at players who have perhaps been left behind as football marches ever onward. I’m choosing ten players from 1930 that have slipped through the cracks and try and bring you up to date with them. Some of them should never be forgotten, so I hope you find the series as informative and interesting as the England Legend series.

For a lot of people, it could be the first time they get to experience the World Cup in all its glory. As football continues to grow in popularity around the world, especially in America, I hope you find something to entertain you and also make you look more of a connoisseur of the beautiful game. The fact that this could be the most open World Cup since 1982 adds even more spice to the pot and with some great group games coming up, it promises to be one of the more memorable tournaments.

Of course, I’ll be rooting for England, but don’t mistake my patriotism for blinkered xenophobia. I love football from all continents and I cannot wait to see how Argentina’s disaster can be transformed, how Spain can try for the international double and if Italy can successfully defend their title. All in all, I want a great tournament full of great football and hopefully the new series will get you all in the mood for it when it kicks off on June 11th

It was often said through out much of the last ten years that England’s midfield was its strongest point. With Beckham in his pomp and Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard ably assisted by a constant rotation of players wedged in to the left midfield position, it often felt a little hollow. In the big games, they disappeared too easily. Until Capello arrived, it was constantly suggested that Gerrard and Lampard couldn’t play together and to some degree it was correct. Yet, great players should be able to fit in to any system, regardless of their natural instincts.

For South Africa 2010, things are very different. Of course, Beckham has no chance to play in the World Cup, which is unfortunate. Gerrard has had his worst season since becoming a first team regular at Liverpool as Liverpool huffed and puffed their way through dull performance after dull performance. Even the ever consistent Lampard had his struggles at the beginning of the season as he tried to familiarise himself with Ancellotti’s diamond formation but has been rampant over the last few weeks.

Add to that the major worries that Capello has on England’s right side. Walcott out of form and in and out of the side, Shaun Wright-Phillips struggling and Aaron Lennon just returning to the Spurs squad. Of course, James Milner could easily slip into that position, but he’s been excellent playing through the middle for Villa this season and the managers quandary becomes apparent. The left side also is far from decided, with Joe Cole, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson and Ashley Young all having a claim on the position too.

Choices, choices choices but who to take. In 2006, Eriksson chose 9 midfielders in his squad of 23 and in 2002 took 7 midfielders. I’ve already picked 12 out of 23, which means I may have reflectively bump someone from the back line, but I’m going for 7 midfielders to join the squad.Gerrard, Lampard and Barry are all shoe-ins for me, no question. The question is who to add to that trio.

Crucially, James Milner has to be in, simply because he has been consistently outstanding this season. His ability to play on either wing, through the middle and even at right back cannot be overlooked. Sometimes a player who is so adaptable can sometimes be overlooked, but Milner’s case for inclusion is too strong. England’s record cap holder at Under 21 level has now progressed to becoming a valuable member of the squad. He has to be on the plane to South Africa.

That leaves several players scrapping for just 3 places, so best to rule a few out immediately. Adam Johnson, despite some rather unusual clamour for him to be included may find this is a tournament too early for him. He’s not really settled in to the Manchester City side, but is playing regularly but it would be a massive risk to take him as an international novice. Look at Theo Walcott in 2006, he never got a sniff of the first team and it probably cost England that they didn’t take Defoe or Bent instead. A bold move that backfired spectacularly.

Ashley Young is another one who is simply too widely inconsistent to be chosen along with Stewart Downing. Both Villa wing men can be devastating on their day but I don’t feel either can match the 3 wide players that I’ve chosen. Young is also easily got at, defenders can easily wind him up and he retreats into his shell too easily when things go against him. His distribution is so inconsistent as to be astounding, yes he may have pace by the bucket-load but invariably wastes great opportunities.

Downing, for all the clamour for a natural left footer, also flatters to deceive. I have constantly been amazed at the amount of hype this lad has had burdening him for so long because I can’t see what all the fuss is about. I’m assured by Middlesbrough fans he is a fantastic player, but I’ve never seen him have a great game, unlike some of his England rivals. So sorry, no place for him either.

The three I’ve plumped for may be classed as risks, but in the circumstances, all 3 can give us something the other contenders can’t. First up, Theo Walcott. The night he scored a hat trick against Croatia saw him jump in estimation, both in England and abroad. He has certainly continued to improve but still can’t force himself to become a regular at Arsenal. That’s no disrespect towards the lad, but he has been in devastating form for Arsenal when in form this year.

The other two may be the biggest risks of the lot, Joe Cole and Aaron Lennon. Both players have at times shown ability and skill that set them apart and both have benefited from the tutelage of Harry Redknapp. Lennon was highly regarded when he joined Spurs but he would be the first to admit that he’d slightly lost his way a little before Redknapp became manager. Until his injury, Lennon was playing the best football of his career and gave Spurs a thrust down the right flank that they’ve missed since December.

With him only just returning to fitness, Lennon could be a major risk but it could also be a bonus to take such devastating pace that has effectively had a four month break. Cole meanwhile has had similar struggles with injury and has the additional stress of his contract expiring in the summer. He is certain to be sure of plenty of suitors regardless of whether he stays at Chelsea or not. Cole has had a tough season but his grit is extremely underrated. Cole is a fighter, he digs in and he gives 100%, England can ask for nothing less.

So that’s my 7 midfielders for South Africa. Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Milner, Walcott, Lennon and Cole. With my choice of Ledley King too, it gives us cover in midfield if really required, but I feel those 7 can cover all eventualities. It’s got experience, pace, adaptability and skill. What do you think? Please let me know below:

After nearly two years of shadow boxing, the camps of Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov are about to start to the real battle for control of the Gunners. Arsenal’s 4th largest shareholder, Lady Bracewell-Smith is looking to sell her 15.9% share and his retained the U.S. based brokers Blackstones to find a buyer. With both potential owners well within the the minimum threshold, the temptation to bid for the chunk that Lady Bracewell-Smith wishes to relinquish will be tantalising.

The additional issue here is that the Arsenal board view Kroenke as the friendly option and have assisted him by selling him shares between £8,500 and £10,000 each. Usmanov is rightly or wrongly, viewed as an unwilling option to most of the remaining board members. Whilst the animosity that both suitors faced is certainly nowhere near the levels it appeared when they began to buy up stock, Kroenke is now in poll position to push his shareholding in to the realms of making a bid for the entire club. He’s been on the board since 2008 and has quietly and effectively bought up stock and shares as it’s been made available.

Of course, the news has come as something of a surprise but it would now seem as if Arsenal are quickly moving toward new ownership, sooner rather than later. Kroenke currently holds 29.98% and Usmanov holds 26.26%. If anyone goes over 30% then they must make an offer for the rest of the shares, similarly to the situation that Manchester United had on the build up to the Glazer takeover.

Yet critics of Kroenke will point to the walking disasters that the Glazer reign and the Hicks/Gillett pairing and the fact that both groups that now own Liverpool and Manchester United came from U.S. sporting backgrounds. The difference for me is that Kroenke holds an MSL team and is well aware of the nuances of English football, having seen the issues that have blighted English footballs two most famous clubs.

The animosity is similar yet different, Ferguson has the full support of the fans who can see his hands are tied. Benitez uses the situation to cover the dreadful tactics and signings he makes to garner support with the fans. Both set of fans are completely at odds with the owners and it would take an amazing series of gaffes for Kroenke to alienate the Arsenal support to anywhere near the level his compatriots have.

Silent Stan would seem to be the prime candidate to make a bid for Lady Bracewell-Smith’s shares and so trigger the takeover threshold. Ironically, Kroenke is currently facing a similar situation over his stake the St. Louis Rams, which I still can’t get used to them being known as even if has been 16 years since the left Los Angeles. Or maybe I’m just showing my age!

Currently a bid of $750 million dollars is on the table for 100% of the Rams, Kroenke currently holds 40% so could be set to make a tidy amount of around $300 million, which would probably leave him more than enough to purchase the remaining 70.02% of the Gunners. Add a fantastic stadium recently built, consistent top 4 finishes and a constant conveyor belt of talent groomed by Arsene Wenger and you have a fantastic opportunity to take over a top quality Premiership side.

The only possible issues for financial outlay are the clubs debt, which currently stands at just over £200 million and strengthening the clubs playing squad. Arsenal do not require major surgery either off or on the field, regardless of whether Cesc Fabregas stays or rejoins Barcelona in the summer. One things for certain, Kroenke is definitely in pole position to take control of Arsenal, sooner rather than later and the rivals saddled with massive debts, disappointed fans and player squads and grounds in need of overhaul will be watching with trepidation. Arsenal could be about to embark on another glorious era.

Well it’s not been the best season for either of England’s first choice centre halves so far. Enough has been written about John Terry’s problems and Rio Ferdinand’s chronic back injury to have caused meltdown on Google through searching for both issues. Thankfully, Terry’s form seems to be picking up again and Manchester United seem to have cured Ferdinand through a calming spell of rehabilitation.

The issue for England would seem to be cover for both players with several high profile replacements injured, retired or bang out of form. Capello has already shown that he rates Matthew Upson, and for all his Premier League problems, Upson is clearly the first choice as a back up centre half for the Italian. He’s been dependable and reliable for England when called upon though and is clearly on the plane to South Africa.

The only question mark would be West Ham United’s struggle in the relegation battle they currently find themselves in. Could relegation leave a hangover that could affect him? It will be interesting to see, but Upson should be strong enough to deal with whatever happens to West Ham. After that though, it becomes a bit of a lottery with a major question mark over another player Capello clearly rates, Ledley King.

For a player in this day and age to be able still perform without any real training week to week is astounding. Harry Redknapp rightly calls him a freak for being able to still continue at the top level and this will probably be his last major tournament for England. Even at 29, the toil of the injury will surely bring an end to the career of surely one of English football’s brightest talents far too early. Fully fit, it wouldn’t have surprised me if King had become a regular starter for his country. Unfortunately, we will never know.

Of the other two outstanding centre halves of this generation, one is seemingly more injury ravaged than King and the other retired after being consistently overlooked by Steve Mclaren. Jonathan Woodgate must have run over several black cats in his career, which like Kings, promised so much but has petered out in to a continual battle to even make it on a treatment table, never mind a pitch. When fit, Woodgate was a superb ball playing defender who could score a couple now and again. Time is certainly against him and he has no chance of being fit for the World Cup and maybe even the beginning of next season.

Jamie Carragher has stuck to his decision made back in July 2007 after being consistently overlooked by Steve Mclaren and no amount of pleading has seen him make himself available for selection. I kind of understand why he’d had enough, but hells bells, World Cups don’t just grown on trees. Yet, regardless of that, Carragher along with Wayne Bridge seem certain to stick to their principles. It’s a shame and Carragher is certainly deserving of more caps than he won.

Of the remaining contenders, Joleon Lescott has had a terrible season by the standards he set whilst at Everton. Injuries and criticism over the way he handled his £23 million move to Manchester City have certainly seemed to weigh on Lescott’s mind this season. Of course, his career at City along with his relationship with Kolo Toure is still in it’s infancy and it should settle down eventually, question is, will it settle down in time for the World Cup?

Phil Jagielka is another high profile candidate only recently returning to playing after a 9 month lay off through injury. He’s certainly impressed since joining Everton in the summer of 2007, but it could be a little too soon for him. He’s another that has impressed with the chances available to him at international level and looks set to be involved with the England set up in the European Championship qualifying rounds when they begin in September 2010.

The outstanding English centre half who is not an England regular for me this season has been Michael Dawson. It’s ironic that if King and Woodgate were fit, Dawson wouldn’t be playing, never mind captaining the side in King’s absence. In fact over the last 18 months, Dawson has come on leaps and bounds and has been playing excellently all of this season. Strong in the air, reliable and passionate, Dawson in my opinion, clearly deserves to go to the World Cup.

I was amazed when Ryan Shawcross was called up but Dawson overlooked once again, because he’s simply a better player at the current time. I doubt Capello picked the Stoke defender to deflect the criticism over the Ramsey challenge, but it was still a surprise. A pointless one in the end as he didn’t even get on the pitch, but the experience will have stood him in good stead. Shawcross is definitely one for the future though, along with Jagielka.

So for me, the final choice comes down to John Terry and Rio Ferdinand as first choice centre halves,  Matthew Upson and Michael Dawson and Ledley King, dodgy knee as well to make up 5, taking my squad to 12 players so far. King, despite the knee issue, offers cover in both central defence and midfield and deserves his last chance after cruelly missing out in 2006. So who would you choose?

If there’s one positive about David Sullivan’s outburst last week, such was the reaction to it, he’ll hopefully keep quiet until the end of the season. It’s a tricky situation when you’re a chairman of a club struggling at the wrong end of the table, but sometimes, you’ve got to keep quiet. In Sullivan’s case, that may be trickier than it sounds, such is his penchant for shouting about everything from the rooftops.

During his tenure at Birmingham City, Sullivan was quick to judge and had a constant battle with the fans of his ownership. The crowds were poor, even when Birmingham were chasing down the title last season, but having spoken to some Blues, I don’t think many people would pay £40 to watch your team play Scunthorpe in the second tier of English football.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Sullivan is certainly not to blame for West Ham’s current ills, but the rant last week simply confirmed for me that he doesn’t rate the current manager. Gianfranco Zola maybe one of the nicest men in football and a was a damn fine player in his time, but Sullivan, for me, clearly doesn’t rate him.

Of course, once Curbishley walked out due to the boardroom interference, the Hammers were always walking a tightrope. They are paying the price for splurging money on some very bad buys indeed and the Icelandic financial meltdown. It was always going to be tough for any manager and whilst eyebrows were raised at the time, the financial situation clearly scared most of the experienced candidates away from Upton Park.

That’s no offence to Zola, but it now seems certain in my mind that he was only given the job due to the lack of applicants. Managing a Premiership club, despite the financial implications, is a tantalising opportunity for anyone. Zola would have been mad to not take the job but he is beginning to resemble a dead man walking. The Hammers squad looks bereft of confidence and belief, two things you need in abundance when trying to get clear of a relegation scrap.

This is a side with youngsters being thrown in at the deep end and then left to drown, loan signings and journey men footballers bolted on to the players still remaining from the biscuit buyout. It is not a healthy mix for a squad and when you’re picking up strikers who have struggled in the top tier of France, you are always going to be in trouble. Zola seems unable to instill any fight in the side, though most teams would struggle to get anything out of a trio of games against Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

The defeat to Wolves left a bitter taste in most people’s mouths but it shouldn’t take anything away from the quality of Wolves’ performance. They were magnificent throughout the 90 minutes, despite West Ham’s problems. Of course, the one shining light throughout all the recent trouble has been the form of Scott Parker, who has continued to give 100% throughout his tenure. If only he could instill some of his grit and determination into some of his more experienced colleagues such as Matthew Upson or Mido.

Zola has been making do since he came to the club and I feel sorry for him and the West Ham fans. They expect better after seeing so much talent come through the club in the last 20 years, though sadly, none of it stayed for very long. The current crop of youngsters certainly have plenty of potential, but blooding them in a relegation scrap with chairman mentioning financial armageddon every other week doesn’t help any of them. Yet what can Zola do? His hands are clearly tied financially and with the players taking Sullivan’s words the wrong way, it doesn’t auger well for the fight that is yet to come.

With Hull suddenly finding a bit of form, and the gap to safety having stretched to four points, the Hammers have it all to do. A visit to Goodison on Sunday, with Chelsea and Manchester United already beaten there is a cause for concern. The final match of the season against Manchester City points to the irony of Carlos Tevez being in a position to relegate a side he kept up just 3 seasons ago.