Editor’s note/warning: A version of this analysis will be published on Jan. 8 by the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective. Andrew has been kind enough to adapt his work for World Soccer Talk ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup matchups. Any precision lost in the editing of this post is unintentional and may not represent Andrew’s conclusions.

This weekend marks the third round of England’s FA Cup – the culmination of a process that begins each August, when every club, professional or amateur, hopes to become one of the 20 teams from the third division or below to be alive come the first weekend in January. Theoretically, and with a little bit of luck, every club has a chance at a glory tie with Manchester United at Old Trafford or Liverpool at Anfield after England’s top two tiers enter the draw.

Thanks to that format, the FA Cup has recorded its fair share of “giant killings” over the years: fourth division Wrexham defeated defending league champions Arsenal in 1992; amateur side Hereford United beat top flight Newcastle United in 1972, courtesy of Ronnie Radford’s memorable goal; conference side Sutton United defeated 1987 winners Coventry City in 1989; and as recently as 2013, fifth division Luton Town defeated a Premier League club, Norwich City.

Based on that history, I decided to try and determine the probabilities of teams advancing in the FA Cup based solely on their divisional status. What are the odds a team gets to the quarterfinals given that they are from, say, the second division? Or a fourth-tier team making it all the way to Wembley? What’s the probability of a non-league side can actually lift the Cup? What are the odds of having a true Cinderella?

SEE MORE: Why the Capital One Cup is better than the FA Cup.

Unfortunately, because of promotion and relegation, the division of some teams changes from year to year, and I was only able to easily find divisional status covering the last four years. That’s what I used as my sample.

For those unaware of the format, there is no seeding in the FA Cup. In every round, all the participating teams are put into a hat, and matchups are determined by a blind draw. The first team out of the hat plays at home, the next is their opponent, and so on. Sometimes the best teams play each other super early, like when Manchester United and Manchester City met in the third round in 2012, or Tottenham Hotspur met Arsenal at the same stage in 2014. But this can also mean lower-level teams can get the luck of the draw. Championship side Millwall reached the final in 2004 without having to play a single Premier League team (they eventually lost the final 3-0 to Manchester United).

To start, I went through every FA Cup tie over the last four years to determine the probability of specific upsets given specific divisions. For example, in 67 meetings between Premier League and Championship teams, Premier League teams won 52. This is reflected in the table below.

Notes: Any team from below the fourth division was classified as non-league. The lowest team to reach the third round in the last four years was seventh-tier Blyth Spartans, who lost 3-2 to Championship side Birmingham City. The rows indicate the division, and the fraction represents the number of wins over the number of matchups against teams from the division in the columns. There were no matchups between League Two and non-league teams in the third round or later.

Over the last four years, the third round has featured an average of 9.75 teams from League One, 6.25 teams from League Two and 4 non-league teams, in addition to the 44 teams from the top two tiers of English football. Based on this, I was able to calculate the expected number of teams from each tier to appear in each round of the cup.

The ratios above create a series of probabilities – the likelihood of a team from one division defeating a team from another. But because the sample size for matchups between teams from League One, League Two, and non-league football was so small, I gave them each a 50% chance of beating each other, regardless of divisional status. This is a reasonable assumption considering further down the leagues income disparities level off, and teams are of a much closer caliber. (Also, the probability of beating a team from your own division is 50%. One team has to win, and one team has to lose.)

SEE MORE: The FA Cup is in Tottenham’s DNA; the club needs to take it seriously.

Based on those probabilities, above, we can determine an expected number of teams from each level for each round of the FA Cup. I did this by taking the probability of drawing a team from each division and multiplying the probability of beating a team from that division. I then used the formula for expected value to find the expected number of teams from each division in each round.

At each new round, I had to repeated this process. At each new level of the competition, the ratio of Premier League teams increases, making it more likely a team from a lower level would be drawn against a first-tier side.

Here are the number of teams from each level of English football that we can expect at the FA Cup’s various rounds:

Using these values, I was able to determine the probability of a team from a specific division reaching a given round of the competition. In percentages:

Some oddities do occur from the small sample size. For example, Luton Town’s victory over Norwich City in 2013 creates the illusion that the odds of a non-league side defeating a Premier League side is one in eight, when in reality it is much, much lower (the previous non-league side to beat a top flight team was Sutton United in 1989). It should also be noted that the probabilities for the teams in the lower three categories are the probabilities given that they reach the third round of the competition.

Based on these numbers, we should see a non-league team reach the final of the FA Cup about once every 125 years. The last non-league team to win the FA Cup? Tottenham Hotspur, then playing in the Southern League, in 1901.

This year, there’s only one non-league team in the third round: Eastleigh, who play at home to Championship side Bolton. Here’s hoping they pull off the remarkable and become a true Cinderella!

The third round of the FA Cup is fast approaching, and the usual argument of “forget it, play the second XI” is appearing on many internet threads. So this begs the question: Should Tottenham play weakened sides in the FA Cup to reduce fixture congestion and increase their chances of finishing higher in the Premier League?

The answer to this question, in my opinion, is a resounding no. The FA Cup is an integral part of the history and tradition of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, and it would be a disgrace to disrespect the competition.

Ask any Tottenham fan what their most memorable moments supporting Spurs are and the three most likely answers are likely:

1. Paul Gascoigne’s free kick,
2. “It’s still Ricky Villa!!!” and
3. (for the older generation) winning the double in 1961.

What do those moments have in common? They all are related to the FA Cup.

Tottenham and the FA Cup go hand in hand. Spurs were the first team to win the FA Cup in the 20th century, the last non-league side to lift the trophy, the first team to complete the league and cup double in the 20th century and have won the competition eight times (third most, behind Arsenal and Manchester United).

Most Spurs fans know by heart the chorus of “Ossie’s Dream,” the song recorded for the 1981 FA Cup final with its famous line of “in da cup for Tottingham” recorded by none other than star Argentine Osvaldo Ardiles. In fact, “Spurs are on their way to Wembley” is heard from the Park Lane during every cup tie at White Hart Lane (even in the Europa League, where the final destination is not Wembley). Other cup final songs include “Come on You Spurs” (1982), “Hot Shot Tottenham” (1987) and “When the Year Ends in One” (1991), all included in every devoted Tottenham fan’s repertoire.

However, Tottenham fans of the younger generations (including myself) have never experienced such incredible heights. Bar two League Cup triumphs in 1999 and 2008, Tottenham have not won a major trophy since the 1991 FA Cup – the last time the team reached an FA Cup final. Although Spurs have been to six semifinals in that time (with three of them played at Wembley), they have lost all six. No fan under the age of 25 can say they have personally experienced Cup Final day with Tottenham Hotspur.

SEE MORE: Tottenham are showing that a title challenge is possible.

Tottenham are not a big enough club with a track record of success that allows them to pick and choose which competitions to target. Especially with such a young squad, a culture of winning needs to be engrained, and the FA Cup is the perfect way to get that ball rolling. Manchester City won the FA Cup the year before winning the Premier League in 2012, which started to blood a culture of winning into their mish mash of overpaid stars. Very few (if any) players in the current Tottenham squad have won a trophy at first team level, so why should we give up the chance to win one? Especially one that only requires winning six matches?

Tottenham fans ridicule Arsenal about their seemingly annual “fourth place trophy”,” but isn’t it hypocritical to give up the chance of at silverware to chase precisely that? Finishing fourth is not a trophy. It grants access to the seemingly elusive UEFA Champions League, but fourth is not the be all and end all of supporting Spurs.

Six years ago, the top four teams in the Premier League were leaps and bounds ahead of the pack. Finishing fourth was necessary to break that stranglehold held by Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. However, with a vastly increased domestic television revenue, the rise to prominence of smaller clubs like Leicester City and Crystal Palace and the relative demise of the financial heavyweights, the need to finish in the top four is not as great as it once was.

Tottenham have the youngest side in the Premier League and will only improve from here on out. Thirty years from now, most supporters would not harbor such strong memories of a fourth place finish, but many would remember an FA Cup triumph, just like the current generation remembers the club’s previous successes.

Many fans also believe that cup runs lead to a dip in league form. I do not believe this is true. A perfect example is Tottenham last season. The time between defeating Newcastle 4-0 in the League Cup quarterfinal and the tournament’s final coincided with the best run of form Spurs had all season. That run included memorable victories over Chelsea and Arsenal as well as a dramatic last gasp equalizer against our friends from East London. There was a definitive buzz around White Hart Lane brought about by the impending trip to Wembley, one that energized everyone associated with the club. After the final defeat to Chelsea, there was a sense of a letdown, lethargy and dejection throughout the last 12 league fixtures, despite Spurs being within a realistic shout of the top four (only three points back before a 3-0 loss at Old Trafford on March 15).

SEE MORE: Klopp and Pochettino are the trend-setters the Premier League needs.

The FA Cup also provides this season’s easiest route to silverware. Although the Europa League knockout stage requires fewer rounds (five instead of six), the ties are two-legged and require playing two matches a week throughout the second half of the season. There are also 12 or 15 strong clubs still in the Europa League. Many will be going all out to win it.

The FA Cup, meanwhile, only requires one match per week (excluding replays) and features lesser opponents. If Spurs get past Leicester, they face a greater than 20 percent chance of drawing a non-Premier League club in Round 4, and still decent chances of drawing lower league clubs after that (Arsenal only faced two Premier League teams before the final last year).

The Europa League is Europe’s secondary cup competition, while the FA Cup is England’s premier domestic cup. For that reason alone, I think the FA Cup would be more prestigious.

Tottenham fans are foolish to suggest the club not take the FA Cup seriously. It is a competition that is deeply entrenched with the tradition and history the club, and it provides another opportunity to break a trophy drought that has gone on too long.

Tottenham fans, let me know your thoughts about the FA Cup and expectations for the rest of this season in the comments below.

It’s the magic of the cup. A second division side drawn to play away from home against their local rivals, a “proper cup tie” some might call it. It’s David against Goliath, a potential giant killing, a banana skin, as well as a local derby. It has all the storylines one would want. An expanded away following that typically comes with a glamor tie is on hand for these romantic cup ties is on hand and prepared to make their presence felt. This match has the potential to be a classic. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to get the message and the stadium was about a third full, mostly made up by season ticket holders getting free tickets and passionate away fans.

My first experience with the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was 10 years ago on a Wednesday night in Ocean City, New Jersey. As a child, I used to spend my summers down on the Jersey Shore and my family would frequently attend the home matches of the Ocean City Barons (since renamed Nor’Easters) of the PDL and sometimes I would double up as a ball boy. That night’s opponents were the Long Island Rough Riders, then playing in the old USL Second Division (third step on the US Soccer Pyramid). I was told that if Ocean City won this game and their next game they would play against D.C. United. As an impressionable nine-year-old, I thought the idea of this local team made up of current college students, who played their home matches on a high school football field, playing against professional side D.C. United was the coolest thing ever. I had no idea what this competition was or any of its history or tradition or its place in American Soccer, but I was immediately hooked. It would be another five years before I would start following soccer religiously and learning about the concept of knockout cup competitions, specifically the F.A. Cup, but there was nothing I wanted more than my little Ocean City Barons to take on D.C. United.

Ocean City, despite being a step below their opponents on the pyramid, thrashed the Rough Riders 3-0 that night to move one step closer to that dream date with D.C. United. In the next round, Ocean City met USL-1 (second tier) side Richmond Kickers and went ahead on four minutes. The shock was on! D.C. United awaited! Well, not really, Kickers scored the next four goals and went on to win 8-4 and Ocean City were out. No matchup with D.C. United but the two game journey and hope made me fall in love with the U.S. Open Cup. Ocean City would later get MLS dates when they played D.C. United in 2009 and Philadelphia Union in 2013, but by that point I had moved on from spending summers in Ocean City and did not have the opportunity to enjoy it.

Last night, I headed to Red Bull Arena for a Round of 16 U.S. Open Cup match and local derby between New York Red Bulls and New York Cosmos. A year earlier, Cosmos had thrashed Red Bulls 3-0 in the Open Cup, opening some eyebrows in the soccer community, but ultimately dismissed as the Red Bulls benched most of their first team. To Cosmos, this was their joint-biggest match of the season, alongside the previous round’s victory of NYCFC on penalties. They had signed two former Spain Internationals in Raúl and Marco Senna, sold some shirts with Pelé and Beckenbauer on the back to trade on the history of their previous incarnation and done some goodwill diplomatic relations by playing a friendly in Havana against the Cuban National team. But as a second division team in a soccer pyramid that does not have merit based promotion or relegation, the U.S. Open Cup provides their only opportunity to prove their worth against MLS teams, as well as their only opportunity to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League and gain more exposure.

As a result, a decent number of Cosmos fans came out both in their away section (about 300) as well as scattered around the rest of the stadium. For an away team in North American sports, the turnout was impressive. However, for a similar FA or League Cup game in England for a second division team playing an hour’s drive away from home against a supposed rival, anything less than 1,000 would be considered pitiful, exacerbated by the fact that Cosmos draw from such a large geographic area. The rest of the stadium, save the Red Bull supporters group behind the goal opposite the travelling Cosmos fans, was empty. Huge swaths of the upper deck were vacant and the aesthetics for what was to me a very classic and mouthwatering cup-tie were very disappointing. When Watford were drawn away to Chelsea in this season’s third round of the FA Cup, 6,000 Hornets made the trip across West London to Stamford Bridge and many more were left complaining about the club’s ticket distribution policy and their inability to get tickets. The home end of the stadium also sold out. Simultaneously across London, Arsenal took on Hull City at The Emirates in front of 60,000. While I am not expecting anything close to the levels of support that the English enjoy, it provides a pretty stark comparison to what I witnessed at Red Bull Arena last night.

To be fair, those inside the stadium did make a very good amount of noise (although the Cosmos drum bleating the same three songs, two of which were in Spanish, the entire night got a bit boring) and the match itself was very entertaining (a 4-1 Red Bulls victory to set up a date with Philadelphia Union in the last eight). But it made me wonder, how could 48,000 people cram into Yankee Stadium three days earlier for a regular season MLS game, but only an announced attendance of 11,000 (although my Dad and I both estimated it was more like 8,000) come for a very meaningful knockout game in the oldest competition in U.S. Soccer history.

Unfortunately, the American people (at least in New York) still are not completely sold on the beautiful game of soccer and unfortunately rely on marketing schemes to get fans to come out in droves for the game. The week before last week’s “Hudson River Derby,” my Facebook was full of advertisements trying to get me to buy tickets for the game. Every time I turned on ESPN, there was an advertisement for “Rivalry Week: NYCFC vs. New York Red Bulls at 4:30 on ESPN followed by Portland Timbers vs. Seattle Sounders on Fox Sports 1.” I must have seen the ad 20 times in the week before the match. For the U.S. Open Cup tie? Not so much. I might have seen one ad on my Facebook page the day before the match and that was it. What worries me is that apart from the diehard supporters of our sport, who will follow their team to every match, the next tier of “fans” are really just not that actively interested in the sport and do not really go for the whole “romantic” side of the sport unless it is served to them on a silver platter on ESPN, NBCSN or Fox Sports 1.

As for the Lamar U.S. Open Cup itself, despite all its history and tradition, it is a European idea stuck in an American sporting model. With the MLS Cup Playoffs also being a knockout cup competition with the incentive of being named league champion, the U.S. Open Cup seems a bit superfluous. Take, for example, the New York Red Bulls. They have never won a trophy (apart from a 2013 Supporters Shield) in their 20-year history and this year for the first time they have decided to take the U.S. Open Cup seriously by naming nearly full strength lineups in the last two rounds. But how seriously are they really taking it? The week of the quarterfinals, a date that has been set in stone for months, Red Bulls set up a money grabbing, sure to be sold out friendly against English Premier League champions Chelsea. When given the option between money and the chance to progress in the premier domestic cup competition that the country has to offer, the Red Bulls took the money and ran. That unfortunately is the problem in the modern game. It’s a shame really, because the Open Cup is a great competition that is not being given the proper spectrum to shine in. The die-hards will continue to come out, but unless there is a revamp or an increase in exposure, the casual fans will either stay away or remain ignorant. To me, the Open Cup is a good barometer of how much people actually care about the domestic game up and down the pyramid and are willing to make it succeed as opposed to being lured in by heavy-handed marketing tools or big name European friendly opposition. And unfortunately in that regard, soccer still has a long, long way to go to being a top tier American sport.

After a year of living in London and attending quite a few matches, I came home to my native New York just in time for the biggest fixture on the New York soccer calendar, the Hudson River Derby between New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and New York Red Bulls.

I attended six London derbies this year of varying intensity and hatred between the two sets of supporters. I attended three at White Hart Lane (against Crystal Palace, Chelsea and West Ham), two away derbies with Spurs (Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Queen’s Park Rangers at Loftus Road), and one as a “neutral” (a Good Friday Southeast London Derby in the Championship between Millwall and Charlton at The Den).

I was curious to see what the atmosphere of a MLS derby was like and how it compared to London derbies.

Before this, I had never really given MLS much of a chance as I often needed a break from soccer after the Premier League season ended and the subsequent major international tournaments. Some readers of this website might label me a “Eurosnob” but this year I am making a conscious effort to try and follow MLS and its growing tradition. Unfortunately, as a Tottenham supporter who was raised by his father to root for Boston sports teams, specifically the Boston Red Sox, it is pretty hard for me to get behind either of the New York teams (please feel free to persuade me one way or the other in the comments). So, I decided to take this in as a neutral but root for NYCFC (as much as it pained me to root for a team owned by the Yankees) as they were the home team.

Entering the stadium was quite different from what I was accustomed to in England as all fans were forced to go through a metal detector to gain entry. I never was subjected to a metal detector on any of my five away days with Tottenham, although I was subjected to bomb-sniffing dogs at Stamford Bridge and two body searches in Florence. I also never had to go through any checks to enter any home ends so this caught me a little off guard.

Upon entering Yankee Stadium, the cramped concourses, disgusting toilets, miniscule leg room and vomitus food at London grounds like Craven Cottage, Loftus Road and White Hart Lane were gone to be replaced by a wide variety of delicious food, ample leg room and a cavernous Yankee Stadium. In terms of comfort, Yankee Stadium is way superior to any stadium in London except maybe Wembley and Emirates Stadium. Unfortunately, Yankee Stadium was designed for baseball and not soccer and that detracted from the overall experience and atmosphere of the match.

Both New York City F.C. and New York Red Bulls brought a sizable contingent of boisterous fans to the match. The NYCFC supporters section were placed behind a goal in the left field bleachers. I would say there were about 2,000 supporters in that section and they constituted what would normally be the singing section at many Premier League grounds. The traveling RBNY support was about 1,000-1,500 (in the official Red Bulls section) and they unfortunately were placed in the 300 level along the right field foul line. The two supporters sections were probably 150 yards apart from each other (with the Red Bulls supporter section at least 50 feet off the ground) so the two sets of supporters were more or less independent and not reactive to one another as is often the case in England. The rest of the stadium, which is where I was sitting (I was behind the left field foul pole in the Upper Deck), was roughly 75% NYCFC fans and 25% Red Bulls fans.

In the build up to the match, both teams conducted the traditional pre-match singsong that I had become accustomed to watching Spurs away from home. Unfortunately, I could not hear either sets of supporters very clearly because the PA system was blaring out pop songs at a very high decibel level, something I am more accustomed to seeing at other North American professional sporting events and not soccer matches. This was disappointing as the pre-match singsong is one of my favorite parts of a match as everyone is getting revved up. As the public address announcer read out the starting lineup for the visiting Red Bulls, the people in the supporters section for NYCFC yelled out “SUCKS!” after each player’s name. While this sounds like something that would be heard in Europe, it is not and I am more accustomed to hearing stuff like that at heated NCAA ice hockey games (although truth be told heated NCAA ice hockey games can create some really special atmospheres). This NCAA hockey type feeling was accentuated when during the national anthem the Red Bulls supporters screamed “RED!” during the line “rockets red glare.” Cornell University hockey fans have used the tradition of yelling “Red!” during the national anthem for decades.

As the players walked out onto the field, the NYCFC supporters displayed a few tifos. One of them read “Red Bull: Killing Soccer since ’04… Salzburg, Leipzig, Metrostars” which was a dig at the team being named after an energy drink. Another read “Now playing in New York City. Live! One night only” and the final one was a fake Playbill ad labeled “Jersey Boys” with pictures of Red Bulls players underneath it. These last two were clear digs at RBNY actually being from New Jersey, despite having New York in their name, which eerily reminded me of Tottenham fans singing “F*ck off back to Woolwich, North London is ours!” at Arsenal fans during North London derbies. New York City are trying to market themselves as the team for the people of the Five Boroughs, while the other two “New York” teams (Red Bulls and Cosmos) are representative of New Jersey and Long Island respectively. While this does seem quite petty, it does form the basis for animosity between the three New York clubs that is somewhat similar to the complex network and disputes between the 15 professional London clubs.

As the match kicked off, both sets of supporters were very loud and did everything they could to create a good atmosphere. Unfortunately, the acoustics at Yankee Stadium are not conducive to creating an intense soccer atmosphere that I had become accustomed to during big matches at White Hart Lane and other London grounds. I could barely make out the lyrics to the NYCFC songs and I could not make out any of the words to the Red Bulls songs unless they were chanting “Let’s Go Red Bulls!”  This was quite disappointing as the supporters did try their best to create an atmosphere, but the problem is that Yankee Stadium is too big and the fans are spaced too far apart from one another. A ground like QPR’s Loftus Road, which only seats 18,000 people, is much noisier than Yankee Stadium with 48,047 in attendance because the fans are right on top of the field and the noise is confined into a much smaller space. Maybe the noise levels were better on the lower levels but the fact that the traveling Red Bulls support was situated in the upper deck effectively meant that the two sets of singing supporters were acting as if they were in absence of their counterparts.

I should also note that American fans’ chanting is very different from English fans singing. Most of the chants I heard from NYCFC fans did not have a tune to them and were chanted at very similar cadences to the more traditional chants you hear at NFL, NBA or MLB games as opposed to the songs that have a tune attached and are much easier (at least to me) on the ear. However, it is good to see that Americans are trying to create their own fan culture that sort of combines English and South American fan cultures. While that culture is not quite there yet, it definitely has great potential to improve and transform into something fantastic.

Six minutes in, New York City took the lead through Tommy McNamara and the stadium erupted. Someone in the supporters section let off a smoke bomb, something I had not seen since Watford’s promotion party at Vicarage Road at the beginning of May. Some fans from that section threw ribbons out onto the field. The enthusiasm and the rabid support was an amazing sight to see.

The match eventually settled down. New York City continued on the front foot for much of the first half, but Red Bulls finally got into the half and dominated the last five minutes before halftime.

There was a very annoying, unknowledgeable fan sitting behind me who overreacted to each and every play as well as a drunken fan to the right of me who was shouting out hockey references such as “shoot it! This isn’t a Rangers Power Play!” which slightly ruined the experience for me as I have become very accustomed to watching matches with very knowledgeable (or silent) audiences. Midway through the half, a loud roar was heard around the stadium during the middle of a passage of play, which confused me until I looked up at the Jumbotron and saw Frank Lampard sitting next to Andrea Pirlo, confirming the rumors that NYCFC’s signing of Pirlo is imminent. This led to the crowd chanting “We Want Pirlo!”

The halftime playlist of songs contained many songs that were specific to the Five Boroughs such as “No Sleep ’til Brooklyn” or “Brooklyn We Go Hard,” (a song that I learned when attending a pair of Brooklyn Nets games last season) underscoring the notion that NYCFC are the team of the Five Boroughs.

The Red Bulls came out firing in the second half and equalized right after the restart through Bradley Wright-Phillips. The Red Bulls section went wild at the goal with the familiar sound of loud, distant cheering when the home team concedes. However, now that I am now used to segregated seating in English stadiums, it was quite odd to see many people sitting in my section stand up and applaud the goal.

The goalscorer, Wright-Phillips, reminded me of a nasty song that Tottenham fans sang at Bradley’s brother Shaun when I was at Loftus Road in March. Given that it was about a member of their immediate family, it could easily be transferred to Bradley, but I am pretty sure I was the only one out of the 48,000 at Yankee Stadium who was thinking along those lines.

Red Bulls were in the lead six minutes later and similar scenes were repeated. Some fans in the sections adjacent to mine started chants of “Let’s Go Red Bulls,” which made me feel like I was at a Mets-Yankees game at Citi Field as opposed to a soccer derby.

During the second half, the NYCFC supporters’ section did the bouncy, which was one of the coolest things I have ever seen and I had never seen it successfully pulled off in England.

Red Bulls added a third in the 75th minute through Matt Miazga, and for the celebration he ran to third base and pretended to hit a home run to the traveling support, making light of the ridiculousness of playing a soccer match on a field that has baseball imprints on it. After the Red Bulls’ third, the proceedings were fairly academic. However, a group of Red Bulls fans that were wearing black shirts at the beginning of the match (most of the travelling support was wearing red) decided to take their shirts off in the last 10 minutes, which was pretty funny. At full-time, the Red Bulls players applauded their supporters and did the traditional hold hands and run towards the supporters, while the NYCFC fans started to slowly file out of Yankee Stadium.

After the match, I decided to walk over to where the Red Bulls supporters were situated to get a sense of the atmosphere. When I got there, they were all chanting “New York’s Red” in front of NYCFC supporters. If this had happened in England, there would have been a fight. Fortunately, American supporters are less aggressive in nature and the NYCFC fans just continued walking with long faces. The elation in their celebrations seemed very real and very genuine after victory over their “noisy neighbors.” Although the teams have only played twice, there does seem to be some animosity between the two clubs as both matches were very heated on the field. Both sets of supporters have legitimate reasons to dislike their counterparts and as a result there is understandable elation at victory.

Overall, I found the experience to be a good one but very different from my experiences this year in London.

In terms of animosity between fans, it seemed to be somewhat on par with Millwall against Charlton, minus the inappropriate chants and the police forcing the Charlton fans to stay behind for 40 minutes after the match. The two teams dislike each other but there is not any real hatred (Millwall’s main rival is West Ham). I did not hear a single chant from NYCFC supporters that were specifically aimed at Red Bulls (other than the pre match tifos), which cannot be said about the Spurs against Chelsea and Spurs against West Ham derbies.

Although the rivalry does seem a bit convoluted and a marketing tool to spark interest in soccer in the New York City area, it does seem to have worked for the time being.

What worries me though is that NYCFC’s attendance can suffer once the novelty of having a team at Yankee Stadium wears off, similar to how fans stopped flocking to the Barclays Center to watch the Brooklyn Nets once that novelty wore off. NYCFC needs a new stadium to create a better match day atmosphere, as Yankee Stadium is just not a soccer stadium and the sound does not carry well.

I love that NYCFC (and Red Bulls) are trying to create their own fan traditions that do not just copy the British or South Americans but instead integrate their ideas into their own distinct American soccer culture.

When I first started watching soccer passionately five years ago, the thought of seeing 48,000 people cram into Yankee Stadium to watch an MLS match between two New York City teams would have been unfathomable. Soccer has grown so much in this country and it’s amazing to see it continue to increase. While I still prefer the English atmosphere as that is what I have become accustomed to, the MLS creates a great, family friendly matchday experience and have left themselves with a ton of room to grow with a burgeoning fan base.

Fortunately, I only have to wait one more day for another New York derby as New York Cosmos head to Red Bull Arena in the US Open Cup Round of 16 and I’m really looking forward to it!

Day 2 of the Kicking and Screening Soccer Film Festival in New York City provided the option of watching two films that were very different in style and content. The first option was a film called Soccer For Socrates, which was about how Northern Ireland’s appearance in the 1986 World Cup united the country that was still in the middle of The Troubles. The other, titled United We Fall, was a satirical film about five boys who “play for the same team David Beckham played for” and try to conquer the world and ultimately fail. It was supposed to be a spoof on the Class of ‘92 documentary but the other film seemed to have much more significance culturally so I decided to watch the one about Northern Ireland.

I was very excited to watch this film, as I knew very little about The Troubles of Northern Ireland so I was hoping to see a film that was predominantly focused on the social fabric of Northern Ireland with the soccer being a uniting theme. Unfortunately, I was left very disappointed by this film. The film tried to integrate four or five different storylines into one and it just turned into a very confusing conglomeration that did not effectively portray the (admittedly powerful) message that the film was trying to portray.

The film cuts in and out between four different plots. The first, and most prevalent plot is of the team preparing for and then competing in the World Cup in Mexico. The film takes a closer look at twenty-year-old Nottingham Forest midfielder David Campbell who receives a surprise call up to the team and the manager. Neither of these characters seemed to add anything with the message that the film was trying to convey and were pretty annoying distractions. There was also a young boy growing up in Belfast who loves the sport and sees a riot in the streets one night but it does not really seem to affect him. This lack of emotion was a missed opportunity to portray a powerful message. There is also the Brazilian player Socrates, who helped take down the pro military government in Brazil, who evokes fear in the Northern Irish players and public before their final group stage match. Again, his character was badly misused, as the references to his political history were vague and mentioned in passing.

These loosely related plot lines come together for the final group stage match between Northern Ireland and Brazil, a match that the Northern Irish needed to win to have any hopes of progression to the knockout stage. There are more vague references to the Troubles in Northern Ireland and that “Catholics and Protestants have come together to support their country” by showing a Belfast pub and not indicating who has Catholic and who was Protestant. Northern Ireland lose the match 3-0 and everyone looks heartbroken after the match and the film ends there.

This film was a missed opportunity to portray an extremely powerful message about a turbulent time in the relationship between Great Britain and Ireland. By using some fictitious characters and fake clips of the matches, the movie seems almost fake. Oh, and to sum it up… Sepp Blatter makes a cameo appearance when revealing the groups for the tournament. This might be a film worth seeing but expectations must be managed before viewing and it was a massive letdown on a very promising storyline.

SEE MORE — Review of ‘Jack To A King’ documentary that chronicles Swansea’s magical flight.

On a brighter note, after the film, Kicking and Screening held a panel where representatives from “Soccer without Borders” and “Spirit of Soccer” were invited in to talk about their experiences helping children in third world countries lead a better life through soccer. This panel was very moving and an example of the power of our beautiful sport, something that in the current climate of the world’s game was a very welcome reminder.

Kicking and Screening continues tonight with two films about supporters groups — one about the Philadelphia Union’s Sons of Ben and another about the supporters of Standard Liege.

This week, New York City is the home of the Kicking and Screening Soccer Film Festival, which launched Tuesday night and continues until Friday. The festival features seven films from seven different countries that mainly focus on the fan’s impact on the sport. The first three nights feature two films a night while Friday night features one.

The festival is housed in the small Tribeca Cinemas, a very short walk from the A, C and 1 Canal Street subway stops. If you live in New York City, I strongly encourage you to come on at least one of the final three nights of this wonderful festival as the films explore a different side of soccer that does not get highlighted often enough and creates the soul of the sport that we all know and love.

The choice of films for the first night were Jack to a King, which chronicles Swansea City’s rise from near bankruptcy and relegation to a Premier League side in the span of ten years, and a Wonderful Season of Failure, which chronicles the 2013/14 Bari F.C. season that captivated the city through the eyes of the supporters as their team pushed and ultimately failed to secure promotion to Serie A. Both films looked amazing but unfortunately I had to choose one, and because I had just returned from a year in the United Kingdom where I immersed myself in the tradition and lore of the smaller London clubs, I chose the film about Swansea City.

SEE MORE — Listen to our interview with Jack To A King executive producer Mal Pope.

People who have only recently started watching the Premier League would associate Swansea City as being an established mid-table Premier League side who do not quite have the quality to challenge for Europe but have too much quality to even fathom the idea of relegation. However, this was not always the case and the film describes the journey from staring relegation to the Conference in the face to the Premier League.

The film begins at the end of the story, with the players walking out onto the field at Wembley for their 2011 Championship Playoff Final against Reading and then talks about some of the history and tradition of Swansea City, most notably that in the 1980s Swansea City were in the old First Division (since rebranded to today’s Premier League) and were a relatively successful provincial club with a strong fan base. The film also paints a very real image of Swansea’s former stadium, Vetch Field, which was a proper British football ground, decrepit and falling down but more than made up for by the atmosphere generated and the sense of home.

Swansea City’s East Stand at Vetch Field after the club had moved to the Liberty Stadium.

The film then chronicles Swansea at its lowest point and goes into painstaking detail about the difficulties of the club and how it ended up in the hands of a certain Tony Petty. Tony Petty was notorious in Swansea after terminating the contracts of the six highest earners to save costs. Not surprisingly, the supporters started to rebel against him (in a similar manner to how Blackpool supporters are now rebelling against the Oyston Family). A significant portion of the film is devoted to Petty’s actions, the supporters’ reactions (some of which were very extreme) and his subsequent sale of the club to a supporters trust that had been set up after disillusionment with Petty’s practices. The film also details the ten men who each donated £50,000 to save the club and ran the club as a consortium.

Despite being taken over, Swansea were in grave danger of being relegated from the old Third Division (now League Two) and losing their professional status and needed a last day win over Hull (who ironically reached the Premier League three seasons before Swansea despite also being stuck in the fourth tier) to preserve their place in the Football League. The film perfectly summarizes the mood around the city of Swansea and the football club leading up to and during the match. Swansea won 4-2 after falling behind 2-1 and preserved their league status.

One criticism I have of this film is that the rest of it feels very rushed. They spend a pretty significant chunk of time talking about the appointment of Roberto Martinez as manager and his implementation of the Spanish style of play with lots of passing. They also spend a bit of time talking about the move from Vetch Field to the Liberty Stadium. Very little is said about their promotions from the fourth and third divisions respectively and it is heavily implied that Brendan Rodgers succeeded Martinez after Martinez left for Wigan (he did not; Paulo Sousa did). While this does not take away from the overall message that the film is trying to convey, I found this bit of the film very difficult to comprehend, as I was never sure what period of time they were referring to.

Fans lining up at the Kicking And Screaming Festival to watch ‘Jack To A King’ in New York City

After this somewhat rushed sequence, Swansea City find themselves at Wembley (albeit somewhat abruptly as there is no mention of their time in the Championship). Similarly to the description of the relegation decider against Hull, the film does a very good job at capturing the emotions and mood of all involved with the playoff final and the celebrations at full time. The film also provides many déjà vu moments from the match against Hull City eight years prior.

Despite being unable to decipher some of the more minute details of Swansea’s rise through the leagues, the film is an amazing portrayal of a real life rags to riches story. In a modern age where too much media attention is given to the top one percent of the sport and the global superpowers (Barcelona, Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea etc.), this film is an amazing reminder of what the sport is really all about. Without the fans, the sport would be nothing and this story of how the fans saved a football club and within ten years took it to dizzying new heights should be an inspiration to all soccer fans worldwide.

Soccer is a sport that unites all and provides many with a sense of identity. For the people of the City of Swansea in South Wales, their football club was deemed too important to disappear and they took action to ensure that this did not occur. For fans of “big” clubs, this film should be an eye opening experience and a realization that there is a lot more to soccer than exorbitant transfer fees and racking up as many trophies as possible. Whether you support Chelsea or Bristol Rovers, this film is a must see.

Again, I urge anyone in the New York City area to come out and attend one of the next three nights as the film lineup looks superb. Tonight gives the option between a film about Northern Ireland during the 1986 World Cup amidst The Troubles and a satirical film about “The Class of 1992.”

Jack To A King is available to rent or buy on iTunes in the United States.

More information can be found about the films on the Kicking And Screaming Film Festival website.

In recent weeks I have written about trips to The Hive, Vicarage Road, Griffin Park and Allianz Park to write about experiences that are foreign to me as an American living in England. All of these experiences were extremely memorable and unique and created memories that I will keep with me for a long time. My final soccer experience of the year was something I have started to become very familiar with over the course of this year, the ritual of following my favorite team away from home. A trip to Goodison Park with Tottenham’s fantastic away support was too good of an opportunity to pass up and I was on my way to Merseyside for a memorable weekend in Liverpool.

This was my fifth away day with Tottenham, and most of them had ended with an extremely disappointing result on the pitch as Tottenham lost and failed to score in three out of my previous four away days. A 3-0 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a 2-0 loss to Fiorentina in Florence that sent Spurs out of Europe and a 3-0 loss at Old Trafford left a bitter taste in my mouth and was only mitigated by amazing away support that continued going strong until the final whistle. My only successful away day to this point had been a 2-1 win at Loftus Road over Queen’s Park Rangers with Harry Kane (who else) scoring both. Failure to score in three of four matches meant I had not really felt the real adrenaline rush of an away end and hoped that this trip to Merseyside would change that. Despite the fact that the game meant next to nothing besides bragging rights I was still really excited for this trip.

Because I am from America and this is the first time I have spent an extended period of time in England, I combine my away days with Tottenham with sightseeing in other cities in England and Europe. I had done this previously with Florence (and later Venice that same weekend) and Manchester. Unfortunately, the only mode of transport that made the opportunity to sightsee viable was an overnight bus that left London at midnight and arrived in Liverpool via Manchester at 5am. Not exactly ideal travel plans but I tried to make the most of it. Liverpool is an extremely lovely city with a beautiful waterfront. I spent most of the morning at the Beatles Story on Albert Dock learning everything about one of the greatest music groups in history and going inside the stunning Liverpool Cathedral. As a result, almost the entire day had a Beatles theme to it as I constantly had Beatles music stuck in my head. Given that most of their songs are about love and this was my final away day with the team I love, it provided a pretty fitting soundtrack to a memorable away day.

After a long walk from the city center to the Stanley Park area of Liverpool, I made a short detour from the throngs headed to Goodison Park and headed instead towards Anfield. As it’s unlikely I’ll be able to visit Liverpool again any time soon, this was my only chance to see Anfield up close and personal. As I took the fork towards Anfield instead of Goodison, I was met with some quizzical looks from some Everton supporters (I was wearing away colors). At the famous Shankly gates I saw a fellow Tottenham supporter with his young son with the same idea so at least I wasn’t the only one who had this idea. After that, it was time to walk across Stanley Park from Anfield to Goodison Park. As I had previously read about how close the two grounds were, I decided to time the duration of the walk. The answer? Nine minutes. That two iconic sporting franchises are located just a nine minute walk away is something that would be unheard of in the United States with all the petty disputes over territorial infringements whenever a second team is proposed to move into a major city. That both teams still manage to sell out every single game despite their insane proximity is a real testament to how significant the sport of soccer is in this part of the United Kingdom.

Goodison Park is very old and a little decrepit, which contributes to its unique atmosphere. Goodison Park is the only ground that I have been to in England where the visiting supporters are placed entirely on the side of the pitch in the Bullens Road Stand. The back of the Bullens Road stand Lower Tier has many supporting pillars that hinder the views of the fans and the overhang of the upper tier makes the view even worse. The stand opposite the away supporters at Goodison is three tiered and massive, while on the opposite corner of the pitch from the visiting supporters is a church that is clearly visible. Given that football is almost like a religion on Merseyside, this is quite fitting. The concourses are extremely packed and it was very hard to move about before the match. I went to my restricted view seat (as I did not earn enough loyalty points with Spurs to receive a clear view ticket) and could not see the goal immediately in front of me because of a pillar so I decided to move and see if I could stand somewhere else. Fortunately, because everyone stands in the away end I was able to do this without too much difficulty. I also got the impression that Everton are a very family oriented club just given the sheer number of birthday wishes read out pre-match and the handwritten messages from the players thanking the fans for their support that flashed across the video board. Goodison has a similar charm to Fenway Park in Boston, a throwback to a different era when stadiums were constructed for much smaller people and with different priorities in mind. The lack of amenities and comfort is more than made up for by the uniqueness of it all.

During the warm-ups, the fans were given one last chance to show their appreciation for the departing American goalkeeper Brad Friedel as he came over to pose for photos during breaks from warming up starting goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. He also gave his goalkeeper’s gloves to a very young Tottenham fan in the front row, which was a very sweet gesture. Seeing Brad in goalkeeper gear for the final was particularly emotional for me. One of my first memories of watching soccer was the 2002 World Cup. I was only six years old at the time but I still remember his incredible efforts against Germany in the quarterfinal. Thanks Brad for everything you created for US Soccer and for opening doors for other Americans to play in England.

I was very worried before this match that the fans would not be up for it because the team did not have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League. Last weekend’s home finale against Hull City was a very lackluster effort from fans and players alike and the lack of fans who stuck around for the traditional lap of honor after the match reflected that. Fortunately, my fears were not to be founded as the Tottenham fans really brought the energy to their final away day of the season. As the player’s walked out to the pitch to Everton’s theme tune of “Z-Cars” (coincidentally the same song that Watford walk out to), the travelling support broke into a loud chorus of “Everywhere we go, it’s the Tottenham boys making all the noise” that was so loud that I could not hear Z-Cars over the PA system. I should also point out that the PA announcer read Harry Kane’s name as “Harry Keane” when announcing the pre-match lineups, which is quite embarrassing given that he has probably been the most talked about player in England this season but I won’t hold Everton accountable for that.

The noise from the Tottenham fans continued after kick-off. The first 30 minutes was non-stop singing. Because it was the final away match of the season, the fans used the opportunity to sing almost every Tottenham song that could come to their mind. This was really amazing for quite a while as full renditions of “Oh When the Spurs” were sung as well as some of my favorites that I hadn’t heard for quite a while like “Oh Ledley, Ledley; he’s only got one knee; he’s better than John Terry,” the Nicola Berti song, “Hello, Hello we are the Tottenham boys,” “We are Tottenham, Super Tottenham” and “it’s a grand old team to play for.” Unfortunately, as the good chants started to peter out some nastier ones came out of the woodwork like a very inappropriate one directed at Sol Campbell as well as a song directed at Everton fans to the tune of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” that went “You’ll Never Get a Job.” Given that You’ll Never Walk Alone is Liverpool’s song and there is no particular venom between Tottenham and Everton (in fact the two teams are actually very similar) I found this to be in poor taste, but relations between soccer supporters from London and Liverpool are somewhat strained so these songs do come out of the woodwork (most notably when Chelsea play Liverpool).

The Everton fans were not really up for this match in the first half, which was understandable given that their team had even less to play for than Tottenham. As a result, the typical away fan chants directed at indifferent home support were aired during the opening exchanges, which was often met with sarcastic waves from the Everton fans that were immediately adjacent to us. When Erik Lamela got the ball past Tim Howard around the 15th minute but Howard was able to retrieve the ball before it crossed the line, the Tottenham fans started to celebrate as if they had scored. When it was apparent that they hadn’t, the adjacent Everton fans derided us with the classic jeers that typically accompany such moments. As it was the first real noise that they had made, the Tottenham fans replied with a chant of “We forgot that you were here” and later on in the match “where’s your famous atmosphere!”

Despite starting Nabil Bentaleb at left-back, Tottenham played very well in the first half and went ahead through a Harry Kane header on 24 minutes. Almost immediately after the goal was scored, the Goodison Park scoreboard started showing scores from the out of town matches and when “Stoke 1-0 Liverpool” showed up the away end went wild. A Tottenham win coupled with Liverpool failing to win meant that Spurs would finish fifth. A fifth place finish would mean tangible progression from last season and as a result the fans started to get extremely excited. “We’re all going on a European Tour” to the tune of “Yellow Submarine” rang out from all corners of the away end, which was surprising given that quite a few Tottenham supporters have come out and argued that finishing outside of the Europa League places is the best option for the club long-term. True supporters don’t see it that way, however, and want to see their team win as often as possible and finish as high as possible in the table. As half-time approached the Spurs support started to wane as Everton started to get into the game and missed a couple of very good chances. When Ross Barkley shot over at one point, the Tottenham fans started chanting “you’re just a sh*t Aaron Lennon” at him. Given that Lennon was loaned out because he was frozen out of the first team at Tottenham was essentially a double insult to Barkley. Also, it seemed as though every time the out of town scoreboard was shown Stoke had continued to increase their lead against Liverpool, which was always met by some cheers by both sets of fans. By half-time I was exhausted, it was by far the most singing I had ever done at a match.

At half-time the Everton FA Youth Cup winning team of 1965 was welcomed back onto the pitch, which I found a little odd given that it was 50 years ago and those Under-18 players were now 68 but oh well. Also, the PA announcer read the out of town scoreboard for all the fans, and when he got to the bottom and read out “Stoke 5 Liverpool 0” the entire stadium roared and a couple of stewards who were guarding the away end started laughing hysterically. When the second half kicked off the home fans finally started to make some significant noise as their team dominated the first five minutes of the second half. Things eventually returned to equilibrium and the action on the pitch during the second half was very even. Moussa Dembele was substituted off very early in the second half and before leaving the pitch did a full 180 and turned around to applaud the visiting supporters, which made me wonder if that was the last time I will ever see him play in a Tottenham Hotspur shirt. At around the 68 mark, the Tottenham fans, who had been comparatively silent during the beginning of the second half, started to wake out of their slumber and the songs started to flow again. There was a fan two rows behind me who tried (and somewhat failed) to come up with new songs on the fly. The only one that reasonably caught on was “you can keep Lennon, we want Mirallas” but even that did not really get off the ground. When Mirallas, a player who has been linked with a move to Spurs, was subbed off the Tottenham fans comically started chanting “Yiddo” at him as he walked off the pitch.

The closing stages of the match were an opportunity for the fans to exhibit their amazing support one final time and they did not pass up the opportunity. Many renditions of “Oh When the Spurs” were sung as well many renditions of “Everywhere we go.” There were even times when both the upper and lower tiers sang disjointed versions of “Oh When the Spurs,” where the upper tier would be up to the fast part of the song while the lower tier would still be singing the slower part. “We’re all going on a European tour” also continued to feature prominently in the away end during the closing stages. I was having so much fun singing for my beloved Tottenham that I was hoping that the match would never end and the players would continue playing all night. The noise created was amazing, the best I have ever seen at a Tottenham away match by quite a distance, which was incredible given the indifference given to the match in the build up.

The first sign that the end was near was in the 84th minute was when Harry Kane got substituted off for Andros Townsend. This led to the singing of the chant that I heard oh so many times this season and has become almost synonymous with Tottenham Hotspur’s season, “He’s one of our own, he’s one of our own, HARRY KANE!!!! He’s one of our own.” It was a fitting way to send out a player who went from a virtual nobody in August to the face of a franchise. He scored in the first Tottenham match that I went to this season (a 2-0 League Cup win over Brighton in October), he scored in my last and he scored in so many in between. Kane was the shining light on a season that could have gone so differently if it were not for his sudden rise. That it would be the last time I would see Harry Kane in the flesh (in the near future) was sinking in. I don’t think I have ever been more excited at a sporting event than I was when he equalized against Chelsea on New Year’s Day. His equalizer at the death against West Ham, his double at Loftus Road and his hat trick against Leicester were other memorable moments that I was fortunate enough to be able to witness firsthand this season. He created so many memories for me that I will cherish for a long, long time.

Nevertheless, the match continued and Everton supporter’s were presented with an emotional moment when Sylvain Distin, who is 37 years old and leaving the club at the end of the season, was substituted on to a standing ovation from the other 37,000 people at Goodison Park. The Everton fans started filing out almost immediately after this, which prompted a chant of “Is there a fire drill?” from the travelling Tottenham supporters. When the fourth official signalled that there was only going to be three minutes of stoppage time I was initially happy that Spurs only had to defend their slender 1-0 lead for three minutes, but then I was very sad that my incredible journey of supporting Tottenham this season was approaching its end. The volume from the away end continued to increase throughout stoppage time, but unfortunately the referee had to bring the match to an end.

The scenes after the match could only be described as surreal. The fans continued to sing vociferously as the players started to make their way over to the away end. When we started singing, “we love you Tottenham we do, we love you Tottenham we do, we love you Tottenham we do! Oh Tottenham we love you!” my emotions got the better of me and I actually started crying. Most soccer chants that are sung are sung only because the tune is catchy. Tottenham are not “by far the greatest team the world has ever seen” and I do not ever condone kicking his “f*cking head in,” but when I sing, “We love you Tottenham,” I actually mean it. And as I stood on my seat in the away end at Goodison Park, I just let all my passion and emotion out for the club that I have adopted as my own. On a day where I learned all about the Beatles and listened to many of their songs that pertained to love, I was able to unite with my love, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. The singing continued as the players got closer to the away end and the chants of “Yiddo” were heard and Hugo Lloris threw his goalkeepers shirt into the away end. The singing continued for at least five minutes after the match. The passion and verve displayed towards the players after finishing fifth, short of our yearly target of top four, was truly bone chilling. I can only imagine what the scenes would be like if we won a cup or finished in the top four.

And as the players left the pitch, it all came to an abrupt end and the fans slowly started to file out of Goodison Park. For me, it was the end of a journey. A journey that started with a League Cup fourth round win over Brighton and Hove Albion and ended yesterday at Goodison Park. The end of a journey that contained many highs but also many lows. Some of those highs include the 4-0 win over Newcastle in the League Cup Quarter Final, the last 30 minutes of which was a succession of “Spurs are on their Wembley” and “Que Sera Sera,” possibly my two favorite Tottenham chants. The highs also include the 5-3 win over Chelsea on New Year’s Day when it seemed that nothing could possibly go wrong and I felt like I was living in dreamland for the next three days. Another high would be the stunning comeback against fierce rivals West Ham where Harry Kane equalized at the death after initially missing his penalty as I sat immediately next to the heartbroken travelling Hammer faithful. The lows include heavy defeats at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford, a home defeat against Aston Villa, a drab scoreless draw at home against Crystal Palace and the farcical pitch invasions that marred the Europa League group stage match against Partizan Belgrade. Many Spurs supporters will see this season as a disappointment after such promise mid season and will likely only remember the season for reaching a League Cup Final and for the dazzling performances put on by Harry Kane, but for me this season will always be special because I was fortunate to be able to attend so many matches and be a part of some really special atmospheres.

There is not a better feeling in all of sports than winning away from home and being able to comfortably celebrate with my own set of fans. I absolutely love the “us against the world” mentality that is a pivotal part of the away day experience. I love the experience of going to a different stadium in a different city and still being able to cheer on my team fervidly. If my team wins (which only happened twice in five attempts), it is the greatest feeling to be able to walk out of the ground with my head held up high and a huge smile on my face after singing my heart out for the team I love. An away day with your favorite team, whichever one that may be is a highly recommended experience that will turn a casual fan into a hardcore one almost instantly. The passion that supporters in away ends exhibit is contagious. For the average fan who watched on TV, this end of season match that had little had stake will probably be forgotten as soon as the new season rolls around but for me this was one of the most memorable and special days of my life. I got to see a beautiful city that I had never been to before and I got to watch my favorite team win away from home in an iconic stadium, what could be better?

Unfortunately, I will be moving back to the United States where I will start University in August so I won’t be able to follow my beloved Tottenham as closely as I could this year. Thankfully I will be attending University in Boston, where the Boston Spurs Supporters Club is very prominent and well organized so I look forward to joining them next year and hopefully creating some more special memories.

I would like to thank every single Tottenham Hotspur supporter I met at matches throughout the season. You were all amazing. It was incredible to hear recollections of matches from the 1970s like it was yesterday and how long some of the supporters have been regularly coming to White Hart Lane (some for as long as 50 years). It was amazing to be a part of some of the most passionate supporters in England, who follow their team through thick and thin, win lose or draw. Coming to these matches and talking with fellow supporters has given me a whole new perspective on what it’s like to be a sports fan, there is more to sports than winning games and championships.

I would also like to thank World Soccer Talk for publishing my articles throughout the season. Four-and-a-half years ago I wrote my first article for World Soccer Talk aged just 14. That article was titled “How I fell in love with Tottenham Hotspur,” a hastily written piece written entirely on emotion after a 1-1 draw with Chelsea at White Hart Lane in December, 2010. I’ve since written seventeen pieces for World Soccer Talk and I’ve enjoyed writing every single one of them. I would also like to thank my parents for supporting me both financially and emotionally during my Gap Year and being supportive of my football adventures. If it weren’t for you I would not have been able to experience any of this. Finally, I’d like to thank anyone who has read any of my articles on World Soccer Talk, I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. And one final thing… Come on you Spurs!

After going to more than 30 soccer matches during my stay in England I decided to try a different English sporting experience a week and a half ago when I went to see a rugby match to see how the two atmospheres compare with each another. I found that, very surprisingly, the two experiences could not have been more different.

The match I went to was between London Saracens (one of two London teams in the Rugby Premiership) and Exeter Chiefs. The match was very crucial to was very important in determining who would get the fourth and final playoff spot (Premiership Rugby has American style playoffs at the end of the season) as there were only two games left in the season and Saracens led Exeter by four points (which is equal to the number of points awarded for a victory in Rugby Union).

Saracens play in 10,000-seat stadium Allianz Park in the North London borough of Barnet. Allianz Park is located in the middle of a huge athletic complex, which contains many football pitches, swimming pools and is a community oriented complex. This was a far cry from all the football stadiums in London that I have been to (besides The Hive) that were wedged into tight residential neighborhoods with almost no opportunity to expand. The playing pitch was artificial turf and was surrounded by an athletics track (used by Shaftsbury Barnet Harriers during the weekdays), two things that would never even be considered to be allowed at an English soccer ground (hence the initial outrage at the proposed athletics track surrounding the pitch at the Olympic Park when West Ham United move in).

Saracens only started playing home matches at Allianz Park in 2013 and had previously played home matches at Vicarage Road, the home of Watford F.C. If this move had taken place in soccer, there would have been mass protests from the fans as teams are rooted in their identity of their local London neighborhood (see the protests when Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes). Not so in rugby, as many live a nomadic lifestyle and are not tied to any locale. There are many teams in the top two divisions in Rugby that have the name “London” attached to them but actually play well outside of London. London Welsh play in Oxford, London Wasps play in Coventry and London Irish play in Reading. The moving of teams has a very “American” feel to it, and that would symbolize my whole visit to Allianz Park

After taking the Northern line to Mill Hill East, I got on a free shuttle bus put on by Saracens to the ground. Listening to some of the fans talk amongst themselves on the bus, you would have had no idea that this match was one of the most important of the season, or even that there was a match at all. Many conversations were about the family or work or the upcoming Liverpool against Chelsea match. We were eventually let off the bus and I followed the horde of people through the athletics complex and towards the stadium. After buying my ticket (the match was not sold out) I walked in and it really sank in how different this was to soccer. The main difference was that there were trucks selling alcohol right next to the pitch. In soccer, alcohol is not permitted within sight of the pitch and all of the drinking takes place either in nearby pubs or on the concourse underneath the stands. There was also much more space around the stadium, behind one of the in-goal areas (rugby term for end zone) there were fans sitting and enjoying picnics and just milling about soaking in a rare sunny Sunday afternoon. Dads were holding kids hands and showing them around and there was not nearly as much team apparel as football (or American sports) matches. Also, unlike soccer there was zero police presence at the stadium

Because I do not understand the sport of rugby very well, it would be impossible to go through the major details and nuances of the match, but Exeter went ahead on an early penalty kick and then the two teams traded tries before Saracens tied it 17-17 on a penalty kick right before halftime. In the second half, Saracens went ahead 20-17 on a penalty kick and the playoff spot seemed to be in hand before Exeter scored a try to pull ahead 24-20. The last five minutes Saracens were inside 10 meters of Exeter’s in-goal area but could not get the ball across the line and Exeter barely held out for a 24-20 victory.

I made the mistake of buying the cheapest possible ticket for the match, which meant that I was sitting at field level five meters away from the actual field (about lane five on the surrounding track) in the corner. This would not have been a big issue but many fans who wanted to get a better view of the match decided to stand right on the perimeter of the pitch in my line of sight. In soccer, this would have led to a fight but here the “Pioneers” (Saracens volunteer security officials) politely asked them to move, which they did. Also, it seemed that every five seconds someone would get up and walk in front of me to go buy another beer during play. A youth rugby team was sitting in my section and they were constantly chasing each other around and eventually sat down next to the field so as not to obstruct my (as well as other fans in my area) view.

The fans also did not seem as emotionally invested as they are in football. Many times throughout the match I asked the people around me what had just happened (usually after a penalty was called) and more often than not they had less of a clue than I did. The fans seemed very disinterested in what was actually happening out on the field until the last five minutes when Saracens were within five meters of winning the match. Then the fans started urging the team on but it was to no avail as Exeter held out with a goal line stand that would have made Bill Bellichick proud.

However, the main difference between rugby and football was the lack of segregated seating. Exeter fans sat amongst the Saracens fans and were often cheering on their team as if nothing was wrong. Towards the midfield line there was a group of about thirty Exeter fans seated together who would always sing the Atlanta Braves tomahawk chant whenever their team did something good. Besides that, there was almost no singing or chanting besides the odd “Sara, Sara, Sara” from small pockets of the home fans. The two sets of fans mingled peacefully and were actually very friendly with one another.

Despite this being a very important match that led to Exeter temporarily leapfrogging Saracens in the table, the fans were still invited out onto the pitch after the game to meet the players as it was the last home game. Despite being rather upset that they lost, every single player came back out onto the pitch after the match to sign autographs for any fan who wanted it. Meanwhile, little kids were seen all over the pitch kicking rugby balls through the uprights, passing the balls amongst themselves and just having a good time. Underneath the main stand, a live band played for the celebrating Exeter fans. You could easily have mistaken the post match scenes for a carnival and not a high stakes professional rugby match. The fans were allowed to stay for as long as they wanted afterwards and many stayed well over an hour just playing on the Allianz Park turf.

It is quite remarkable that two sports that originated in the same country could have such different fan bases and support and matchday atmosphere. Traditionally, football has been more a working class sport while rugby has been middle class (and cricket upper class) but due to an increase in ticket prices soccer has started to move away from its working class roots. Rugby caters more to families wanting to have a fun day out while football is more for ones who want to see tension, drama and nail biting action on the field. The rugby fans were much better behaved but at the same time had very little interest in the result. It is really surprising in fact that the sport that is much more physical and violent on the field is actually much more relaxed off of it. Despite the major differences from the sport I have come to love, I still had an enjoyable day out at Allianz Park and I would definitely recommend it to people visiting London that either have kids or just want to experience something completely different.

Last weekend I wrote about the joys of promotion to the Premier League and the raucous celebrations at Vicarage Road when Watford were promoted after a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. This week, however, I was in for quite a different experience, the tooth and nail drama that I was denied when Watford went up a week early as I travelled to Griffin Park in West London to see Brentford take on Middlesbrough in a Championship playoff semi-final first leg.

While it may not originally appear that way this was a matchup of David against Goliath. The visitors, Middlesbrough, although they have not been in the Premier League since 2009 and are overshadowed in the Northeast by their rivals Newcastle and Sunderland, have spent 60 of their 105 seasons in the top-flight and won the League Cup in 2004. Middlesbrough play their home matches in the modern 35,000 all seater Riverside Stadium, which was constructed in 1995 and is the 14th largest club ground in England and the third largest in the Championship. They spent most of this season challenging for one of the two automatic promotion bids and looked to be in really good shape after beating Norwich at Carrow Road in the antepenultimate match of the season, but lost to struggling Fulham at Craven Cottage and then drew at home to Brighton on the final day of the season and had to settle for a playoff spot.

On the other hand, the hosts Brentford have a much less illustrious history than their counterparts from the Northeast. Brentford have only spent one season in the second division since 1954 and have not been in the top-flight since 1947. Out of the four clubs in West London (Brentford, Chelsea, Fulham and Queen’s Park Rangers), Brentford are by far the smallest. They play in 12,300 seat Griffin Park, which is the third smallest in the Championship. Because this is Brentford’s first season in the second tier since 1993, they have not yet conformed to the standards laid out for stadiums by the Taylor Report. Griffin Park still has terraces at both ends of the pitch and is the only stadium in England to have a pub at all four corners of the ground. This Championship playoff semi-final was probably the biggest match ever to be staged at Griffin Park and tickets were almost impossible to come by.

Despite the differences between the resources and history, both teams were still 180 minutes from Wembley and a further 90 minutes from (at least one) season in the Premier League full with mouthwatering clashes with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. The next 180 (or 270) minutes could mean the difference of 150 million pounds and because of this the playoffs are the most stressful and lucrative anywhere in world soccer (including the Champions League). For Middlesbrough, it is a yearning to be back in the big time where they spent nine years at the turn of the century and to be reunited with old foes Newcastle and Sunderland (provided one of them do not go down). For Brentford, this was an extension of a dream; they were tipped by many to be relegated from the Championship and instead finished fifth and in the position to be the second “David” (along with Bournemouth) to go up. After 46 matches over nine months and the classic Tuesday night away trips during the winter to cold, windy grounds the whole season would come down to this. One match at Griffin Park, one match at the Riverside and maybe one match at Wembley; that is all that separates the two sides from fame and fortune.

After a 30 or so minute train ride from London Waterloo, I reached the London neighborhood of Brentford about an hour-and-a-half before kickoff. Like Barnet (who coincidentally also have the nickname of “The Bees”), it was not immediately apparent that there was a major soccer match occurring with millions on the line as the neighborhood of Brentford is a strictly residential neighborhood and the walk from Brentford train station to Griffin Park was just a procession of small townhouse after small townhouse. Griffin Park is sandwiched in between these residential streets and the only things that are not houses in the immediate vicinity of the stadium are the four pubs that surround the ground. After picking up my ticket from the ticket office I decided to wait around the entrance as the Middlesbrough fans were waiting for their team’s coach to pull in. As the coach pulled in and the players filed out of the bus and into the changing room the fans cheered them on and shouted words of encouragement like “let’s do this”. To be honest, the Middlesbrough players did not really pay attention to this as they were almost all listening to music on their iPods and had a cool look of determination on their face. The Brentford fans gathered outside the stadium were very calm, collected but not very cool. There was a lot of nervous pacing and quiet conversations amongst themselves about the match were taking place around me. There was no singing, no chanting it was almost like a funeral procession.

I then made my way to my seat and truly began to realize how unique Griffin Park was. I mentioned the terraces at both ends (although in the away end the upper tier is all seated), but there were many other nuances that made Griffin Park. Because Griffin Park was built in 1903 and has not really been upgraded since, it has a sort of Fenway Park effect. The seats are extremely cramped and I found my knees basically on the seat in front of me. Also, there are many poles obstructing views (but fortunately I was OK) in both stands. Because Griffin Park is very close to Heathrow Airport, Brentford decided to cash in by selling advertising space on the areas above the stands. So any time a plane flies into Heathrow they are greeted with the advertisement “Big Bets for High Flyers” from the betting agency Matchbook. There were also some banners hung up at the back of the opposite stand that said “Jakarta Bees” and “Danish Bees.” How a small West London club like Brentford has a fan club in Jakarta, Indonesia is very strange but also kind of an illustration as to how soccer is a global game enhanced by this global media age. The scoreboards were so small I could barely make out the letters on them and did not have the space to write out the full word “Middlesbrough” and instead had to shorten it to “M’boro.”

Many fans on the two terraces arrived super early to ensure they could be at the front and 20 minutes before kickoff both terraces were full to capacity. Both sets of supporters went through their various set of sings completely independent of one another as they were too far apart to hear each other. This led to the quite comical (at least for me) instance when both teams were singing “And it’s (insert team name here), (insert team name here) F.C., we are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen” at the exact same time just out of sync by a couple of seconds. Another thing to note about the pre-match chanting was that when Middlesbrough sang their rendition of the “Hello, Hello we are the (insert team name here) boys” chant, the line that usually goes “And if you are a (insert rival team name here) fan surrender on your life” was not how I expected to hear it. I had expected to hear either Newcastle United or Sunderland inserted, but instead they put Brentford in. Although there is almost no history between the two clubs (they have played against each other 10 times since World War II), the tie is so important to them that Brentford are now referred to as the enemy. Many of the songs sung by Middlesbrough had references to “going up” and the classic chant of “Que Sera Sera” which I had not heard since Tottenham’s run to the League Cup final. The singing before kickoff was so loud that none of the public address announcers’ words (although the PA system was not very good) could be heard. The atmosphere was unlike any other I have experienced, hardcore fans packing terraces making as much noise as possible. This was the closest I will ever come to replicating the atmosphere of an English soccer match before Hillsborough and the subsequent Taylor Report.

The match kicked off and the opening exchanges were very nervy. Neither team wanted to concede and when there were chances the players often made abnormal mistakes. Middlesbrough started the game off very rough, hard tackling and picked up four yellow cards very early on. It was classic Championship soccer; hard tackling, hardcore support and sometimes lacking in cutting edge quality. After one particularly daft challenge the Brentford faithful were up in arms, chanting “you dirty Northern bast*rds” at the Middlesbrough players and supporters. On a day when most of the headlines were occupied by the general election where the Labour Party got decimated in every part of the UK besides London (where they gained seven seats), this was another display of the cultural differences between London and the rest of the country and how they really do not agree or like each other. After Middlesbrough striker Patrick Bamford made a mistake on a counter-attack the Brentford fans chanted, “you’ll never play for Chelsea” which I found pretty comical and even more comical when I subsequently found out that Jose Mourinho was in attendance at Griffin Park. Nothing like taking a shot at a player that is owned by one of your West London rivals.

But then out of almost thin air, a failed clearance from a free-kick led to another cross being whipped in and turned in by Middlesbrough’s Jelle Vossen and the visitors were one up. Three sides of Griffin Park went absolutely silent; it was as if the collective air of all the Brentford supporters’ was deflated like Tom Brady’s footballs. The fourth side went absolutely mental, the celebrations were so wild that some fans were almost forced over the barrier and onto the pitch by celebrating fans on the terrace. The Wembley and “going up” chants soon returned. Soon after the goal a Brentford shot went out for a goal kick and a young Middlesbrough fan in the front row of the terrace got hold of the ball and threw it to the back of the terrace to waste time in the first half. The goal did bring an increase in tempo to the match and in the 30-second minute Middlesbrough appeared to have scored a second goal that was not given (no goal line technology in the Championship). Brentford then raced up the pitch and within 15 seconds of the disallowed goal Brentford had a penalty shout that was also turned down. The match got more and more fast paced as half-time approached and that was just to serve as an appetizer for what was to come in the second half.

During the interval I found out that Mourinho was in the house and was sitting in my stand but I was unable to locate him and I settled back to get ready for the second half. By this point the sun had set and the match was now being played under total floodlights, which added to the atmosphere. As the second half started the lights in all the stands were turned off and the Middlesbrough fans started singing, “we’ll sing in the dark” before a large group of them turned on their iPhone flashlights. The Brentford terrace responded by singing “what the f*cking hell is that”. In the 54th minute, Brentford equalized and Griffin Park exploded into a cauldron of noise. All of a sudden the promotion and Wembley dreams that had seemed gone when Middlesbrough went a goal up were back. They really could do this – two successive promotions and 150 millions pounds of cash were within striking distance. Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and Anfield were now creeping into the collective minds of the Brentford supporters. They chanted “who are ya!” at the Middlesbrough supporters and then exploded into their own chorus of “Que Sera Sera” as the place slowly came back to life and the stage was set for a sizzling final 35 minutes.

It would be remiss of me not to mention how enjoyable it was to watch Brentford play. Most teams in the Championship often rely on big, physical, ungainly strikers and their modus operandi often becomes the route one long ball to the target man. Brentford play an attractive style under their manager Mark Warburton, who will leave the club at the end of the season regardless of how the playoffs turn out after a dispute with the club’s owners. They only resort to long balls as a last resort and instead rely on slow build up play out of the back. After watching Spurs play all season and seeing match after match where the only creativity in attack was a pass out wide to Danny Rose, Andros Townsend or Kyle Walker followed by a cross into the box, it was refreshing to see the Brentford wingers (including on-loan Tottenham player Alex Pritchard who was magnificent and I cannot wait to see at White Hart Lane in the future) try cutting in and making some great passes to set up chances. They thrived off the energy of the crowd and really took the game to Middlesbrough after the goal. They won corner after corner after corner but could not turn that into a decisive goal. By the 80th minute I was secretly hoping that the match would never end as I was so won over by the atmosphere and Brentford’s free flowing attacking football. Mourinho, if you ever read this this, I hope you were taking notes from the Braemar Road Stand because that is how soccer is supposed to be played, even if your team lacks the quality to become serial winners. The Middlesbrough fans were very silent during this period but this was more than made up by the noise created by the Brentford terrace. Although I had never seen Brentford play before this match, I found myself biting my nails and breathing heavily every time either team entered the attacking third. I willed Brentford on with everything I had. That is how tight this match was. The stakes so high that every action means millions of pounds. The fans were on a knife-edge. It was more intense than any of the London derbies I had attended with Spurs. I found myself wanting Brentford to win more than I ever had with Spurs. It’s not normal I know, but that’s what the playoffs do to people even if they are supposed neutrals.

As the referee flashed for six minutes of stoppage time, I was really excited as Brentford was the only team that looked like winning the match. There was six additional minutes in this engrossing atmosphere and potentially more drama. Six more minutes for me to experience Griffin Park and all its glory. Then, Middlesbrough won a corner. The ball was whipped in and Fernando Amorebieta met the end of the corner and the ball was in the back of the Brentford net. 2-1 to Middlesbrough. No one in the Brentford ends moved, it was too heartbreaking. The Middlesbrough end did not even celebrate that wildly because I think they were too shocked to believe that they would be heading back to the Riverside with a lead. A child two rows behind me started openly weeping. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed and neither could anyone else around me. Brentford had played so well for long periods of the match and really deserved to win the match but instead found all their hard work undone by one moment. Goliath had just slayed David even though David had looked so close to emerging victorious.

At the full-time whistle both sets of supporters stayed to applaud their teams and both sets of supporters sang the “we’re by far the greatest team” chant at the same time in tune (just with ‘Middlesbrough’ instead of ‘Super Brentford’) which was a really nice touch. It is not often you see a team get a standing ovation leaving the pitch when they lost but the Brentford fans were immensely proud of how their team has performed all season and would never in their wildest dream have thought that the Bees would be in the playoffs. And for that, the fans showed their appreciation. They also showed their appreciation for outgoing manager Mark Warburton in what will definitely be his last match at Griffin Park with a chant of “Warburton” as he walked down the tunnel. The Middlesbrough fans stayed for a full 10 minutes after the players left the pitch and continued with their promotion and Wembley singing. None of them wanted to leave Griffin Park on what surely was one of their most memorable nights as a supporter of Middlesbrough Football Club.

While Brentford still have a chance of promotion, it looks really unlikely and most of their fans have already accepted defeat after losing the home leg in such gut wrenching fashion. Brentford lost 4-0 at the Riverside in September and the chances of a two-goal victory are very slim. With that being said, the Championship (in my opinion) is one of the most exciting leagues in the world because of its unpredictability so Brentford overturning this deficit is still possible. You really never know what is going to happen next in this league. Last weekend Watford were cruising to the title and then all of a sudden Sheffield Wedensday stole it from them in injury time. Brentford even got into the playoffs when Derby lost 3-0 at home to bottom half Reading.

For every moment of extreme joy and jubilation like the ones I experienced the last two weekends at The Hive and Vicarage Road, there are going to be even more moments of despair and wondering what could have been. I really felt for the Brentford fans when Middlesbrough went in front. It is the most awful feeling to be so close to the biggest achievement in your club’s history and then have it snatched from you at the last. With that being said, any true soccer supporter has to have those moments because when the extreme highs do come, it makes it all the more sweeter and memorable. Roll on the second leg of this amazing tie, and best of luck to Brentford Football Club in their bid for promotion to the Premier League. I will definitely be supporting them and will continue to do so in the Championship if they do not go up. Brentford Football Club, thanks for an amazing night and some amazing memories, even if the end result was not what was desired.

Last weekend I wrote about the experience of watching a team achieve promotion into the Football League when I went to see Barnet defeat Gateshead to clinch the Conference Title. A week later I was back in North West London to watch a team achieve promotion out of the Football League and into the Premier League. This time the venue was Vicarage Road Stadium, as Watford were promoted to the Premier League after a 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday.

This was not my first journey to Vicarage Road this season. On Boxing Day, unable to get tickets to the day’s Premier League matches (Chelsea vs West Ham and Arsenal vs QPR), but wanting to experience the festive nature of Boxing Day football, my father and I made the journey to the end of the Metropolitan Line for Watford’s Sky Sports induced 5:30 kickoff against Wolverhampton Wanderers. We battled torrential rain, flooded streets, 40-degree weather, pitch-black streets due to poor floodlights and howling winds but we still managed to come away with a favorable impression of Watford and Vicarage Road. There was something endearing about the public address announcer coming out onto the pitch and directing the fans to sing various Christmas carol’s before kickoff and the very intimate setting of the smaller ground devoid of the tourists that infiltrate venues such as the Emirates, Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane. Watford lost the match 1-0 and my father and I had to battle the elements again to return to Central London but we figured that was all part of the experience of festive football. I vowed to return again at some point this season if my schedule permitted.

My second trip to Vicarage Road was also on a holiday, but this time the weather was much more favorable. With Watford closing in on the top two and a lunchtime kickoff on Easter Monday against fellow promotion rivals Middlesbrough, I figured it was too good of an opportunity to miss. I could feel the tension in the air as the match would go a long way to determining which teams went up from the Championship. Middlesbrough came in top of the league, but only two points ahead of fourth placed Watford. The atmosphere was fantastic – the Watford 1881 movement (basically a bunch of teenagers trying to create atmosphere at matches) sang for the whole 90 minutes, directed by a drummer who effectively served as their conductor. The opening exchanges of the match were greeted with chants from the Middlesbrough fans of “we’re top of the league”. Watford went on to win 2-0 and as a result they they led chants of “we’re top of the league”. By the end of the day, however, AFC Bournemouth were top of the league after defeating Birmingham City 4-2 in a later kickoff. That’s how tight the Championship was this season, full of all the drama that the Premier League lacked. The passion from the fans was a great advert for Championship soccer as all the fans in the ground were emotionally invested in the outcome of the game. After the match, I immediately bought my ticket for the final day of the season with the hope that I would see a tooth and nail final day scrap for a promotion place.

Unfortunately, Watford clinched promotion a week early after Middlesbrough and Norwich slipped up against Fulham and Rotherham (both teams that were fighting off relegation from the Championship, another example of how competitive and exciting that league is) respectively. So instead of witnessing a nail-biting affair complete with drama and scoreboard watching where every goal could possibly mean millions of pounds, I ended up witnessing a coronation and a party.

Exiting the London Overground at Watford High Street, I could tell that the whole town of Watford was joining in the festivities of their football club’s promotion. People were getting out of cars in full costumes carrying inflatable objects to bring to the match. There were signs all over town congratulating the team on the promotion, but it really started to sink in about 200 meters away from the stadium. Literally every shop was selling merchandise that said something along the lines of “We are Premier League” or “Back in the Big Time.” Special Premier League scarves were created as well as a special matchday program.

As I entered the stadium, the celebratory mood was enhanced as the public address announcer made comments like “are you ready to party today?” and the music played was all songs that would normally be played at a birthday party or a wedding. Before the players walked out onto the pitch the fans were greeted with a message from the club’s former chairman and famous musician Elton John (for whom a brand new stand at Vicarage Road is named after), who congratulated the players, fans and the Pozzo family on their incredible accomplishment. As the players walked out onto the pitch, every supporter in the Rookery End held up a placard which when combined read “WFC” and then beneath it “Going Up.” Meanwhile a lot of fans threw up yellow sprinkles in the air and they inevitably covered the pitch.

Despite all this congratulating and celebration, there was still a soccer match to be played. A soccer match that Watford needed to win if they wanted to go up as champions of England’s second tier. The opponents were Sheffield Wednesday, a team neither in danger of going down nor in the running for a promotion place, who brought down 2,000 fans from South Yorkshire. The travelling support, despite the fact that their team had nothing to play for, really brought the noise and greatly contributed to the atmosphere. After the first three or so minutes the Watford fans got bored of singing and the Sheffield Wednesday fans filled in the gaps. They constantly sang a song that went “We’re not going down, we’re not going up, we’re Sheffield Wednesday and we don’t give a f*ck” which led to many Watford fans laughing. Other songs included “we all hate Leeds scum”, “we’ll never be mastered by you Southern bast*rds” and “Oh Wednesday away,” amongst others. Their support of a team that had nothing to play for was yet another example of where the Premier League has gone wrong. The Wednesday fans tried to make things as uncomfortable as possible for the Watford fans by mocking their support with the typical jealous chant of “where were you when you were sh*t.” These particular chants were replied to with sarcastic waves from the Watford supporters sitting around me. When Watford did sing it was usually something along the lines of “we’re going up” or “we are Premier League” but also their classic song of “When I was young, I followed them, Watford F.C., the team for me la la la la la la la la” etc.

The actual match itself was relatively boring. The Wednesday goalkeeper was wearing a baseball hat which was quite comical as he often had to hold it in his hand as he attempted to head the ball. Watford played through balls through a Sheffield Wednesday defense that was worse at playing the offside trap as a Sunday League team, but somehow Watford failed to convert on a lot of their opportunities, while Wednesday created almost nothing. Around the 20 minute mark, the Wednesday fans started singing “they’re top of the league, they’re top of the league, AFC Bournemouth, they’re top of the league” which clearly meant that Bournemouth had scored in the other corner of London against Charlton at The Valley. I had a feeling that that chant would come back to haunt them as their side were being hopelessly outplayed by a Watford side that just lacked the quality to punish Wednesday for their woefulness. And on 26 minutes, they did. Superstar Watford striker Troy Deeney was through on goal the keeper saved it and the rebound was headed in by on-loan Udinese striker Matej Vydra. 1-0 to Watford and surely on their way to the title. The party atmosphere was back on as the Watford fans sang “We’re top of the league, we’re top of the league, we’re Watford F.C. and we’re top of the league.” The rest of the first half was also pretty boring as the game idled towards halftime.

At halftime there was a penalty shootout featuring little kids (final score 1-0), interviews with injured players and a presentation of an award to a Watford fan who continued attending every match despite the fact that her young daughter died two years ago. To me that sounds a bit nutty and misguided, but this is a sport where the fans are intensely loyal. The second half was just as boring as the first, with Watford continuing to dominate and the Wednesday fans doing all the singing.

That was until around the 80th minute when things started to become very interesting. First, some people in the Family Stand at Watford in the Vicarage Road end adjacent to the away supporters started “the wave”. This was most likely done out of boredom and it was the first time in 30 or so matches I had seen this done at an English soccer match. This was immediately met with a “what the f*cking hell is that” chant from the Wednesday fans. In around the 85th minute a fan from the Rookery End threw a flare onto the field well away from any of the players, which exploded into yellow smoke. As the match stopped, and a steward went to pick the flare up, another was thrown onto the pitch. A few minutes later the fans around me started to get out of their seats and move towards the pitch for the inevitable invasion.

But there would be more drama. Just into stoppage time, Wednesday won a free-kick deep into Watford territory. As the referee went through the ordeal of putting down the vanishing spray and pushing the players 10 yards back, a Watford fan jumped out of the Family Stand and onto the pitch. He started hugging the Watford players who were having none of it and physically tried to remove the fan from the pitch. They moved him about 10 yards before letting him go and letting the stewards deal with him. They failed and he got free for a little bit before he was arrested and both sets of supporters chanted “you fat bast*rd” at him. While everyone was watching this go on, the Watford supporters at the opposite end of the pitch had ended up going over the barrier and were almost at the touchline, such was the sheer force behind the surge towards the pitch. I thought to myself “everyone is so distracted Sheffield Wednesday are going to score from this.” And sure enough, after a couple of missed efforts and failed clearances, Wednesday were level. The Wednesday end erupted as the players went to celebrate in front of their fans, the noise was the loudest I had heard all day. Despite finishing mid-table, this would be the enduring memory of their season, a last minute equalizer to deny their opponents the Championship. The Watford fans around me gasped and I wondered if the pitch invasion would even take place given that they had just lost the title. And the Wednesday fans reignited the “AFC Bournemouth they’re top of the league” chant.

But it was not over yet, Watford still had three injury time minutes to find a winner. Soon they won a corner but there was a slight problem. The fans had spilled out past the touch line in that corner and the stewards had to push all the fans back so that the corner would be taken. No luck, Watford won another corner. Keeper Heurelho Gomes came up for this one as Watford pushed for the goal that would win them the title. Watford are known for these types of endings as in 2013 they conceded a stoppage time equalizer against Leeds when a goal at the other end would have seen them promoted and then in the playoff semi-final against Leicester, Watford saved a penalty and then scored at the other end to win 3-2 on aggregate in the 97th minute. Could we see similar heroics here? The corner came in and it was cleared. Suddenly, Wednesday were through on goal with no Watford players back to defend and a wide open pitch and goal for Wednesday to win the game. Things were about to get really awkward for Watford fans, as they were about to lose their promotion party match with two goals in stoppage time.

But no, as the Wednesday player started his march down the field, the referee blew for full time and suddenly the pitch was enveloped with Watford supporters. Fans were letting off smoke grenades and suddenly the entire stadium was a sea of yellow. I soon joined in with the pitch invasion but the whole thing felt very awkward. Watford had just conceded a late equalizer to destroy their main goal of the day, which was to win the championship. As the fans spilled out onto the field, the police surrounded the Wednesday end to ensure there would be no trouble. Many Watford fans still tried goading the fans by singing “We Are Premier League” right in front of the police barricade. This was replied to with chants of “AFC Bournemouth they’re top of the league” and a comical chant of “We’re not Premier League”. I must tip my cap to the Wednesday fans who were fantastic and a perfect representation of the beauty of supporting a soccer club.

After some standing around on the pitch we were ordered off so the players could come back. The usual march around the pitch with interviews of the star players and manager, most of whom were disappointed that the team did not win the title, which added to the slight awkwardness of the situation. I had the opportunity to shake the manager’s hand as he came to applaud my section of the ground (something I would never experience at Spurs) and the players were allowed to bring their loved ones onto the pitch. It was scenes of pure happiness at Vicarage Road (despite the failure to win the league which the fans did not seem to care about).

I then went into town to eat lunch and kill some time before my evening activity for the day (which was to go visit the Harry Potter Studios which are near Watford). Before heading to Watford Junction to get the shuttle bus to Leavesden, I decided to make a detour and walk down one of the busier streets in town out of curiosity. Despite the fact that it was a full three hours after the full time whistle, there were still many fans celebrating and singing the Watford songs. I went up to a police officer and asked why they were celebrating in these specific locations and after a couple of generic responses most likely triggered by my American accent, one of the police officers said it was because “all the pubs are here and a couple of the Watford players are in that one over there”. So I walked over to that pub and sure enough two of the players were signing autographs for fans and drinking champagne. I slipped past the security guard, who was preventing a mass entrance to the pub, and took a selfie with one of the players. To have this opportunity the next day when Chelsea clinched the Premier League, I would have had to pay thousands upon thousands of pounds.

The fact that players were celebrated with fans really hit home with me and made me realize how special this occasion really was. Watford have traditionally spent most of their existence in the lower divisions (with the exception of a two-year period in the 1980’s in which they finished second to Liverpool and lost an FA Cup Final to Everton under the chairmanship of Elton John) and have only been promoted to the Premier League twice before (and both times they finished 20th and immediately went back down). Watford is a small village which is sort of part of London (it’s inside the M1 and M25 and the London Transport Network reaches there) and sort of isn’t (it has its own postcode, its own bus system, is 20 miles from Westminster and the inhabitants do not identify themselves as Londoners). Their fan base almost entirely consists of people who either grew up in Watford or people currently living in Watford. The club is the identity of the town, the one opportunity for Watford to show the outside world what the town is really all about. As a result, everyone in the town rallies around the team and lives through the team’s fortunes, which creates an indelible bond between the natives and the club. Promotion to the Premier League means a global audience will be tuning into Vicarage Road next season when Watford host the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool in front of what will hopefully be a raucous atmosphere.

This is what soccer is all about, passionate loyal fans who follow their team no matter their status as opposed to a vast fan base of fans from all over the world who feel no real connection to their club, which we often see at Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea etc. The fans feel a strong connection with the players, the coaching staff, and the ownership. Watford’s success really means something to the people of the town; the economy will thrive when large Premier League away followings come to a sold out Vicarage Road next season. And even if the team go straight back down, the people of Watford will still be able to hold onto the memories of the promotion and battling against the big boys. I look forward to following Watford’s progress next year and I will never forget the scenes when Watford went up. If only there was promotion and relegation in the United States so fans could get similarly excited, but that’s a completely different debate for a different day.

Since my favorite team Tottenham Hotspur were away to Southampton this weekend, I decided to look elsewhere for my weekend soccer adventure. Since the two promotion chasing Championship sides (Watford and Brentford) were playing away from home, I decided to think outside the box. As it turned out, the team that is geographically closest to where I live in London, Barnet F.C., were at home for their final match of the season in the Vanarama Conference, the fifth tier of English football. Barnet were one point clear of Bristol Rovers atop the Conference and a win would ensure promotion back into the Football League.

Enticed by the possibility of a promotion party, I headed out to the London Borough of Edgware at the end of the Jubilee line to watch the Bees (as Barnet are known) take on mid-table Gateshead, a team that might be familiar to some Premier League supporters as they lost 7-0 at the Hawthorns to West Brom in this year’s FA Cup third round.

Barnet have an interesting history. Despite being founded in 1907, they did not reach the Football League until 1991. In 1993, they were promoted to the old Second Division (third tier) but almost went out of existence when the club went bankrupt and the players were unpaid throughout much of the season. They were relegated the next season and then relegated from the Football League altogether in 2001. They were promoted again in 2005 but relegated back to the Conference in 2013.

After the 2013 season, the borough of Barnet did not extend the club’s lease on the Underhill Stadium, which the Bees had called home for their entire 106 year history.

Despite the protests of the team’s small but fervently loyal fan base, the team moved six miles west to a new stadium in Edgware called The Hive. The team also shares close links with Arsenal as Arsenal used to use Underhill for reserve matches and the two clubs often met for preseason friendlies.

After exiting the Jubilee line at Queensbury, I could just barely make out the Wembley arch that towers over the 90,000 seat national stadium, which was quite a beautiful sight. Walking from Queensbury to the stadium, I noticed that unlike all of the other matches I had been to in England, it was not readily apparent that there was a major sporting occasion about to take place in the area. Every time I have been to Tottenham (or any other Premier League ground for that matter), the mile surrounding the stadium would be full of street vendors selling team merchandise, food and matchday scarves. Here, there were no signs of any of that and the people in Edgware seemed to be doing what they would normally be doing at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon.

The Hive is located in the middle of a large complex of football pitches that doubles as Barnet’s training complex. This was also a major difference from the other stadiums I have been to as all the Premier League stadiums in London are packed into residential areas with housing in the immediate vicinity of the stadium. Not so at The Hive.

My ticket for the match was on the unallocated South Terrace, which meant that I was forced to stand for the entire match. Soccer fans who have been going to matches since before Hillsborough would be very familiar with this arrangement, but this was the first time I have watched a match from a terrace and my only chance to experience what it was like back in the “good old days” (depending on who you ask).

The stadium was so small that three out of the four sides of the pitch only had about five or six rows of seating (or standing). There were many instances throughout the match where the ball went out of the entire stadium, which is not something that I see at the bigger grounds. In the backdrop of my view of the pitch was the Jubilee Line train tracks where trains came by every five minutes or so, which was a really pretty sight that reminded me of Shea Stadium in New York. The PA system also was not really functional as the speaker nearest to where I was standing kept cutting in and out so I did not hear any of the pre match announcements.

The atmosphere was palpable before the match as the fans were ready for a party. After a minute’s silence before the match to honor the 56 fans who died in the Bradford City fire of 1985, the fans let out a huge roar. But when the match kicked off, reality started to set in that Barnet would need to get the three points or hope that Bristol Rovers failed to win in order for that party to happen. And as a result, the opening exchanges were very nervy and there was not much singing on my terrace and most of the noise came from the seats in the stand to my left. Another nice addition to the atmosphere was a drum which basically dictated what was being sung by the fans and kept them all on tune.

Barnet were the better side in the beginning but besides a golden chance off a poor clearance by the Gateshead keeper, they failed to create much. The quality was obviously much lower than what I have been accustomed to watching but it was still quite interesting as the players had extremely unique skill sets. Some players were big, overweight and dynamos in the air while others were small but extremely skillful. These were the type of players that would make Billy Beane glee with delight (those who fail the eye test but can be very effective in their own way).

Many of the supporters around me were cheering constantly for “Big John” (John Akinde), a career journeyman in the lower leagues who has scored 31 goals for Barnet this year  and who overpowered defenders with his size throughout the match. With that being said, there were some moments of sublime quality, whether it was some nice skill or a perfectly placed thirty yard cross field pass.

The supporter next to me spent most of the first 20 minutes refreshing his phone as his friends asked him what seemed like every 30 seconds “what’s the score in Bristol?” to the reply of “Nil Nil” And 25 minutes in, he turned to his group of friend “1-0 to Bristol Rovers.” It was the last I would hear of Bristol Rovers for quite a while as about a minute later as Mauro Vilhete headed Barnet to a 1-0 lead and the crowd awoke again. The rest of the first half on the pitch was somewhat boring as Barnet continued to be on the front foot without creating much. And in the 42nd minute, I decided to beat the halftime rush for refreshments and had to say “excuse me” to about 10 people who were standing in the aisles of the terraces. While waiting in line for food, I heard many little kids around me discussing amongst themselves how excited they were for the post-match pitch invasion if/when Barnet won.

The second half began with Barnet attacked the goal in front of my terrace, and the ultras to my left greeted the Gateshead keeper with a ton of fresh unprintable abuse.

Four minutes in, Vilhete put Barnet two up and that is when the real promotion party started to begin. The celebrations for the second goal were so wild that the terrace underneath me began to shake from all of the supporters jumping up and down. I looked over to the stand to my right and realized that almost all the seats were empty as all the fans rushed towards the perimeter of the pitch at the second goal but soon they were back in their seats. Songs about “running away to the Football League,” “E-I-E-E-I-O, up the Football League we go!” and “if Barnet win, we’re on the pitch,” as well as an adaption of Millwall’s famous chant of “No one likes us, we don’t care,” which did not really make sense to me. Another chant that I found interesting was their version of “We are Barnet, Super Barnet” which ended with “from Underhill” which to me showed a resentment of the team’s current location and a yearning to move back to their home of Barnet.

The rest of the match on the pitch was a somewhat dull affair as Gateshead never really looked like getting back into it. Despite attaining more possession, they never really looked like scoring and I was more interested in the songs that the Barnet fans were singing.

The second half seemed to take forever. And around the 80th minute, the fans started singing the tune of the song “Final Countdown” to Barnet’s promotion. In the 85th minute, one of the guys around me pulled out his phone and laughed before announcing that Bristol Rovers were 6-0 up (they went on to win 7-0) but it was irrelevant now as Barnet were on their way into the Football League.

In the 88th minute, many fans in my terrace started gathering next to the perimeter fencing to prepare for the inevitable pitch invasion. What struck me most about this, however, was the demographic of these supporters. They were almost all between the ages of 15 and 20 years old. It was at this moment when I realized that I have seen very few soccer fans of that age at Premier League matches. Many simply cannot afford the expensive ticket prices, so most of the Premier League club supporters are middle-to-old-aged men with the occasional child who gets in for half price. For many of these soccer fans, Barnet is the only affordable option and if they grew up in the general vicinity of the club, they provide your bi-weekly entertainment for a cheap price.

In the corner of the pitch, four police officers had video cameras out filming the supporters for the inevitable pitch invasion to identify any potential ringleaders, which to be honest was kind of pointless because there were about five hundred of them so singling out one, two or even ten would be a bit harsh.

After four minutes of stoppage time, the full time whistle blew. Unfortunately, I did not hear the full time whistle and instead I just heard a huge roar and then the pitch enveloped with people coming from all angles. Within about 10 seconds, almost every inch of the pitch was covered with spectators celebrating jubilantly.

Soon enough I also made my way out onto the pitch to join in with the celebrations but felt a little bit guilty because Barnet are not really my team and I had never seen them play before that day, but the scenes were incredible. Fans hoisted other fans on their backs to film the scenes, which mostly consisted of fans hugging each other and singing songs about going up.

Next thing I knew the goalie was walking through the fans and I was able to hug him before the rest of the fans mobbed him and shoved the other fans in order to get close to him as the celebrations continued. After about ten minutes of this, the PA announcer told everyone to get off the pitch so they could continue with the trophy presentation. The fans roared as the players lifted the trophy and “We are the Champions!” blared over the PA system before the players paraded the trophy around the pitch. As the chairman came to where I was standing, he started to let some of the fans (including myself) touch the trophy, which is something you would never ever see in the Premier League.

For fans who feel that the core values of soccer have been abandoned in this global media age, they should really take a look into lower and non league football.

When professional soccer was created in the late 1800’s, its purpose was to provide affordable entertainment for the local community. As a result, football clubs became the identity of small towns and villages around England. The better the team did, the more prominent the town became. But no matter where the team was in the league pyramid, the fans would come out and support them every other Saturday.

Unfortunately with the advent of the Premier League era, some of these values have been lost in the higher reaches of the pyramid as the financial obsession takes its toll, but the further down you go the league ladder, the more you see soccer for what it was originally intended for — to provide affordable entertainment on a bi-weekly basis and to give members of a community something to rally around. These clubs and their fans know they will never be able to achieve the status of a team like Chelsea or Manchester United so they celebrate every small step of progress fervently because they never know when it’s going to go the opposite way.

I would definitely recommend a trip to Barnet (or any other non or lower league club) to anyone who has a real interest in what the real British game, devoid of billion dollar revenues, is like as there are quite a few pleasant surprises in store. I have been to almost thirty matches in England this season across three different divisions in six different competitions and I must say this was one of the most memorable. The quality of the players might not have been very good but everything else about my experience was phenomenal.

Editor’s note: Read Andrew’s other articles about his travels through Europe.

Old Trafford, Manchester, England, capacity 75,000. Home to Manchester United Football Club, it is an international tourist destination that attracts visitors from all over the world to the industrial city of Manchester. It is nicknamed “The Theater of Dreams” but for away supporters over the last 25 or so years it can be more appropriately titled “the Theater of Nightmares” as more often than not their teams have been swept aside as Manchester United raced to 13 titles in 21 years. Yesterday, I made the trek up to Manchester from London to watch my beloved Tottenham Hotspur take on Manchester United in a pivotal clash, which would go a long way to determine who would qualify for next season’s Champions League. Despite victories at Old Trafford in the last two seasons, Old Trafford has been a ‘House of Horrors’ for Spurs as they failed to win there between 1989 and 2012, but I was still hopeful that Spurs would be able to conjure something from the match. I had never been to Manchester before so I thought this would be a good opportunity to see a new British city while seeing the mighty Spurs play in one of football’s most hallowed grounds.

I made my way up to Manchester by train the night before the match and had the pleasure of sitting next to a Manchester City fan who has been to almost every home and away match for the last 35 years. He said he had only missed three in the last 15 years and the match against Burnley at Turf Moor that was happening as we were on the train was his fourth. At one point on the journey up he looked at his phone and said that Burnley had gone a goal up, but it did not seem to bother him at all. I guess when you have seen your team for 35 years through the top three divisions of English soccer it is very easy to get grounded on your team’s success and was used to seeing them lose which many new City (as well as Chelsea and Manchester United) fans are unaccustomed to. It was a fitting prelude to what I would experience the next day in Manchester.

Touring around Manchester on Sunday morning, it really struck me that Manchester really is a soccer town. To put it one way, you can often see what a city is known for based on what people are trying to sell you in and around the city center. In Paris, they try to sell you plastic Eiffel Towers. In Rome, it’s fake Coliseums. In Brussels, the city center is oversaturated with chocolate shops. In Manchester, they try to sell you Manchester United scarves. Half and half matchday scarves, Wayne Rooney scarves, Robin van Persie scarves, Adnan Januzaj scarves; the whole nine yards. There were even some stores that were also selling matchday tickets. It was quite a change from the city of London where on matchdays almost no team colors are seen except in the immediate vicinity of the various grounds. In London, there are many options for entertainment and leisure. In Manchester, there is soccer, and you are either red or blue. With that being said, there was a Manchester City team shop on the main pedestrian shopping street and the shop was completely empty. I ventured inside to see if they were selling gear for New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and indeed they were selling a couple of t-shirts. It seemed like everywhere I walked, everyone I saw was wearing a Manchester United scarf or replica shirt. What I was seeing definitely fit in with the theory that gritty industrial cities (which Manchester definitely qualifies as) tend to have better soccer teams than those from the lavish capital cities (like London) because there is a more dedicated and passionate support base from a working class background as soccer is the main source of entertainment.

After a stop at the National Football Museum, I started to make my way over to Old Trafford. The fastest way to Old Trafford from the city center is by tram and I made my way over on a tram that was filled with Manchester United supporters. Despite wearing Tottenham colors no one gave me any grief, except for one Austrian supporter who asked me to explain some Tottenham chant that he sees on TV at home. After getting off the tram at Old Trafford, I made the 10 or so minute odd walk to the ground via a detour to see the Old Trafford cricket ground which was on the way. The area around Old Trafford was surprisingly spacious, there was ample room for parking which is not true of any of the London clubs that I’ve visited. Like the London clubs, there were many options of paraphernalia available for purchase on the road leading up to Old Trafford. This included the scarves which were readily available in the city center but also some funny t-shirts commemorating Steven Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea last year that ultimately cost Liverpool the title. Apparently sometimes seeing your rivals fail is just as satisfying as succeeding your own team succeed. There was also a ton of attire honoring Eric Cantona that more or less declared him as “The King of Old Trafford”. Manchester United fans’ obsession with Cantona always struck me as being strange because United had so many other great players during that era of success of the 1990’s – why immortalize the player who kung fu kicked a fan and had a reputation for being a hot-head. I didn’t see anyone selling anything honoring David Beckham or Ryan Giggs. When United came to White Hart Lane in December the away support sung a song to the tune of Twelve Days of Christmas and replaced every item with “Eric Cantona” so there must be something there that I’m missing. Not wanting to waste my money on the enemy’s attire, I continued my walk to the stadium quickly to soak in as much as possible before kickoff.

I took my obligatory picture in front of the Manchester United sign on the East stand and paid homage to the statue honoring the United trinity of George Best, Dennis Law and Bobby Charlton before making my way around the stadium. To be honest the outside of the stadium was not as impressive as what I had seen in pictures, but part of that might have been that the backdrop is Manchester, which is not the most aesthetically pleasing city to begin with. At one point on my circling of the ground I walked into a huge crowd that was cheering on suspended midfielder Angel Di Maria as he walked in through the players tunnel in a suit. I then walked through the Munich Tunnel and read the murals on the walls, which commemorated the tragic 1958 crash.

After that, it was time to enter the away end. The security was not as tight as it was at other away grounds I’ve been to like Stamford Bridge and the Artemio Franchi in Florence, but I was padded down by a security officer before heading in and the security were super careful to make sure no home fans infiltrated any part of the away end by completely surrounding the entrance to the away end with stewards. The concourse underneath the stands were filled with Spurs supporters getting in some last minute alcohol before the match and the usual medley of songs were sung. As the Harry Kane “He’s one of our own” songs was sung, I flashed my Kane scarve over my head for everyone to see and when they finished the song some supporters chanted “Yido!” at me which I must admit was very satisfying. The cacophony of noise continued into the main stand of the away end as kickoff got closer and closer.

The Spurs fans that made the long journey up from London were in wonderful voice. Unlike the previous weekend at QPR when it often felt like there were two different away ends singing two completely different sets of songs with very little cohesion, this time it was much easier to get all 3,033 Tottenham supporters in attendance to get on the same page. Before kickoff, a full round of “Oh When the Spurs Go Marching In” was sung before many renditions of “Everywhere We Go” in addition to some other classic Spurs favorites. At kick off, the atmosphere was electric – 3,000 of us, 72,000 of them. We could hear some noise coming from the Stretford End on the opposite side of the pitch but it was impossible to make out the words. There was also some songs coming from the corner adjacent to us which I learned after the match was a singing section implemented to help combat the dead atmosphere created by the Manchester United home crowd. Unfortunately the home attendance is now dominated by day trippers and tourists that are not imbued with English soccer matchday culture. Many people staying at my hotel flew in for the match and were from far flung places like the Philippines and Taiwan and were referring to Manchester United as “we”. While many teams have this problem, it increasingly seems to be a problem at Manchester United.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere was still intimidating. Old Trafford has double the capacity of White Hart Lane and four times the capacity of the venue of last week’s venue, Loftus Road. The only other stadium with a capacity over 55,000 that Spurs have to play an away match at in the Premier League is The Emirates. There were also a lot more banners hung over the rafters between the upper and lower tiers than any of the stadiums I’ve been to. Most were for specific supporters clubs around the world but there were two in the corner adjacent to the away end that stood out to me. The first said “20 titles, not stuck on 18 forever” which was clearly a dig at fierce rivals Liverpool who have not won the title since 1990. The other said “European Capital of Trophies” which was a very strong statement. The attitude continued when the public address announcer declared Manchester United as “the most famous football club in the world”, which may or may not be true.

The away support were in full voice through the opening exchanges, despite Spurs looking a little lost and on the back foot, unsure with how to cope under the big arena and bright lights. I have come to realize that the first 10 minutes of every match is always the best in terms of atmosphere because both teams, no matter the gulf in class between them. Start out on equal pegging and both sets of supporters are equally hopeful that their team will be able to pull off a result no matter how improbable. Unfortunately the good vibes and high energy started to subside rather quickly as on nine minutes, United went ahead through Marouane Fellaini. It was pretty poor defending from Spurs as no one was certain who was supposed to defend the through ball, and in the end no one did, which saw Fellaini put the ball past Hugo Lloris in the bottom corner. The goal put a dagger into the away support as it so often does, but the Spurs fans continued to sing albeit with a reduced vigor. Then United scored again through Michael Carrick off a corner where I swear Fellaini jumped on Eric Dier’s back, but no foul was given and Spurs were two down inside of 20 minutes. The second was disastrous both in terms of the outlook of the match, the season and also the quality of the away support. The United support used the opportunity to crank up the volume as more of the ground started to get involved with the singing. This led to the Spurs support chanting “We’ll sing when we’re sh*t, we’ll sing when we’re sh*t, we’re Tottenham Hotspur, we’ll sing when we’re sh*t”. Every time United fans started cheering, the Tottenham fans would sarcastically applaud them. About 30 minutes in, Andros Townsend was abruptly pulled off in favor of Mousa Dembele, which further highlighted our problems. When a team makes a substitution before halftime for a reason other than injury, you know things are wrong.

Well, in this situation that was not entirely true as a minute later Nabil Bentaleb made a picture perfect pass to Wayne Rooney. The United striker then waltzed around three Spurs defenders before scoring into the corner and celebrating by pretending to knock somebody out – referencing a story that came out that morning of him getting knocked out by Phil Bardsley. 3-0 to United – game, set and match and it wasn’t even halftime yet. I’ve never left a sporting event early, but for the briefest of milliseconds I considered leaving this as I had trouble coping with the triple sucker punch. I had never cried watching a soccer match before but this was by far the closest I’d come to really letting my emotions out. At least when I saw Spurs lose to Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, the team showed signs of promise and some attacking instinct but were undone by a couple of defensive mistakes and a defensive masterclass from Jose Mourinho’s men. In this situation, they showed nothing. No chances of note, misplaced passes all over the place, shambolic defending and three goals down to a team that were supposedly in crisis mode. But I love Tottenham, and made the obvious decision to stay. It may have ended four, five or six nil but I love Tottenham and support them through thick and thin. This was classic Tottenham, just when there was a ray of hope that this season would be glorious and memorable, it comes crashing down in the space of 35 minutes at Old Trafford. Understandably, the away support was silent for the rest of the first half, we were shell-shocked and couldn’t comprehend what we were seeing. Not a single player had a good first half and Kyle Walker and Dier were made to look like amateurs by Fellaini and Ashley Young. The fan standing behind me spent most of the match criticizing each and every one of Walker’s moves and decisions and sarcastically applauded him if he didn’t mess up. I’ve come to accept that this is typical behavior when Spurs go down as Roberto Soldado got similar treatment in Florence.

Halftime came and went with a supporter shooting penalty shots at the Manchester United mascot to raise money for charity. The 15 minutes of respite seemed to do the trick as far as the away supporters were concerned. The second the second half kicked off, we were back in full voice singing our usual songs but also adding in a song that went “We’re gonna win 4-3!”, which was obviously not serious but still comical. The second half was mostly forgettable, United were focused on preserving their lead while Spurs were lacking in ideas of how to break down the United defense. The Spurs supporters continued to sing throughout up to and after the full-time whistle, while the United fans didn’t really feel the need to sing as the crucial three points were well secure. However, I did hear the fans immediately adjacent to us try singing “Worst Away support” and “Champions League you’re having a laugh”, but neither of those caught on in the home ends of the stadium. As things looked bleaker and bleaker, some chants of “Let’s pretend we scored a goal” were heard in various parts of the away end. At the full-time whistle many of the players came over to applaud us for our support and we chanted “Yido” at Harry Kane as he came over.

The strong support for the vast majority of the 90 minutes provided the only consolation for what was a very trying afternoon to be a member of the travelling Tottenham support and reminded me why it is worth it to always come out and support my club win, loss or draw. Watching soccer really is more than about the end result. How well you support your team can really add to the experience of the match no matter how dire (or amazing) the performance on the pitch is and in that regard Tottenham deserved a 10/10 even though the on-field performance deserved a 1/10. Overall, it was a good day out in a soccer mad city that in the end was ruined by the result.

Earlier in the season, I wrote about my experience supporting Tottenham Hotspur away at Stamford Bridge. This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to watch Tottenham play from the away end in Florence and wow the experiences could not have been any different.

Drawn by the attractiveness of the city and its status as a UNESCO World Heritage site, I decided to take the short flight over from London and make a full weekend in Italy out of it. I figured it would not be difficult to get tickets in the Spurs end with a One Hotspur membership as Tottenham did not sell out their allocation against Benfica in last year’s round of 16. I booked my flights, applied for a ticket waited until the application period close and then got rejected. Apparently a lot of other fellow Tottenham supporters had the same mindset as I did. I was nowhere near the 150 loyalty points (approximately 40-50 games over the last 4 years) required to get one of the 2,218 tickets in the Tottenham end. So I had flights booked to attend a match that I had no ticket for. Fortunately, someone on twitter had a spare and sold it to me for face value (27 Euros, quite cheap by British and American standards!) and delivered it to me at the home leg last Thursday. I was all set and ready to go.

The experience for me really started back in London at London City Airport where I was leaving from to get to Florence. At the gate, I saw many other passengers with Tottenham gear on all ready for what was hopefully going to be a memorable away day in Europe. After the short two-hour flight to Florence, we were stuck waiting at passport control for about an hour by the Italian border control, which had only two people handling two full flights. To make matters worse, they were asking each and every passenger if they were there to watch soccer and if the passenger responded “yes” they cross-referenced a list provided by Tottenham to see if that person had purchased a ticket from Spurs. Since I was staying in Italy until Monday and flying back from Venice, I told the agent I was there to sight see and I didn’t have an issue getting by but I had lost a lot of time that I had planned to use to acquaint myself with Florence before going to the match.

At 5:50pm I got to the place where Tottenham had said free shuttle buses were being provided to the stadium for Spurs supporters. I squeezed my way onto a full bus that stunk of alcohol (despite there being an alcohol ban in place in Florence after Feyenoord hooligans had vandalized Rome last week). After waiting 20 minutes for the Italian police to make sure there was no possible way that local Italians could get to us (including hitting an Italian kid who was just hanging out 20 yards from our bus and staring at it), we finally made our way over to the stadium. The bus was a lot of fun, all the classic Spurs songs were sung, including one I’d never heard before about a former Italian player by the name of Nicola Berti (Hey Gorgous, what’s your name! My name is Nicola Berti, I’m aged about 30, I come from a team in Milan, Inter!). A parody of the Park Lane/Shelf Side back and forth that is often heard at Tottenham home matches which went “We’re the front of the bus, We are the front of the bus!” with the hope that the back of the bus would join in but unfortunately they were too busy singing their own song about Wembley. Wembley and Chelsea did seem to be the focus of most of the songs heard on the bus and at the match which to be honest gives a pretty accurate representation of where everyone associated with Tottenham’s minds were at the moment.

After about a 20-minute bus ride we arrived at the stadium completely segregated from the home fans. Unlike the stadiums in London which are squeezed into residential neighborhoods, the Stadio Aretmio Franchi is located in the middle of what appeared to be a big public park just below one of the beautiful mountains of Tuscany. We were ushered to a gate where a steward checked our tickets and passports (fortunately there was no name on the ticket as I might have been in trouble!) and sent us through to the next checkpoint, which was a full body search by more stewards. Many people with lighters were told to throw them in the garbage but they were allowed to keep their packs of cigarettes (some people were still able to smoke cigarettes around me during the match). The next checkpoint was another full body search by the police and finally we were free to enter the stadium! Well, there was another checkpoint where our tickets got scanned so four checkpoints to get into the stadium in total.

The away fans were located in the corner about 30 yards behind the goal with glass fences penning us into our section. It was quite different seeing a significant amount of grass behind the goal and being so far away from the pitch. White Hart Lane the seats are all within five yards of the pitch so being so far behind the goal was quite a new experience. At the front of the seats was a very roomy concourse area where many fans stood for the entire match, milling freely without any interference from stewards and jumping around and dancing in tandem with the songs that hailed from the Tottenham end. In the home sections, the areas behind both goals were at capacity and you could not see an empty seat, just a sea of purple. In contrast, there were many empty seats in the areas on the side of the pitch (the sections immediately on either side of the away supporters were left empty for security purposes). That’s quite different from the UK where the seats on the side are usually more full than the area behind the goal. Before the match, Tottenham’s support continued to sing their usual medley of songs, but they also poked fun at Arsenal’s 3-1 home defeat at the hands of AS Monaco in the Champions League the night before by singing “Dimitar Berbatov”. For those relatively new to English Premier League soccer, Berbatov used to play for Spurs and scored the second goal against Arsenal in that match. As the starting lineups were announced, all the Fiorentina players were booed gently, except for on loan Chelsea striker Mohamed Salah, who was roundly booed by all 2,218 Tottenham supporters present. The League Cup final really was on everyone’s minds. The only thing of note from the home ends during the build up to the match was someone held up a red Arsenal scarf amidst the sea of purple, but I think I was the only person who noticed that.

Right before kickoff, a very bright purple flare was let out in the Fiorentina section on the opposite side of the field and the whole stadium smelled of gunpowder. The person next to me commented, “we have to go through all those security check points and they can just do that?” Once the match started, the contrast between British and Italian fans was very stark. There was no animosity between the two sets of supporters, a welcome relief from the previous Sunday’s derby against West Ham United. Both sets of supporters just really wanted their respective teams to win and secure a spot in the next day’s round of 16 draw. The Tottenham fans, like most away sections from the UK do, sang at a pretty uniform rate throughout the first half. “Spurs are on their way to Wembley,” “Come on you Spurs,” “When the Spurs go Marching in” and also “Chelsea Rent Boys we’re coming for you” (classy as always) were rotated in addition to songs for individual players “Super, Super Jan!” and “Soldado, he came from sunny Spain, to play at White Hart Lane!” and “Erik-sen-sen-sen.” The Italian fans on the other hand were more selective with their noise. They did not make noise often, but when they did, it was deafening. The opposite side of the stadium, which was full of the famed “ultras”, who let out loud roars at what seemed like the most innocuous times. They held up their purple scarves constantly and waved large purple flags. Despite being situated 30 yards behind the opposite goal, they were still able to make their presence felt. At times I even had to cover my ears the noise was so loud.

The first half passed without much incident. Roberto Soldado, after beautifully breaking an offside trap, missed a two versus one with the goalkeeper when he failed to either shoot the ball into the net or pass the ball with any conviction to Nacer Chadli. Many Tottenham supporters were extremely mad with Soldado, with one man nearby going on for almost the entire match about how he was the worst value for money player Tottenham has ever had. Tottenham enjoyed the majority of possession but were unable to break through against a well organized Fiorentina defense. With the score 0-0 going into halftime, the nerves ratcheted up a notch as Spurs needed to score to have any chance of advancing and Soldado’s chance was probably the best they were going to get.

Soon after the second half started, the “He’s one of our own” chants started from the Tottenham end, a hint to manager Mauricio Pochettino to bring on star Harry Kane. On 55 minutes, Spurs center-back Federico Fazio passed the ball directly to Salah who immediately hit Mario Gomez with a through ball and he duly dispatched the ball into the Tottenham net. 1-0 to Fiorentina. In our end, the air was let out, Spurs now faced a mountain to qualify for the last 16 and with players such as Vlad Chiriches at right-back, it was not going to be easy. On the other hand, everyone else in the Stadio Artemio Franchi erupted with joy and the noise that accompanied it was deafening. A purple smoke bomb was seen from the opposite end during the celebrations. Kane and Andros Townsend were introduced five minutes later but another defensive lapse led to another Fiorentina goal. This time the goal came from Salah. The fact that the goal came from a player deemed not good enough to play for Chelsea by Mourinho made it all the more painful. Spurs two goals down and on their way out of Europe. It was not the ideal preparation for Wembley, which was what was on everyone’s minds. But there was a small glimmer of hope. Spurs had been two goals down just four days prior at home to West Ham with 10 minutes to play, only to claw their way back to a 2-2 draw. If they did the same here they would go through on away goals. And then Spurs put the ball into back of the net through Kane. Unfortunately, the flag was up for offside. Spurs failed to create anything of note and limped out of the Europa League with a final scoreline of 2-0. There was a genuine sense of disappointment amongst the Tottenham supporters, Christian Eriksen and Kyle Walker came over to applaud us for our support but it wasn’t enough. Many people around me started discussing where it all went wrong and why Spurs have been unable to take their game to the next level. The Fiorentina fans roared in appreciation, and went especially crazy when their players did a victory lap towards their ultras on the other side of the pitch. A couple of Fiorentina supporters made some obscene gestures in the direction of our supporters but it was not a huge deal, the fans were more upset with the result. There was no singing from our end as everyone was too dejected.

Unfortunately, the night did not end there. Because of UEFA regulations, the Tottenham supporters were held inside the stadium for 4o minutes after the match to let the Fiorentina supporters disperse. After a while the fans got bored and started singing again with most of the songs again being about Chelsea and Wembley. After letting us out we were herded to shuttle busses, which we duly boarded. Unfortunately, those shuttle busses did not move for another 20 minutes and we all stood shoulder to shoulder with no personal space waiting for the Italian authorities to do whatever the Italian authorities needed to do. We were then shuttled back to the main train station in Florence at around 10:30pm (the match ended at 8:50) and we went into the Florence night.

Overall, it was a pretty disappointing result that was made even worse by the loss at Wembley on Sunday and the holdups after the match only added insult to the injury. But I was able to meet and talk to a lot of Spurs fans, which being from the U.S does not happen very often as most EPL fans in the U.S support one of the “big four” and the experience of supporting my beloved Tottenham in Europe was one I will never forget.

If you try to buy tickets for a Tottenham Hotspur Premier League match at White Hart Lane, you’ll notice that each game is priced into one of three categories based on the level of the opponent. The category with the highest ticket prices contains many of the top teams in the league — notably Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. However, the last team in that grouping would surprise some Tottenham fans from overseas. That team is West Ham United.

What makes West Ham United such an enticing opponent worthy of charging top dollar? They are also from London, but so are Queens Park Rangers (Category B) and Crystal Palace (Category C), so that does not really explain the draw. Seemingly unbeknownst to most supporters that do not grow up in the London area, Tottenham vs. West Ham is a very heated London derby that has intensified in recent years (especially from West Ham’s perspective) because West Ham rarely play their traditional rival, Millwall.

This rivalry has received notable media attention both on and off the pitch in the last three seasons. On the pitch, two seasons ago, Tottenham scored a winner deep into stoppage time at Upton Park through Gareth Bale to win 3-2.

Last season West Ham defeated Tottenham three times in all competitions, including a 3-0 victory at White Hart Lane that started the demise of Tottenham manager Andre Villas Boas.

The first match this year between the sides at Upton Park was also won with a late, late winner by Eric Dier on his debut for Tottenham.

However, this fixture has also come under close scrutiny for alleged racist chanting by supporters.

In November, 2012, West Ham chanted about a Spurs supporter who was stabbed while watching Tottenham play in Rome in addition to chants mocking the mass genocide of Jews in World War II.

In the days leading up to the match between the two sides last week at White Hart Lane, media headlines in the UK were dominated by an incident of racism involving another London club, Chelsea, whose fans were filmed preventing a black man from entering a train in Paris.

Despite being a Tottenham supporter, I made a trip to Upton Park with my older brother earlier this season to see West Ham play Newcastle and I came away with the sense that West Ham have the most passionate fans out of all the London Premier Clubs and as a result have the best atmosphere at their home matches. The experience of seeing 35,000 sing “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” as the teams walk out onto the pitch is bone chilling. West Ham, in comparison to the bigger London clubs (Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham), have a fanbase that is from more modest means, primarily composed of blue collar workers from London’s East End, which is one of the most economically deprived areas in all of the United Kingdom. As a result, this leads to very passionate support but does introduce some lunatic fringes. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, one of the most feared hooligan firm was West Ham’s Inter City Firm, abbreviated ICF. West Ham’s derby with Millwall is considered by many to be the fiercest in all of England and when the two teams met in 2009 a Millwall supporter was stabbed.

Enamored by the amazing home support and unperturbed by the reputation among some West Ham supporters’ for racist chanting and violence, I decided to buy my ticket for the Tottenham vs. West Ham match at White Hart Lane as close as possible to the away section. The Park Lane, which is adjacent to where the away fans are located, is the area of White Hart Lane that sings the loudest and most consistently. In previous matches, I had sat all around the ground but I really wanted to experience the Park Lane and I figured this game would be a good time to do it and I expected a fantastic but fierce atmosphere.

Upon departing the tube at Seven Sisters station to board buses to the ground about an hour and fifteen minutes before kick off, I noticed that there was a much stronger police presence than in any of the other matches I had attended at White Hart Lane, including the 5-3 victory over Chelsea on New Year’s Day.

A large swath of police officers was walking very swiftly towards something that I can only assume were West Ham fans. Soon after boarding the bus to make the approximately one mile journey to White Hart Lane, the bus driver announced that everyone had to get out of the vehicle because the road was blocked. The reason why the road was blocked was because West Ham fans were being escorted by police into the stadium. I worked my way around them and made my way to White Hart Lane but waited at the corner of Tottenham High Road and Park Lane to see them enter the stadium because this was an experience I had never encountered before in the United States. The West Ham escort that I had weaved around that was coming from the South interspersed with another police escort of West Ham fans that was coming from the North and they made their way to the gates. Walking down the Park Lane to my entrance, police were shoulder to shoulder while West Ham and Tottenham fans yelled at each other through the line of segregation.

I got to my seat, which was five seats away from the tarp that separated the home and away fans. The atmosphere was tense as losing to West Ham is one of the worst feelings a Spurs supporter can have. Losing to Arsenal or Chelsea is okay because those two teams are consistently at the top of the league, but West Ham are a team that Tottenham often look down on.

West Ham started with their typical repertoire of songs about fifteen minutes before the match started. The disgusting “Viva Lazio” chant was heard on one occasion but for the most part the chants were pretty much in line with what West Ham sing at “normal matches.”

Once the match started, the Tottenham supporters started to match the West Ham supporters tit for tat as the two sides basically alternated chants in sync with the ebb and flow of the actions on the pitch.

During the first fifteen minutes with the scores still level, a chant came out from the West Ham end that to my American ear sounded like “He talks like your mom, He talks like your mom, Harry Kane he talks like your mom” in the same tune as Tottenham’s “He’s one our own” chant to which I let out a little chuckle because the chant sounded like a downright pathetic jab at our Harry.

There were more “Viva Lazio” chants heard from the visiting supporters.

During a lull in the action, some Tottenham supporters started chanting “No noise, from the Pikey boys no noise from the Pikey boys, no noise!” Despite not knowing at the time what a “Pikey” is and had never heard the term used outside of its association with West Ham fans (similarly to how the terms “Scouser” and “Chav” refer to Liverpool and Chelsea fans respectively), I joined in with it because the tune is quite catchy and it’s always fun to exchange banter with the opposition’s fans. At Chelsea we sang “Mourinho’s right, your fans are sh*te” so this just sounded like another version of that.

“No noise, from the racist boys, no noise” came the retort from the West Ham side of the divide. I laughed and turned to the person next to me “aren’t West Ham fans the ones who are known for being racist?”

West Ham went ahead in the 22nd minute, silencing the Spurs fans for the vast majority of the match while the West Ham faithful sang vociferously while their team was leading. Chants such as “It’s happened again, it’s happened again, Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again,” which is a reference to the 3-0 league and 2-1 Capital One Cup victories at White Hart Lane last season.

Other chants heard included West Ham’s parody of “Oh When the Spurs Go Marching In” which went “Oh When the Spurs go 2-nil down” while the Spurs fans commiserated at their team’s terrible performance. The Harry Kane chant was heard a few more times from the West Ham end but I did not really think anything of it because it sounded like “talks like your mom.”

Tottenham fought back to equalize 2-2.

Walking out of White Hart Lane and down Park Lane, the Spurs supporters were very boisterous, singing “Yid Army,” and “Spurs are on their way to Wembley” but after turning onto Tottenham High Road and integrating with the West Ham supporters, everyone went silent. This was quite odd but everyone feared the prospect of violence given the lack of police to separate fans.

Later that night, news reports surfaced pertaining to alleged racist chanting on the National Rail Service through the Jewish neighborhood of Stamford Hill on the way to the match. Furthermore, the BBC wrote that former player Kevin Kilbane had filed a complaint to the FA about the use of the term “mong” (so apparently the thick British accents deceived me and they weren’t singing about anyone’s moms) in the West Ham chants because it was offensive to his daughter who has down syndrome. Personally, I had never heard the term “mong” before, but a quick UrbanDictionary check defines “mong” as “Lacking in physical and cerebral ability. General retardation.” It is very understandable why Kilbane was upset. However, the West Ham fans probably saw it as banter and I’m willing to bet that some do not know what the term “mong” means.

Last week, The Sun newspaper came out with a report that Tottenham were being investigated for chants referring to West Ham fans as “pikeys,” which is supposedly classified as a racist term. I, someone who joined in with those chants and used the word “pikey,” had no idea what the word meant so I once again had to research the origin and meaning of the word that I had been singing in the Park Lane at White Hart Lane just three days earlier.  An article published by the BBC in 2008 told me that pikey was “a term of abuse and in the eyes of the law using it can even be deemed a racist offense, given its association with Irish travellers and Roma Gypsies.”

I felt embarrassed by my ignorance in joining in on a chant that is clearly offensive.

There is a learning experience to be taken from this. Fans needed to be better educated on what is and is not okay to sing at matches. Terms like “Yid,” “Scouser,” “Bin Dipper,” “Chav” and “Pikey” are not okay.

While the hooligan element of English football has been — for the most part eradicated —the bigotry still remains. The occurrences on the Paris Metro and at White Hart Lane recently are not isolated incidents and are part of a more widespread problem.

These problems are not just limited to West Ham, Tottenham and Chelsea but to English football as a whole.

Before the players walk out onto the pitch at every Tottenham Hotspur home match at White Hart Lane, a video is played on the big screens at either end of the White Hart Lane pitch. The video alludes to Tottenham’s history, of their successes both distant and recent. The video includes two important quotes that help shape what Tottenham Hotspur are all  about. The first, attributed to former player and manager Bill Nicholson (considered to be the most important figure in the club’s history) is, “It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory.” The second quote is “We are about the Glory of the Game, We are about playing with style, We are Tottenham Hotspur.”

These words have become intertwined with Tottenham Hotspur’s history over the years. In part because of this attitude, the “The Tottenham Way” was created. Tottenham fans, while interested in winning, are more interested in the style of play, and would much rather play exciting football than win boring 1-0 games like the “Boring, Boring Arsenal” teams of the 1970’s and 1980’s. When Tottenham became the first club to win the double in 1961, after the FA Cup final Tottenham captain Danny Blanchflower commented that he was not happy because Tottenham played horribly and the football on display was not aesthetically pleasing. This philosophy has often led Tottenham to success in the cups, but they have rarely shown the true grit to grind out consistent results over the course of a long league season, which explains why they only have two league titles to their credit.

Historically, Tottenham have been a very innovative club, often setting the blueprint for other British teams to follow. Tottenham were the first team to win the double (League and FA Cup) in 1961. Tottenham were the first British club to win a European trophy when they won the old European Cup Winners Cup in 1963. Tottenham were the first winners of the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) in 1972. In 1978, Tottenham were the first team to delve into the previously untapped resource of marquee international players when they signed Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles from Argentina. Those signings were the beginning of a trend that now sees Premier League clubs heavily reliant on international talent from all corners of the globe. In 1983, Tottenham were the first team to publicly list shares on the stock exchange, giving supporters the opportunity to feel like they were a part of the club.

However, in the last few years, Tottenham have been in caught in the middle of trying to continue that tradition of innovation and “The Tottenham Way” of exciting football and trying to emulate larger, more successful clubs abroad, who employ a more “continental style” of play. The continental style of play is slower, more methodical and places a greater emphasis on tactics, structure and possession. The last four managers that Daniel Levy has hired to manage Tottenham show this state of limbo. Every time Levy fires a manager, the next manager he hires favors the opposite style of the manager that preceded him. Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood were more in favor of the “English” style of free-flowing football that often lacks tactical structure. Andre Villas-Boas, on the other hand, was of the continental belief that brought him success at Porto. In the beginning, current manager Mauricio Pochettino also appeared to be of this continental style, but he appears to have adapted a more balanced philosophy. With that said, the jury is still out on him.

Redknapp came to Tottenham in the beginning of the 2008-2009 season after Tottenham had collected just two points from their opening eight matches under previous manager Juande Ramos. After steadying the ship and leading Tottenham to eighth and a League Cup final that season, Spurs embarked on their two most successful seasons in the 21st century. The 2009-2010 season saw Tottenham finish fourth and earn themselves a Champions League berth for the first time since the double winning season of 1961. The 2010-11 season saw Tottenham top their group which included holders Inter Milan and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League, where they eventually crashed out against Real Madrid. The 2011-12 season saw Tottenham within striking distance of the top in the middle of January but they eventually faded and finished 4th, one point behind rivals Arsenal. To exacerbate the pain of the collapse, Tottenham missed out on Champions League qualification after Chelsea improbably lifted the Champions League trophy after finishing just 6th in the Premier League.

These seasons had many memorable moments that many Spurs fans will never forget. Many Tottenham fans will remember where they were and how they reacted when Peter Crouch scored against Manchester City to ensure that Tottenham would finish 4th. Tottenham also scored nine goals against Wigan in November of that season at White Hart Lane with Jermaine Defoe netting five. Spurs finally ended their away day jinx at the traditional big four clubs (Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool) where they had not won since 1993 when they beat Arsenal 3-2 (after trailing 2-0 at halftime) at the Emirates in November, 2010 and Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield in May 2011. There were also the famous Champions League matches against the two Milan clubs, where Tottenham beat holders Inter Milan 3-1 at White Hart Lane before defeating AC Milan 1-0 at the San Siro and holding out for a 0-0 draw in the second leg to ensure Tottenham’s progress to the last eight.

In the transfer market, Redknapp also proved adept even if he waited until the last minute to conduct most of his business. He often got top players at extremely reasonable prices. Prime examples include signing Rafael Van der Vaart from Real Madrid for just £8m, Scott Parker from West Ham for £4m and starting goalkeeper Brad Friedel from Aston Villa on a free transfer. He also successfully fended off Chelsea’s pursuit of Luka Modric in the summer of 2011.

With that being said, the Harry Redknapp era at Tottenham also had many low points. There were some embarrassing defeats when it often looked like he had no ‘Plan B’. These include, but are not limited to; the 2-0 loss in the 2010 FA Cup semi-final to relegated and administrated Portsmouth, the Champions League match at the San Siro against Inter when he went down 4-0 before half time before some Gareth Bale magic rescued a respectable scoreline and a night to remember for Tottenham fans, the 4-0 loss at the Bernabeu to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals, the 5-2 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates in 2012 after leading 2-0 after 17 minutes and the 5-1 loss to Chelsea at Wembley in the 2012 FA Cup semi-final. There were countless other examples of Harry dropping points against smaller sides. Harry had a mentality of sticking to his formula no matter what happened. It was not rare for him to trot out almost the identical team match after match. As a result, this led to top players likes Gareth Bale, Rafael Van der Vaart, Luke Modric and Aaron Lennon becoming extremely fatigued by the end of a season. In both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, Tottenham faded in the final weeks of the season and as a result failed to qualify for the Champions League. Because he played the same team so often, a lot of the players were on the outside looking in became disenchanted with the club and forced transfers at reduced prices. When the wheels predictably came off, Harry was left with a very small bench to try and adapt. Harry stuck to the English style of play, with lots of counter attacking and not too much possession, leading to AC Milan players to refer to them as “long ball Tottenham.” Nevertheless, the Harry Redknapp era at Tottenham was mostly a successful one, but unfortunately he was let go after the 2011-2012 season because Tottenham failed to qualify for the Champions League.

Out went ole English ‘Arry, in came the Portuguese wonder kid Andre Villas-Boas aged just 34. Villas Boas was only 12 months removed from leading FC Porto to a historic treble (Portuguese League, Cup and Europa League). However, he had also had a disastrous spell at Chelsea that saw him fired after just seven months amidst reports that he had lost the dressing room and the players had no belief in his methods. Hiring Villas-Boas so quickly after the Chelsea debacle enraged a lot of Tottenham supporters at the time, as it suggested that Tottenham were just picking up rival Chelsea’s scraps. Villas-Boas was a firm believer in the continental style and a lot of his philosophies were peculiar to players accustomed to the rough, physical nature of the Premier League. Villas Boas’ first summer saw Luka Modric leave the club for Real Madrid, while Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey were purchased. Two of them (Lloris and Vertonghen) are still Tottenham’s top performers and Dembele also plays a role. In retrospect, it was a pretty successful summer for Tottenham.

Despite finishing fifth in Villas-Boas’ first season, the season was more successful than it may seem. Tottenham’s point total of 72 would have placed them in the top four in every other Premier League season. Tottenham finally ended their Old Trafford hoodoo when they won 3-2 at the end of September against eventual runaway champions Manchester United. They also made a run to the Europa League quarter-finals where they were knocked out on penalties by FC Basel. However, far too much of their success came as a result of world-class play by Gareth Bale, who was being increasingly linked with a move to Real Madrid. Tottenham were overly reliant on their superstar and Bale often rescued Tottenham from tough situations.

The following summer heavily shaped Tottenham’s current image. Bale left for Real Madrid for a World record fee of 85 million pounds and in his place came seven new players for a total of 100 million pounds. The seven players were Danishman Christian Eriksen of Ajax, Belgian Nacer Chadli from FC Twente, Romanian Vlad Chiriches from Steaua București, Frenchman Etienne Capoue from Toulouse, Brazilian Paulinho from Corinthians, Argentian Erik Lamela from Roma and Spaniard Roberto Soldado from Valencia. Seven players from seven different countries coming in from six different leagues, none of whom had played a minute in the Premier League. Villas-Boas was putting his stamp on the team and fully implementing his continental style. The influx of new players left the incumbents unsettled and fighting for places as Villas-Boas instilled a new philosophy in the team.

Villas-Boas did not make it to the January transfer window. Despite having success against smaller Premier League clubs and winning six out of six in the Europa League group stage, the players failed to gel and crumbled against the Premier League big boys. A 1-0 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates at the end of August, a 3-0 loss to West Ham at White Hart Lane and a 6-0 loss to Manchester City at the Etihad in November started to heap pressure on Villas-Boas. A 5-0 drubbing from a rampant Luis Suarez led Liverpool was the final straw for Villas-Boas and he was sacked in the immediate aftermath of that match. The two heavy defeats are unfortunately what Villas-Boas will be most remembered for. However, despite philosophies that were seen as bizarre by traditional English followers, Villas-Boas did help the club out. He was dealt a bad hand by being forced to sell Modric and Bale. By bringing in all of those new players, he followed the Tottenham philosophy of “aiming high” and attempting to immediately make Tottenham a relevant power again. Unfortunately for him it did not work out the way he had originally planned and his actions in the aftermath of the Bale sale are now referred to as “doing a Tottenham”. Many of his purchases are now the club’s leaders.

And so out the back door went the quirky, alien Portuguese manager and in came someone who knew Tottenham and its philosophies and expectations very well as he played for Spurs during his player career. His name was Tim Sherwood and he was rewarded with an 18-month contract despite the fact that he had no previous first team managing experience, which concerned supporters. Sherwood immediately made his mark on the team, bringing back Emmanuel Adebayor from his much publicized Villas-Boas induced exile, and handed a debut to youth team product Nabil Bentaleb from Algeria. The decision to bring Bentaleb in was curious as Tottenham already had an extremely overloaded squad, but showed that Sherwood had the guts to pull the trigger. Out went Villas-Boas’ complex tactical formations and in came the “English” 4-4-2 with Adebayor partnering Roberto Soldado up top. Back to the old Tottenham and another 180 from Levy.

Sherwood’s tenure at Tottenham was brief and had mixed results. In his first match Tottenham were eliminated from the League Cup at the quarter-final stage by West Ham – their second of three defeats to their East London rivals that season. Tottenham also lost 2-0 in the third round of the FA Cup to arch-rivals Arsenal and were eliminated in the round of 16 of the Europa League by Benfica. In the league, Sherwood’s win percentage was pretty good, but a very top heavy Premier League left Tottenham in sixth place. He recorded another win at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day but against the other top teams Tottenham again capitulated. They lost 5-1 to Manchester City at the Lane, 4-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and 4-0 to Liverpool at Anfield. Tottenham also lost 1-0 to Arsenal at White Hart Lane, which meant that they had lost to Arsenal three times in the same season since 1987. And so, Sherwood was fired at the end of the season.

Out went the Englishman and in came another international manger. This time it was Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino who was hired from Southampton. Before Southampton, where he had led the club to eighth the previous season, Pochettino managed at Espanyol. Pochettino was another manager, who on the surface, seemed to favor the continental style, but unlike Villas-Boas had success in England at Southampton. It was a quiet summer for Tottenham as they focused on defense (which was clearly needed given all the lopsided results the previous season) and brought in defenders Ben Davies from Swansea, Federico Fazio from Sevilla, Eric Dier from Sporting CP and DeAndre Yedlin from the Seattle Sounders.

The beginning of this season was very difficult for Pochettino. The team struggled at home, losing to Liverpool, West Brom, Newcastle and Stoke in their first six home games. Fans were already saying that Pochettino’s days at Tottenham were numbered. Tottenham were putting in lackluster performances and were booed off the pitch after the defeat to Stoke, which led Adebayor to say it was easier playing away from home as they do not expect support there. It became very clear that Tottenham were having trouble breaking down teams that arrived at White Hart Lane, who were prepared to defend and settle for a point. Tottenham lacked the world-class player that can unlock a defense and change a game and as a result teams could give Tottenham possession and try and score on the break against a very leaky defense. Crystal Palace worked this plan to perfection in the beginning of December, as the only person who looked capable of scoring was Yannick Bolasie and was only denied by some top goalkeeping from Lloris. The match ended 0-0 and the players were once again booed off the pitch. After that match, one of the supporters on the way home from White Hart Lane told me that Tottenham should have hired David Moyes because “he plays our type of football” and that Pochettino was too involved with the continental style. “We had all the possession and no chances,” he said.

Away from home, Spurs started picking up results, even though their performances were poor. 2-1 wins with late second half winners over Aston Villa (stoppage time), Hull (90th minute), Swansea (89th minute) and Leicester (70th minute) ensured Tottenham picked up three points from matches where they did not deserve to win. These victories sandwiched a 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, extending Tottenham’s league winless streak at the Bridge to 25 games. Despite the lopsided scoreline, Tottenham played well and had the better of proceedings before Chelsea scored but in the end their defense was too strong and again Spurs could not find a way through a well-organized Jose Mourinho defense.

The last few weeks have really demonstrated that Pochettino actually knows what he’s doing and is the right man to lead Tottenham forward. Tottenham fans love a cup run and fantasize about reaching Wembley. Pochettino has taken the Capital One Cup very seriously this year and as a result Spurs are just a victory against a League One team away from the final. The quarter-final against Newcastle was a brilliant atmosphere at White Hart Lane, only topped by the match against Chelsea on New Year’s Day. Pochettino has finally figured out his back line, as Fazio and Vertonghen partner each other very well and there is adequate cover at both left and right-back to keep players fresh. With the size of Tottenham’s squad, it would only be natural for some players to get frozen out. However, almost every player in the squad has played some role this season. Players seemingly disappear only to be inserted back into the lineup and perform extremely well. Andros Townsend, Nacer Chadli and Nabil Bentaleb come to mind. If a player gets injured, Spurs have adequate cover at every position besides center-back and striker to make it feel as if the player was barely missed. Pochettino is also not afraid to use youth players, despite the many expensive purchases left over from Villas Boas. Townsed, Bentaleb, Harry Kane, Danny Rose, Ryan Mason and Kyle Walker are all products of Tottenham’s academy and have all been integral parts of the team this season.

The victory over Chelsea on New Year’s Day was classic Tottenham and further proof that Pochettino is able to mesh his ideas imported from abroad with the Tottenham way. It would not have been a classic Tottenham victory if Spurs scored an early goal and then held on for dear life and won the match 1-0. Leading 3-1 at halftime, Tottenham could have sat back and soaked up Chelsea pressure. Instead, Tottenham continued with their high pressing game and were rewarded with a fourth goal from Kane. The same was true at 4-2, Chelsea were dangerously close to getting a third before Chadli finished them off. The fact that four of the five goals were scored by academy players against a team that has not had an academy player regularly break into the first team in the last eight years was icing on the cake. The sustained high tempo employed by Tottenham in the second half made the match the most memorable I have ever watched.

Things change quite quickly in football and there are often many false dawns but Tottenham truly appear to be on the up at the moment. Pochettino has previous experience with English football and he navigated the biggest quirk of the English game, the congested holiday fixture list, perfectly. He has a good, although not amazing, squad to work with and the team seem to improve with each game. Tottenham are still in all four cups and have realistic aims at winning the Capital One Cup and finishing in the top four. Tottenham are on the verge of greatness, but as recent seasons have proved, proceed with caution.

The Football League Cup (also known as the Capital One Cup or the Carling Cup or the Worthington Cup in recent years) has often been held in very low regard amongst managers and pundits alike. Notable examples include Sir Alex Ferguson referring to the competition as a “Mickey Mouse Cup” and Arsenal fans claiming that winning the competition when they reached the final in 2011 would not signal an end to their much publicized trophy drought. In the past, managers have used the opportunity to give fringe and youth team players the opportunity to impress their manager. Some are even happy to see their team eliminated as it eases fixture congestion and gives players more opportunities to rest and put more time in on the training ground. It is also viewed as a distraction from the main goals of a season, which are (depending on the quality of the team) qualification to the Champions League, remaining in the Premier League or promotion to the Premier League.

However, the League Cup still has its merits, many of which were on display during this week’s quarter-finals. The League Cup is still a competition that is worth winning, reaching the final means a trip to Wembley which is any English football supporter’s dream. The League Cup culminates at the end of February, well before the hectic run-in that so often causes fixture congestion as a result of rearranged matches affected by the later stages of the FA Cup and the knockout rounds of the Champions and Europa League. For many sides, the League Cup offers a realistic hope at attaining silverware and a chance to salvage a season. It requires winning either fewer or equal (depending on what stage the sides in question enters at) ties than the FA Cup does. Winning the League Cup offers teams a route into Europe that otherwise would be almost unattainable. In recent memory, Birmingham City and Swansea have enjoyed memorable Europa League campaigns that were earned through victory in the League Cup. For more established sides like Tottenham and Liverpool, two of this year’s semi-finalists, who at the moment have a battle on their hands to finish in the top four and have to go through four two-legged ties just to reach the final of the Europa League this spring, the League Cup offers a relatively straightforward way of finding form, attaining glory and inspiring belief in their supporters. For a side like Chelsea, who are the strongest side in England at the moment and one of the top five in Europe, the League Cup offers an opportunity for Jose Mourinho to win the competition that was his first trophy in English soccer when he won the League Cup with Chelsea in 2005. That triumph sparked Chelsea onto further triumphs, including the Premier League later that year and in 2006 as well as the FA Cup and another League Cup in 2007. Winning is a habit, no matter the prestige of the competition and the League Cup provides a good opportunity to help develop that habit.

The League Cup also offers less heralded sides a second chance at giant killings and lucrative, money spinning ties. MK Dons’ 4-0 victory over Manchester United in the Second Round will live long in the memories of their supporters. Shrewsbury Town were given a once in a lifetime opportunity when they hosted Chelsea in the Fourth Round, and were just a few minutes away from sending the match into extra time. Bradford of League Two reached the final in 2013, defeating three Premier League sides (Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa) along the way. As a result, the League Cup run offered the finest memory for their supporters since Bradford were relegated from the Premier League in 2001. The most recent round of matches saw three sides in the top half of the Premier League table visit lower league sides. For Derby County (who lost 3-1 to Chelsea) and AFC Bournemouth (who lost 3-1 to Liverpool), two sides that are currently in the thick of promotion race (Bournemouth are top of the Championship) and Derby are two points behind in third), the home ties against top opposition gave their fans an opportunity to take a brief glimpse into a Premier League atmosphere and the opportunity to dream of what it could be like on a regular basis if their teams get promoted. For Sheffield United, who had already knocked off three Premier League sides this calendar year (they defeated Aston Villa and Fulham in last season’s FA Cup en route to a Wembley semi-final and West Ham in this season’s League Cup Second Round), their victory over Southampton provided a fourth giant killing and a two legged semi-final with inconsistent Tottenham for a trip to Wembley.

The last reason why the League Cup is still important is because of the supporters. The League Cup gives supporters an extra opportunity to support their teams. Last night’s quarter-final between Tottenham and Newcastle United was the loudest White Hart Lane has been all season. With the extra allocations provided to away supporters (Newcastle received 4,200 tickets instead of the 3,000 provided for Premier League games), the Toon Army arrived en masse. They made as much noise as possible in Liverpool station and on the train to White Hart Lane and continued all the way through the final whistle, even though their team were outclassed and on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline. Given that Newcastle already played in North London last weekend when they visited Arsenal and have a Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland this weekend, this display of support on a Wednesday night and the 10 hour round trip from Newcastle to London that accompanied it was quite impressive. The Spurs fans also contributed to the atmosphere, singing “Spurs are on their way to Wembley” throughout the duration of the second half, a clear sign that this victory really means more to them than progression in a “Mickey Mouse Cup.” It was similar when Brighton and Hove Albion visited in the fourth round, the away support was abnormally vociferous.

It also seems as if the managers are picking up on this and taking the competition more seriously. Chelsea sent out a significantly stronger side against Derby than they did last week against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League last week, and made clear their intentions of winning and progressing. Newcastle also sent out their strongest available XI. Tottenham did make six changes from the team that beat Swansea on Sunday, but the team and substitutes still constituted what normally would be the first 18 (with the exception of Aaron Lennon). Ronald Koeman, the manager of Southampton, was visibly angered at the completion of Southampton’s defeat to Sheffield United, and refused to shake his opposite number Nigel Clough’s hand. Hopefully this passion and desire to win the competition continues in future years, as this year’s edition of the tournament has been quite entertaining, and we still have a two-legged semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool to look forward to. Feel free to share your thoughts on the League Cup in the comments below.

Match Day 6 of the Champions League has come and passed. Besides winner take all clashes between Manchester City and AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico and Liverpool and Basel at Anfield, there really was not much drama on hand. Extremely weakened sides from Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid threatened to undermine the integrity of the competition with their opponents still trying to qualify for either the last 16 or the Europa League place. However, the gaps in quality between the top sides in the Champions League and the rest showed as all three teams still managed to pick up the three points.

Last night I bought tickets to the Chelsea against Sporting Lisbon match, enticed by the reduced ticket prices that Chelsea offer for Champions League group stage matches as well as a hefty loyalty point reward bonus if I want to go to another high profile Chelsea match in the future. When I (as well as everyone else who bought tickets before the match sold out) purchased tickets, it was still unclear whether or not Chelsea would be through, especially after they stumbled to a 1-1 draw away in Slovenia against Maribor. The match was (with the exception of the 3,000 travelling Sporting fans) extremely forgettable as the Chelsea fans were mostly silent throughout the match, with very little interest in the proceedings until 18-year-old Ruben Loftus-Cheek was granted his debut in the closing stages. In fact, the most heard chant at Stamford Bridge was “We Hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham,” but truth be told that was mainly because there was almost no other chanting.

The UEFA Champions League prides itself on being the premier club competition in the world, but unfortunately the final two matchdays of the Group Stage all too often cause fixture congestion and dull, boring matches. In Jose Mourinho’s pre-match comments, he cited next week’s trip to Championship side Derby in the Capital One Cup as a reason for resting his top players. A manager resting his top players in Europe’s most important competition because of a match in his secondary domestic cup competition? Something seems very broken about that.

The Champions League group stage is too drawn out and designed to create a safety net for the top clubs to ensure they get through to the knockout stages. But unfortunately this creates matches that become increasingly repetitive. For example, Manchester City have played Bayern Munich as many times in the last four years as they have Queens Park Rangers. Ajax have drawn against Barcelona in the group stage the last two seasons, and in the three seasons prior they were drawn against Real Madrid. Also, because of the differences in financial clout between the top clubs in the English, Spanish, German and Italian leagues (as well as oil giants PSG and Monaco) and the sides that qualify for the Champions League through the Champions path, many of the matches are extremely one sided and lack intrigue. In fact, they only seem to be played to help the smaller sides out financially. Of the five teams to qualify through the Champions path (Malmo, Ludogrets, APOEL, BATE Borisov and Maribor), none of them managed to finish off the bottom of their groups, and the five sides combined for a total of three wins and five draws in 30 matches.

Because of these inherent problems with the Champions league group stage, I have come up with another proposal for how the group stage should be conducted. It’s almost identical to the way the UEFA Cup group stage was conducted before it’s rebranding as the UEFA Europa League, but with slightly different qualification to the knockout stages. The Champions League group stages should consist of 40 teams split into eight groups of five. Each team plays every other team once, and each team are guaranteed two home matches and two away matches. The top three teams in each group qualify for the knockout stages, with the winning team granted a bye into the round of 16.

Since this proposed group stage only contains four matches, it reduces the fixture congestion for some teams (those that finish 1st, 4th or 5th in their group) as they can put more focus on their domestic cups that seem to have gone by the wayside in the Champions League era. Also, because of the reduced number of fixtures, the difference in points between the sides will be smaller, which will create the drama on the final match day that is lacking under the current format. Also, because the group winners receive a bye into the round of 16, it creates a tangible incentive to win the group. It also preserves UEFA’s safety net of helping out the big clubs but gives the smaller sides a chance to progress as well as giving an extra eight teams the opportunity to compete with the top sides in Europe. But overall, this proposal cuts down on the meaningless matches that we too often see towards the end of the group stage and instead shift (some of) them to a more meaningful ground, that being a two-legged knockout round between 2nd and 3rd placed sides that will create far more intrigue than Match Day 5 and 6.

While this problem does have its flaws (mainly being who plays whom away and where the additional eight teams would come from), I still believe it as a better alternative to the system that is currently in place and fixes many of the problems that plague the Champions League group stage.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Once a month every fall, the dreaded international break forces itself on the domestic soccer calendar, and it always seems to foist the ages old club vs country debate into the limelight.

Last month, Raheem Sterling was thrown into the limelight for complaining he was “tired” while on England duty after undergoing different recovery under Roy Hodgson as to what he has become accustomed to under Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool. Too often, players are found to be “injured” only to return to their club sides immediately after the break. Players are flown off to locations all over the world to play in glamorous friendlies at half intensity to expand the brand of the global game.

Many fans use the international break as an opportunity to pursue interests during the ten days since they are unable to watch their favorite club in action. In recent times, attendance at grounds for international matches has dwindled, as highlighted by a half empty Wembley last month for England’s Euro 2016 qualifier against San Marino, as well as the rampant corruption in FIFA, making some think if international football is a dying breed that only crops up every other June.

On Friday night, the 25,000 who ventured to Craven Cottage on the banks of the River Thames for the friendly between the United Stares and Colombia must not have gotten that memo. A full house that was energetic and passionate from the first whistle to the last created a phenomenal atmosphere, despite both teams missing key players, with Radamel Falcao out for Colombia and Clint Dempsey out for the United States. The vibe for the match was set as early as two hours before kickoff as fans made their presence felt all around SW6 on the long walk from the Putney Bridge tube station to Craven Cottage, proudly displaying their nation’s flags, blowing horns and playing music from boom boxes. Crowds lined up outside Craven Cottage before the gates opened, making it nearly impossible to walk around the ground, with stewards making instructions via megaphones in both English and Spanish.

Despite the fact that the match was billed as a United States home match and United States Soccer billboards were to be found all over the side of the pitch, sitting in the American Outlaws section in the Hammersmith End had the feel of sitting in the away end at a Premier League match. The other 3 sides of the stadium were a sea of yellow shirts and yellow, blue and red flags.

During the pregame warmups, the entrance of the Colombian players onto the pitch was met with loud cheers. However, the atmosphere ratcheted up a few notches during the anthems as both the Colombian and American anthems were sung feverishly by their respective supporters. After kickoff, every supporter in the ground remained standing throughout the entire 90 minutes despite a UK law requiring supporters to sit, which the stewards were unable to enforce.

The vastly outnumbered American supporters tried to make their voices heard throughout by rotating through their repertoire of chants, most notably the now famous “I believe that we will win” chant as well as “When the Yanks go Marching in,” the much simpler “USA USA” and the other generic chants that are heard at soccer stadiums worldwide.

The match had a distinctive South American vs. North American feel, as the Colombians relied on technical skills and quick breaks, while the Americans relied more on strength and strong defending, with great hold up play from Jozy Altidore. The Americans took an early lead through an Altidore penalty following a handball by Pablo Amero and they impressed for much of the first half, matching their Colombian counterparts step for step as the Outlaws remained in full voice.

The half time interval brought relief both from the increasing pressure from the Colombians towards the end of the first half as well as a respite from 45 minutes of continuous standing and chanting. Americans sitting in the Outlaws section also got excited at the prospect of the United States attacking the Hammersmith End in the second half.

The Outlaws were almost rewarded for their excitement moments into the second half when a header from debutant Rubio Rubin glanced just wide, but the match soon started to follow a pattern that often emerges when the United States faces top class opposition. Similar to the World Cup matches against Ghana, Germany and Belgium, the Americans started to soak up pressure and cede possession, putting 10 men behind the ball and trying to defend resolutely. Unfortunately, the Americans were unable to hold on, as Carlos Bacca equalized in the 60th minute, sending the pro Colombian crowd into a frenzy.

The Outlaws quickly recovered their voice after the equalizer, but a 87th minute winner from Teófilo Gutiérrez all but extinguished the American fire, as well as provoking a pitch invader to hug James Rodriguez in the center circle. Full time was met with mild applause, as well as another twenty or so Colombian pitch invaders as the Colombians were applauded off the pitch by their phenomenal support, while the Americans shrugged the defeat off as being “only a friendly” and were proud of the fact that the Americans were able to hang with the third ranked team in the world for 86 minutes, but few could complain about the Americans being unable to pull off a result.

Major credit ought to be given to the US Soccer Federation for organizing this friendly in London, giving the opportunity for many expats to see their country in action. In addition, it was a great opportunity for many of the American youngsters to play in front of a passionate crowd against top opposition. I think most enjoyed the occasion despite the American defeat and would come back if another similar opportunity arose.

US Soccer could consider taking a similar stance to the NFL down the road and schedule more home friendlies in cities that have a large American presence, such as London or Dublin, the location of Tuesday’s friendly with the Republic of Ireland, as opposed to traditional venues like Hartford or Jacksonville in order to create a more poignant atmosphere at matches and give players experience competing in as many different atmospheres as possible.

When Italy won the World Cup in 2006, my father took me, then aged ten, to the Little Italy section of Manhattan to witness the celebrations. I thought it was the most electrifying experience, as I had never been to a celebratory parade before, but at the time I was too young to truly understand the significance of winning the World Cup. But tonight in Berlin gave me a whole new understanding as to what winning a World Cup can do to lift the spirits and unite a country, especially one that as recently as 25 years ago was divided in two. Seeing the joy on the German people’s faces and their emotional reactions at almost every play was something I will surely never forget.

My original plan was to attend the FIFA fan festival at the Brandenburg Gate, but upon my arrival to Berlin from Barcelona at 7 PM local time, I learned that the festival had reached capacity at approximately 5 PM, a full four hours before kickoff. Therefore they were not allowing anyone else in. So plan B had to be executed. So it was decided that watching the match at a place that would be occupied by local Germans and not foreign tourists was the best idea. Therefore, I asked the concierge at our hotel for a recommendation. He suggested a location called Kulturbrauerei in the gentrified Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin and I hopped on the U-Bahn (Berlin’s subway system) and headed over there.

Kulturbrauerei is a brewery that encompasses a 25,000 square meter courtyard that’s made for prime World Cup viewing. Unfortunately, the pouring rain combined with the prevalence of cigarette smoke (something that I am not accustomed to at home in New York as smoking is banned in most places) was starting to bother me, so I decided to leave the public viewing space and find a nice restaurant to get dinner and watch some of the match.

Across the street from Kulturbrauerei was Pizza Nostra, a small pizza joint that was showing the match. After eating some of the most delicious pizza I have ever had, I sat down and watched the first half with about fifteen others. They were mostly quiet and only rose up at major chances, which the first half mostly failed to provide. The group held its collective breath when an errant German header sent Gonzalo Higuain through one on one with Manuel Neuer, but the group breathed a collective sigh of relief when his shot drifted wide. When Higuain’s goal was disallowed for offside in the 30th minute, the lone Argentina fan in the group revealed himself, opening himself up for some heckling for the rest of the half. The rest of the first half passed without any real incidents of note.

At halftime, the rain had stopped and I decided to make another attempt at watching at Kulturbrauerei and bid adieu to Pizza Nostra.

The atmosphere at Kulturbrauerei for the second half and extra time was very different from Pizza Nostra, and provided the most unforgettable atmosphere to watch a World Cup match that was distinctly German. The courtyard was extremely packed, and probably had around ten to fifteen thousand people at its peak. The vast majority of people had some kind of German apparel on, whether it be a jersey, face paint of draped in a German flag. The fans engaged in the typical round of German songs (which unfortunately I am not familiar with and did not understand) at various points throughout the second half. As the match went towards extra time, the faces of the people became more and more strained, hands started to be buried in faces, and the party atmosphere started to become very tense. Every scoring opportunity was met with more animated cheers or groans, as the vast majority realized that a goal before the full time interval would win the World Cup. When Miroslav Klose was substituted off in the 88th minute, it was greeted with a very sad, slow clap, as many realized this could be the last time they would see the World Cup’s all time leading scorer in a  tournament match.

During the seemingly endless intermission between full time and the beginning of extra time, not a soul moved, a clear sign of the tension present. However, they did display a sense of humor by laughing when the video cameras showed Joachim Löw returning from what appeared to be a bathroom break at the end of the intermission. During the beginning of extra time, the emotions continued to escalate at almost every opportunity. The crowd screamed menacingly when they saw blood streaming down Schweinsteiger’s face. In the 111th minute, a group of ten to fifteen Argentinians situated at the front of the crowd decided to use that opportunity to reveal themselves and start waving their Argentinian flags. That would prove to be a mistake, given what would occur less than two minutes later.

It happened so quickly that I almost missed it, but André Schürrle crossed the ball into the are and it was chested down by Mario Götze who then ripped it into the back of the net.. At that moment, it felt as if the world was put on pause for a solid 30 seconds so the Germans could celebrate. Many threw their beer glasses in the air, and I was pelted by beer. A firework went off from one of the surrounding breweries as I got hugged by a stranger. At the same time I was trying to film the pandemonium unfolding before my eyes. People seemed to have forgotten that there was still another eight minutes plus stoppage time left to play and the opposition contained the most dangerous player in the world who could produce a moment of magic at any time.

Despite a free kick awarded in a relatively dangerous position deep into stoppage time, the Argentinians never looked capable of equalizing, and at the full time whistle, the celebrations really started. Couples started kissing, more fireworks were unleashed and even louder chants of “Deutschland” were sung. No one dared leave for a solid half hour, despite the pelting rain.

After the trophy presentation, I decided to make my way back to my hotel. On my way back, I witnessed more wild celebrations at the nearest U-Bahn station, as someone unleashed a firework from ten feet away from me. People were honking their cars in celebratory tunes, others were waving German flags from every possible location, and people were singing their praises of the team on the U-Bahn.

Saturday’s early match pits Argentina and Belgium, two teams that required extra time to overcome their round of 16 opponents. Both come into this quarterfinal matchup on very little rest, but I do not expect to see much alteration in either team’s starting lineup, as neither team has any injury problems. Argentina are necessitated into one change as Marcos Rojo has received his second yellow card, and I expect Jose Basanta to replace him, as he did against Switzerland.

Otherwise, I expect Argentina to roll out their usual 4-3-3, with Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Ezequiel Lavezzi up top, Angel Di Maria, Fernando Gago and Javier Mascherano trying to clog Belgium in the middle and a back four of Basanta, Ezequiel Garay, Federico Fernandez and  Pablo Zabaleta to try and snuff out the quick Belgian attack. If Argentina find a need to chase the game, expect Sergio Aguero or Maxi Rodriguez to be introduced to try and change the game.

Belgium, I also expect to use an almost unchanged lineup, as they have kept nearly the same lineup throughout the tournament (with the exception of the match against South Korea). However, I expect Lukaku to regain his place in the team, as his aerial threat could cause problems for a weak Argentinian back line. He has also started to regain form as evidenced by his goal against the USA. Otherwise, they should line up in a 4-3-3 with Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Dries Mertens up top, Kevin De Bruyne, Marouane Fellaini and Axel Witsel in the middle and a back four of Jan Vertonghen, Vincent Kompany,  Daniel Van Buyten and Toby Alderweireld. Impact subs could come in the way of Origi if Lukaku is struggling up top, Moussa Dembele, Nacer Chadii or Kevin Mirallas. This should be a very entertaining match as both teams are very attack oriented.

Argentina:

Belgium:

Tuesday’s Noon ET/9am PT kick-off pits European dark horses Belgium against north African underdogs Algeria in both team’s respective group H opener in Belo Horizonte. Unlike many of the other World Cup venues, Belo Horizonte does not provide challenges in climate, and temperatures are supposed to be a comfortable 70F at kickoff.

Both teams will be looking to get off to a strong start with matches against Russia and South Korea to follow. Belgium, who are being touted by many as a potential surprise team with the ability to go deep into the competition, will find it nearly compulsory to take maximum points as they look to try and avoid a potential round of sixteen clash with Germany of group G. Algeria, on the other hand, will be trying to get their campaign off on the right foot and try and steal a point against the favorites in Group H.

Belgium are a young team with many young players who have found considerable success at club level, and are in the midst of what is being described of a “golden generation.” Such players include Eden Hazard of Chelsea, Thibaut Courtois of Atletico Madrid and Axel Witsel of Zenit St. Petersburg. They enter the tournament on a bit of a high, having won their three warmup games against Luxembourg, Sweden and Tunisia. However, they have not qualified for a major championship since the 2002 World Cup, when they were eliminated 2-0 by eventual winners Brazil in the round of 16.

Algeria, on the other hand, are favored to finish bottom of this group. Led by 19 year old Nabil Bentaleb of Tottenham and 34 year old Madjid Bougherra, formerly of Rangers, the Algerians feature a somewhat youthful side that contains many dual French nationals, many of whom ply their trade in France’s Ligue Un. Algeria have never advanced from the group stage of the World Cup, bowing out in 1982 (because of final match collusion between West Germany and Austria that saw both teams through), 1986 and 2010. However, they were able to steal a point from England in a 0-0 in the second group stage match in 2010, and will look to do the same against a strong Belgian side. Like Belgium, Algeria also come into the tournament in fine form, having won their last four matches against Burkina Faso, Slovenia, Armenia and Romania.

While this match may be overlooked by many in favor of the Brazil-Mexico match later on in the day, there are some intriguing story-lines to look out for here, most notably whether or not all the Belgian talent can come together for the national side in a major tournament, or will they cave under the pressure of their first major tournament appearance in twelve years. Algeria won’t be content to play second fiddle, so look out for a highly entertaining match in the Brazilian mountainside.

Before the introduction into European football of ‘registration periods,’ more commonly known as ‘transfer windows,’ you may remember that players could pretty much come and go as they please, right up until the closing weeks of the season. However, times have changed and now, in England specifically, the summer window runs from the last day of the season right up until the 1st September. That’s all well and good; a long summer break to tamper with your squad and attempt, admittedly sometimes in vain, to improve upon the previous season. However, now is January. January in England and across Europe has it’s own mid-season transfer window. The question is why?

The debate has been had on frequent occasions since the inception of the transfer window, primarily instigated by the likes of Steve Coppell notorious for his dislike of the current system, instead preferring a ‘no restrictions’ approach to comings and goings of players. But surely the aim of the transfer window is to remove that constant, lingering feeling of doubt in the back of a manager’s mind as to whether his players will just jump ship at a crucial point in the season. In today’s market especially, it would be so easy for players to wake up one morning and decide enough is enough, á la Carlos Tevez you may recall, though he was disuaded from going anywhere most likely as a result of flashing dollar signs. Clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester City with their gargantuan transfer budgets could just as easily spend the duration of the season raking in new talent as they spend the entirety of the summer on a mission to stockpile the world’s greatest players. It’s almost like the trading cards we all felt an ardor for at some point in our childhood, forever yearning for the final evasive glittering shiny card.

Let’s put all that into context, shall we? Imagine we are a fortnight away from arguably the biggest game on the planet: Manchester United vs Liverpool. Without transfer windows, a situation could so easily arise where a key player such as Fernando Torres, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard or Rio Ferdinand could be offered a small fortune every week by one or other of the aforementioned clubs, not to mention the omnipresent lure of European behemoths Barcelona and Real Madrid. Only in very special circumstances would a player, given the chance, turn it down. Maybe Steven Gerrard would be an exception to that but it’s beside the point. Big players could pack their bags and be gone before sunrise if they so chose. The club would be left stranded with no star man and precious little time to find a replacement and gel him into the side. It would be chaotic, and quite frankly, unfair.

So what exactly is the point of the January window? All it seemingly does is condense what was months worth of rumor and anticipation into a single, month long window of unease and uncertainty. It’s a hectic time and it is no wonder that in some circumstances over the past few years it has been a fateful turning point for so many teams going into the new year.

But is it right that the only windows of opportunity for strengthening are nine months apart? What if you get prolonged injuries mid-season? The impact, particularly on the weaker, less financially predominant sides such as West Ham, Wolves or Wigan could be forced into further despair at the bottom of the table. On the other hand, though, it is all too frequent that these clubs panic as they find themselves on the verge of relegation, albeit the best part of 5 months from judgement day, and spend money wildly on players who they don’t really need or indeed want, and players won’t turn out to be the savior they were after. The knock-on effect of this, of course, is a reduced budget in the summer where, should they survive, they could have spent it wisely, and calculated more expensive signings who would surely bolster their chances of ‘success’ the following year. You only need to look at previous January signings along the lines of Eric Djemba-Djemba’s move from Man United to Aston Villa in 2005, Newcastle’s big money move for Boumsong in the same year or City’s sweep for Samaras in 2006 to see where I’m coming from. No doubt there will be flops of a similar ilk in this window too, as there are every other January.

Sometimes, though, it is entirely necessary to strengthen. Indeed, you hear managers ramble on about the opportunity to add to their squad after Christmas, months in advance. Liverpool, for example, are in dire straits right now, and now they have the new, seemingly more competent and more well-off American owners, the time is right to splash the cash, perhaps. Though other teams, predominantly smaller teams, simply don’t have the money to waste that they think they do.

That’s why, after much deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that the January transfer window is nothing more than a traditionally ill-fated period of concern for managers and players alike. It gives clubs a false hope, an illusion that they can better themselves for the final rundown to the end of the season and more often than not, can be distracting and entirely favorable to the clubs with all the money, and in today’s market, we should be working towards a conclusion which, if anything, detriments the big spenders.

So what d’ya reckon, footy fans? January transfer window: fruitful, or just entirely pointless?

Speaking ahead of City’s 1-1 Europa League draw with Juventus, Mancini said: “He is our player and it’s my opinion that Carlos will stay with us. But I want to speak with him. He can continue to play for us.

“I’m disappointed because I think that we are in a good moment and we have a good position in the table. Our focus must be on this, but before that, I said I want to speak with him. I’m happy for the team and other things, but I want to speak with Carlos and I repeat, Carlos has three years on his contract and, yes, I want him to stay.”

While Mancini is confident of talking Tevez round, it will be a massive shock to see Tevez willingly remain at the club. I use the word willingly because in reality if City don’t want to sell, they are the only club in the world that could afford to allow a player of Tevez’s stature to rot in the reserves.

City’s financial prowess has also meant that Tevez’s valuation has been greatly inflated and there are very few clubs in the world that could afford the sort of money that City are reported to be looking for, should Tevez not be persuaded to stay.

This demonstrates just how hard it will be for Tevez to manufacture a move away from City. There is often a talk about player power in football, but this transfer saga will emphasise just how powerful City have become.

As we saw with Craig Bellamy, City have the power to pick and chose where their players go. So while Tevez might be desperate for a move away from Eastlands, he might just have to be prepared to wait a very long time for it.

Sheikh Mansour’s takeover at the club has changed the footballing transfer market. While it created astronomically big wages for the likes of Tevez, it also created a new level of control over players, which has brought a whole new world of problems.

I started watching soccer just one year ago. I was flipping through the TVchannels one night, bored, when I got to channel 124, some obscure channel I had never heard of called Fox Soccer Channel (FSC). I watched some of the match that they were showing. In the beginning, I would watch the beginning of the Saturday 12:30pm ET match being shown on FSC while eating lunch and the last 20 minutes of whatever UEFA Champions League match was being shown after coming home from school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But I did not know whom to cheer for. It seemed like everyone who followed soccer here in the States rooted for one of the Big Four as they were known at the time. I followed the table, wanted Chelsea to win the league, Spurs to take top 4 and Hull City to fight off relegation due to the fact they had American international Jozy Altidore as their striker. However I did not fall passionately in love with any side.

At the start of this season, I fell in love with Tottenham Hotspur, every single one of their matches was exciting. Whether it be the 3-2 loss to Young Boys in the Champions League or the 4-0 victory in the return leg a week later, the 4-3 loss to Inter Milan, the 3-1 win two weeks later or the stunning comeback over Arsenal. Spurs never disappointed in the exciting business of the game.

Sunday, Spurs had me on the edge of my seat during the entire match. After their early goal by Roman Pavlyuchenko, the goal by Drogba devastated me. Gomes should have stopped it. However my heart started racing when Chelsea were awarded the penalty in stoppage time. I was thinking, what a horrible game, Spurs go up and blow it with a stupid penalty conceded late in the game. Drogba stepped up, took it, Gomes dove to his left. Save! I jumped up cheering, Spurs were able to rescue the point which they probably did not deserve. They never fail to disappoint when it comes to exciting football.

Looking forward I expect them to bolster their defense in January, they concede too frequently, and as the announcer on FSC read the names of injured centre backs Gallas, Kaboul, Ledley King and Woodgate, it reaffirmed to me how Spurs need to buy in the transfer window.

I do not expect them to challenge for the league, however I do expect them to make a great run in the Champions League, hopefully reaching the semi-finals since they are extremely hard to beat at White Hart Lane. A deep run in the FA Cup would be nice, but not imperative because it might cause fixture congestion late in the season. In future years I do expect them to challenge for the Premier League title however maintaining their top 4 status is imperative.

Spurs fans, please respond in the comments below on what you think about the squad and future aspirations.

With Christmas fast approaching and the cold snap beginning to bite, let’s take a look at five films soccer related films that you can enjoy over the festive period without leaving the comfort of your house, thanks to the joy that is iTunes.

5. The Football Factory
Based on a novel wrote by John King, this film is a fair reflection on the hooliganism epidemic that caused huge problems in England. The film follows the story of Tommy Johnson (Danny Dyer), a Chelsea supporter who has become involved with the clubs infamous hooligan group the ‘Headhunters’. The film is a must see for any soccer fan wanting to get a greater understanding of why there is so much violence associated with the beautiful game.

The Football Factory. Buy: $9.99, Rent: $2.99

4. Bend it Like Beckham
This award winning film is perhaps the most successful soccer film of all times in terms of awards. Starring Parminder Nagra as Jess, a soccer obsessed girl who has dreams of making it as a top female player. The story follows the trials and tribulations of Jess and her Sikh family who don’t agree with her career plan. And it also marks an early film for Keira Knightley. Hubba hubba.

Bend It Like Beckham. Buy $9.99, Rent: $2.99

3. Victory
A distinctly more cheery film than The Football Factory, this World War Two film has a star-studded cast with the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine appearing alongside footballing greats Pele and the late Bobby Moore. Released in 1981, the film follows a group of Allied prisoners who take on a German side in a soccer game where everything is against them; however with Luis Fernandez (Pele) in fine form, things won’t be that easy for the Germans.

Victory. Buy: $9.99, Rent: $2.99

2. Pelada
Pelada is a remarkable soccer documentary that follows two Americans on a journey around the world in pursuit of pick-up games. It’s a simple premise, but the experiences and people they encounter around the globe are wonderful to watch. If you consider yourself a soccer fan, this is one documentary that you must seek out. If you’re not convinced, listen to the interview on the EPL Talk Podcast with one of the stars of the film.

Pelada. Buy: $14.99, Rent: $3.99

1. The Damned United
Tom Hooper’s controversial film tells the story of the legendary Brian Clough’s brief spell in charge of Leeds United. Based on the Damned United Utd book by David Peace ,the film provides a fascinating insight in to one of the most iconic managers in the history of English soccer. Michael Sheen stars as Clough in a film which caused anger amongst several former Leeds players who were far from happy about the way they were portrayed in the film.

The Damned United. Buy: $14.99

If there are any soccer films available on iTunes that are missing from the above list, please include your suggestions in the comments section below.

Full disclosure: EPL Talk receives a small commission for many of the items listed above. Since all of the content on our site is available for free and the advertising pays for only some of our costs, we appreciate your show of support to EPL Talk for any purchases or rentals made via the links above. Thank you.

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has once again angered the clubs supporters after he sacked manager Chris Hughton. Despite Newcastle’s poor run of form, Hughton’s sacking does come as a major shock, and is incredibly disrespectful to the man who has helped bring the club back to the Premier League. 

 Hughton had been a terrific servant to the club. He looked on as the St James’ Park outfit imploded after years of turmoil working in various roles before finally taking full-time control of the club last year. 

 Admittedly he was blessed with a squad that was far too strong for the Championship, but Hughton masterminded the clubs revival, and so far this season has produced a solid mid-table side, something that with a general lack of investment from the clubs owners, is an achievement in itself. 

 There have been some real highs for the Newcastle so far this season. A Carling Cup win at Chelsea, a 1-0 win at Arsenal in the league, and most notably a 5-1 hammering of bitter rivals Sunderland, but yet still Ashley has opted to show Hughton the exit door. 

 In a statement the club thanked Hughton for his services but claimed they needed a manager with more experience. But the question is; why would an experienced manager want to take on the impossible task of working with Mike Ashley. 

 Since arriving at the club in the summer of 2007, Ashley has dismissed five managers, why on earth would another manager want to risk the same fate? 

 Take somebody like Martin O’Neill who has all the managerial capabilities to help take Newcastle to the next level, but in order to succeed would need time. At Newcastle he would never get the opportunity to build sustainable success, and would soon be classed as failure by Ashley. 

 In general, a lack of patience and over-ambition is something that many owners suffer with, and Ashley is no different. But he must understand that he will never be able to attract a top manager with this attitude, and therefore never be able to take the club forward. You have to feel for whoever takes over the reigns at the club next, because working with Ashley is guaranteed sacking on their managerial CV.

Speculation is starting to mount that FIFA declined proposals from England and the USA, in a bid to ensure the two countries with the most impressive footballing infrastructure could be free to host a tournament if one of the upcoming hosts fails to live up to the promises in their bid.

Premier League chairman Richard Scudamore has added further fuel to the rumours. Speaking after learning the true extent of England’s failure in the bidding process, Scudamore said: “What’s gone against us is not having to build 20 new stadia. It almost feels as if we are on standby for when somebody can’t host it. “

While both Russia and Qatar come with obvious risks, it is said to be the 2014 World Cup in Brazil causing FIFA the most concern. The South American nation were awarded the tournament in 2007 but since then progress on the building work of the 12 stadiums has been slow.

But it is the countries infrastructure which is creating real problems. The vast land of Brazil means that air-travel is the only feasible way for visitors to travel between the host cities, but there have been massive delays in the improvement of Brazil’s air travel.

Speaking last week. International Air Transport Association chairman Giovanni Bisignani warned that if Brazil didn’t begin plans to improve its airports then tournament could be a “national embarrassment.”

Bisignani said: “I don’t see much progress and the clock is ticking. We must get all the stakeholders to the table and finalize a plan.” The views were echoed by Brazilian World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto who was far from happy after waiting seven hours for a flight from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro.

Alberto said: “That can’t happen at the World Cup. It is really shameful what is happening with the airports, our expectations are great. We need to deliver the best World Cup but we have to speed up with the preparations because we are a little slow.”

If FIFA was to pull the plug on Brazil 2014, it would certainly open a door to either England or the USA, who are the only countries that could host a tournament at short notice. It must be said that this is highly unlikely, but the last week has shown just how laughable FIFA is as an organisation and you certainly wouldn’t rule out another conspiracy theory.

Jermaine Beckford equalised late on for Everton

The increasing pressure on Carlo Ancelotti has reached new heights after Chelsea dropped two more points against a stubborn Everton side. It was the fourth Premier League game without a win for the reigning champions, and just their fifth point from a possible 18 in recent weeks,  but with Ancelotti’s side stuttering, could the Italian find himself out of a job in the not so distant future?

If Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has any sense, then the answer is no. While Ancelotti is having a tough time of things at the moment, his previous success should have plenty of weight and it would be ludicrous for Chelsea to sack him.

But football is a sport where bizarre decisions are made on a frequent basis, and we shouldn’t be surprised if Ancelotti finds himself on the way out of Stamford Bridge. The departure of Ray Wilkins has revealed some real internal problems at Chelsea and Ancelotti appears to have been disturbed by these issues.

 This is having an impact on Chelsea’s performances, and with the Premier League ultra competitive this year, they really can’t afford to keep dropping points. Anybody from five teams could theoretically challenge for the title this season, and the successful side will be one that is most consistent, so Chelsea need to solve their problems.

If Ancelotti can’t do this in the next couple of the weeks, he will be gone, because as we have seen in the past, Abramovich isn’t afraid to make bold decisions. After spending vast sums of money to lure Luiz Felipe Scolari to Stamford Bridge, the Russian was quick to send him packing when results tailed off, and Ancelotti isn’t immune from similar treatment.

Things don’t get any easier for Ancelotti when you look at Chelsea’s fixtures in the next few weeks. Next weekend’s trip to Tottenham is followed by games against Manchester United and Arsenal. If there isn’t a drastic improvement in results in those three games then in my opinion Chelsea will be looking for a new manager in the New Year.

That might sound drastic, but given the demands for success, Ancelotti can’t afford to fall off the pace in the title race. Last season he set the standard high, and unfortunately he might now be suffering because of last terms achievements.

Deflection king Frank Lampard has regularly benefited from the committee in the past

One of the more strange departments of the Premier League, the Dubious Goals Committee is a group surrounded in secrecy. But how does it work? And more importantly what does it actually do? In a report that has the potential to be as earth shattering as the BBC Panorama documentary exposing FIFA bungs, let’s see if we can dig a little deeper in to the Premier League’s Dubious Goals Committee.

Okay, I may have over hyped this article a little, but the panel responsible for deciding which player is awarded a disputed Premier League goal, really is amongst the most secretive in football. Scour the internet and you will find very little on who sits on the panel.

What you will find is countless accounts on how they work. According to several sources they typically meet around four times a season and review a series of goals where the goalscorer is debated. However they only consider matters where they have to decide if a goal is an own-goal or not, they do not settle disputes over goals between teammates.

The actual decision process is quite straight forward according to a Premier League spokesman. Speaking to the Guardian in 2006 he said: “As a rule, if the initial attempt is goalbound it is credited to the player making the goal attempt, however if the deflection means that a wayward effort results in a goal then it is attributed to the player who had the last definitive touch of the ball.”

So now we understand their logic, but why the secrecy?  It is understood that the panel is made up of three people, who are either former players or officials who have worked in the game.

But the spokesman refused to reveal who they were, adding “Their identities are not revealed so as to protect the game’s integrity and avoid a panel member being put under pressure to make any particular decision on a goal.”

Whoever they are though, over the years they have certainly made some interesting decisions. Peter Crouch was awarded his first Liverpool goal thanks to the panel, after his strike against Wigan took a massive deflection. Nani also benefited from the panel after been awarded with the opener in Manchester United’s win at Arsenal earlier this year.

So the strangest committee in the Premier League is the most secretive, whether there is a need for the panel is another question. Which player is going to want to be credited with an own-goal? But as is football common sense doesn’t seem to exist.

Kalou missed a sitter to pile on the misery at Chelsea

The problems at Chelsea continue to mount as a draw in the North East allowed Manchester United to overhaul the champions at the top of the table for the first time this season.

With an important month in the title race about to begin injuries, backroom drama and poor performances have left confidence shattered at a club that has only collected four points from a possible fifteen.

Injuries and Suspensions With all the problems around the club it would be easy to forget that Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Alex and Didier Drogba have either been unavailable or not fully fit over the last month or so.

This constitutes the spine of the first team and it is clear that with the loss of Deco, Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Ballack the depth is not what it needs to be for the club to overcome injury blights unaffected.

Ray Wilkins Nobody truly knows what happened and the reasoning behind the decision to axe a winning back room figure, but it will clearly have drained morale and it must be a contributing factor to recent results.

With the next month or so crucial for the first time in over a year Chelsea look vulnerable something that was unthinkable just a few months ago, when the Blues raced out of the blocks with six wins in a row. Significant changes in luck around injuries and the defining moments in games are required if Chelsea are to remain in the title race come January.

Brought to you by eChelseaFC

10- Matthew Upson –West Ham

Played a key role for England during the 2010 World Cup, Upson was often seen as England’s third choice centre half. However at club level Upson hasn’t excelled, and has made some costly mistakes.

9- Charles N’Zogbia – Wigan

The controversial French winger has had some excellent performances over the last few years but is a real hit or miss player. On his day N’Zogbia is a real handful for defenders, but more often than not he frustrates. The former Newcastle United man has only played 45 minutes for his country, despite all the turmoil that has surrounded the France squad.

8- James Milner – Manchester City

After a couple of good seasons at Aston Villa, England midfielder James Milner made the move to Manchester City this summer, but the price tag surely isn’t a reflection on his ability. At a reported £26 million Milner has a world class price tag, but is far from world class, and while he may develop over the next few seasons, at present his transfer fee has made him very overrated.

7- Joe Cole – Liverpool

Another player who on his day has the ability to cause defences some real problems, but often frustrates. Cole’s move to Liverpool in the summer was supposed to be a time where he re-launched his career after been frozen out of the frame at Chelsea, but has struggled to find any real form in Liverpool’s disappointing start to the season.

6-Joleon Lescott – Manchester City

After a couple of good seasons at Everton, Manchester City made Lescott one of their top transfer targets in the summer of 2009. They signed the defender for a massive fee of between £22 million and £24 million, but since then Lescott has never really found any level of consistency and looks to be amongst one of the Premier League’s biggest transfer flops.

5- Ashley Cole – Chelsea

Cole is often labelled as the best left back in the World, but when he has come up against real quality Cole has often come up short. He has never really lived up to the hype, and for his country Cole disappoints on a regular basis, however he does have 85 caps to his name. For Chelsea, Cole is consistent but when things go wrong for him, he can become a real weak link in their back four.

4- Fernando Torres- Liverpool

There is no doubting that on his day, Torres is amongst the most deadly players in the league, however over the last few seasons the Spanish striker has struggled with injuries and a general lack of form. But despite just five goals this season Torres is still seen as talisman for Liverpool and amongst the world’s best forwards.

3- Steven Gerrard- Liverpool.

Liverpool’s second talisman and a player that could walk in to every single Premier League side. But Gerrard is another over-hyped player and is labelled amongst the world’s best midfielders, but in big games often struggles to impress. On his day, he can win Liverpool points on his own, but on others can go missing and make no impact whatsoever.

2-Wayne Rooney- Manchester United

Another English player who struggles to live up to a tag as one of the world’s best. At the World Cup in South Africa, Rooney made no impact at all, and has since struggled to find any sort of form. Rooney will need to consistently perform for the next few seasons if he is to really establish himself amongst the world’s footballing elite.

1-Glenn Johnson- Liverpool

The former Chelsea and Portsmouth man has been labelled as the league’s best right-back for the last few seasons now, but is so often exposed for his lack of prowess in the Liverpool defence. While very good going forward, his lack of awareness gets Liverpool in to trouble on a regular basis, and has often lead to dropped points. Johnson arrived at Anfield for a fee of around £17.5 million, which only emphasises how overrated he is.

Unlike Wilkins, Arnesen has opted to leave the club, but it is still a strange departure. The Dutchman has been a big part of the setup at Chelsea since his arrival in 2005. At the time it was estimated that the three-time Premier League winners had paid up to £8 million to his former club Tottenham in compensation, but five years on Arnesen doesn’t seem so keen to work for the club.

There is plenty of speculation as to why the Dutchman has chose leave, but it does appear that there is real lack of harmony in the club. If Chelsea are to have success this season they need to resolve these issues as quick possible, because as shown with their defeats to Sunderland and Birmingham, this lack of harmony can have a real impact on results.

I’m not going to say the defeats were purely down to the off-field problems at Stamford Bridge, but they have certainly not helped, and really increased the pressure on Carlo Ancelotti ahead of today’s trip to Newcastle

 In normal circumstances, a trip to Newcastle would be nothing more than a tough mid-season trip for Chelsea, but after back-to-back Premier League defeats, today’s game is vital. During the opening weeks of the campaign everything was going well for Ancelotti’s side. Chelsea were scoring goals for fun, and looked like they could cruise to their forth Premier League title.

As is so common with football though, things haven’t really followed the script, and the Chelsea side now looks a million miles away from the Chelsea side that started the season.  As this was meant to be the year when they really pushed on for honours, but right now that looks questionable and you have to feel that unless the club can unite together they will be disappointed come May.

What do you think? Are the off-field problems at Chelsea damaging their chances of success  this season?

Berbatov is so often criticised, and often the criticism is justified. When things don’t go well for him, his work ethic and attitude becomes a real issue. But when things are going right for him, there are very few defenders in the Premier League that can stop him.

Personally, I think Wayne Rooney’s return to the United fold has done Berbatov the world of good. Berbatov thrives on been the centre of attention and has been pushed out in to the shadows with Rooney’s recent return. The Blackburn game was the perfect opportunity for Berbatov to show everybody that he is still capable of leading the United line.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was proud of the performance of both of his strikers: “Berbatov and Rooney were a good combination today – they interchanged brilliantly today. Wayne was fantastic.”

The question now is can Berbatov continue this level of form? Ever since arriving at Old Trafford he has struggled with consistency and never really lived up to his vast price tag. But if he can’t now find them consistent performances after scoring five in a game, you have to question if he ever will.

What do you think? Is Dimitar Berbatov a purely “hit or miss” player, or will his excellent performance against Blackburn be the start of the something special for the Bulgarian at Old Trafford?

An asterisk should be added to that number since it includes Tottenham among the ten who are foreign owned. Even though their majority owner is English, he operates his business from Florida and the Bahamas.

So who are the owners of the 20 Premier League clubs? Here they are:

Arsenal – Arsenal Holdings plc
Arguably the club whose ownership is most contested. Arsenal operates as a private limited company. Arsenal’s board of directors own 45.2% of the club’s shares. The largest shareholder on the board is American sports investor Stan Kroenke, who has a 29.9% stake. However Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov isn’t far behind with a 26% share. It has been speculated that the two will enter a bidding war to take total control of the club. Kroenke is favourite should a bidding war occur as he is currently elected to the Arsenal board.

Aston Villa – Randy Lerner
Lerner, who also owns NFL team Cleveland Browns, took over the club in 2006. One of the less high profile investors in the league, Lerner is thought to have a net worth of around $1.5billion.

Birmingham City – Carson Yeung
Hong Kong billionaire Carson Yeung finally completed his proposed takeover of the club in 2009 after previously looking to purchase the club in 2007. The deal went through on October 9th for a reported £81.5million.

Blackburn Rovers – Venky’s Group
Poultry giant Venky’s became the first Indian owners of a Premier League club with their takeover of Rovers last week. The deal was worth around £46million and left the Ewood Park club debt free.

Blackpool – Owen Oyston
Oyston has been the majority shareholder at Blackpool since 1987 and currently owns an 80% holding in the club. Famous for work in the media Oyston is thought to have a net worth of around £105million. The other 20% of the club is owned by Latvian billionaire Valeri Belokon.

Bolton Wanderers – Eddie Davies
One of the most unglamorous names out of the Premier League owners, Davies is estimated to have a fortune of around £60million. He became the majority shareholder of the club’s holding company Burnden Leisure PLC in 2003, and is a lifelong Bolton fan.

Chelsea – Roman Abramovich
Abramovich’s takeover at Chelsea in the summer of 2003 was the first real high profile takeover of a club from a foreign investor and has really set a trend in English football. The Russian, who has made most of his estimated £7billion fortune through oil, has spent huge amounts of money in transforming Chelsea in to a footballing super-power.

Everton – Bill Kenwright
Boyhood Everton fan Kenwright completed a takeover of the club in 1999 and currently has a 27% share in the club. Other major shareholders include Robert Earl (23%) and Jon Woods (21%). The club has been linked with several buyouts in recent years and the club are said to be actively seeking investment.

Fulham – Mohamed Al-Fayed
Former owner of the famous Harrods department store in London, Al-Fayed took over Fulham in 1997 with the club languishing in the bottom tier of English football. They then set about a rapid climb to the Premier League, and by 2001 were playing in the top flight. Al-Fayed is known for having a more laid back approach to ownership and is thought to have personal fortune of around £680million. However that figure does not take into account the sale of Harrods.

Liverpool – New England Sports Ventures
One of the more controversial takeovers that has been seen in the Premier League. New England Sports Ventures purchased the Anfield club from fellow Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett last month in a deal worth £300million. However Hicks and Gillett challenged the legitimacy of the takeover in a high court because they felt the fee wasn’t representative of the club’s true value. The dispute went to the high court where it was eventually approved and Liverpool fans rejoiced at the news that Hicks and Gillett were no longer in control at Anfield.

Manchester United – The Glazer Family
Arguably the most controversial takeover of them all. United fans were so furious at the news the club had been purchased by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer that some formed break-away club FC United. The buy-out of the club was completed in the Autumn of 2005, and left the club with over $850million of debt. While the owners have made moves to lower the level of debt in recent months, there is still a massive anti-Glazer feeling around Old Trafford and the “Green and Gold till United are sold” protest is still on-going.

Manchester City – Sheikh Mansour
If the takeover at Old Trafford was greeted with anger by United fans, Manchester City’s buyout by an Abu-Dhabi based consortium with links to the UAE royal family is still being celebrated by City fans. The consortium is fronted by Sheikh Mansour. It’s impossible to put a true figure on his wealth, but his personal fortune is said to be around £20billion. His investment in City, including the club’s purchase in 2008, is already approaching the £1billion mark.

Newcastle United – Mike Ashley
Another owner who is far from popular with his club’s supporters, Ashley purchased the Magpies for around £135 million in 2007. But a general lack of investment and poor on the field displays lead to Newcastle’s relegation from the Premier League and mass protests over Ashley’s ownership. In 2009 Ashley, who is estimated to a have a personal fortune of around £700million, was actively looking for a buyer of the club, but has since said the club is no longer for sale.

Stoke City – Peter Coates
Now in his second spell as Stoke’s majority shareholder, local businessman and lifelong Stoke fan Coates made most of his estimated £400million fortune through the betting industry. Coates had originally owned the club between 1989 and 1998 before selling the club to an Icelandic consortium. But eight years later he returned to the Britannia Stadium in a deal worth the mediocre sum of £1.7 million.

Sunderland – Ellis Short
American entrepreneur Short was part of an eight-man consortium that purchased Sunderland in 2006. The consortium was lead by former Black Cats striker Niall Quinn, however Short was the majority shareholder. In May 2009, Short took full control of the club, after buying out the other members of the consortium. Short is a well established business man in America and is estimated to have generated a personal fortune of around £2billion.

Tottenham Hotspur – Joe Lewis
One of the more hidden owners of a Premier League club, English businessman Joe Lewis has an 85% share in Spurs. Lewis is exiled in the Bahamas but gradually built his shares up in Tottenham since the turn of the century. Lewis is estimated to have a personal fortune of around £2billion which he has built up through investment in over 175 companies.

West Bromwich Albion – Jeremy Peace
Another of the least glamorous owners in the Premier League, Peace has had associations with the Baggies since December 2000 when he was elected to the club’s board, and took over as club chairman in 2002. In 2005 Pearce was announced as the club’s majority shareholder.

West Ham United – David Gold and David Sullivan
The infamous duo of Gold and Sullivan completed the purchase of a 50% stake in West Ham in January after completing the sale of Birmingham City last year. Their stake was increased to 60% in May of this year. Lifelong fans of the Hammers, Gold and Sullivan are said to be looking to purchase the other 40% of the club which is owned by Icelandic bank Straumur-Burdaras.

Wigan Athletic – Dave Whelan
Outspoken Whelan is a former professional footballer in England, but made most of his estimated £200million fortune through sports retail chain JJB. He took charge at the Latics in 1995 with the club in the bottom tier of English football, and has played a key part in their establishment as a Premier League club.

Wolverhampton Wanderers – Steve Morgan
Morgan arrived at Molineux in 2007 after purchasing the club for just £10 from Sir Jack Hayward. The deal was conditional on Morgan investing £30 million in to the club. It was the second time Morgan had looked to purchase a club after previously attempting a takeover of his boyhood Liverpool only to have his offer rejected. Morgan is estimated to have a £350million fortune, which he has built up in the property market.

What would be the best team you could name out of all the Premier League players who can’t get a regular game for their club side? Lining up with a vintage 4-4-2 formation, here is my selection. I’d be interested to hear yours.

Goalkeeper – Shay Given (Manchester City)
When he arrived from Newcastle, Given was meant to be the long term solution to City’s goalkeeping problems. What he didn’t count on was the emergence of Joe Hart as one of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers when out on loan at Birmingham City. Since Hart returned to Eastlands, Given has made just two appearances.

Right Back – Verdan Corluka (Tottenham Hotspur)
In my opinion, Corluka is one of the best full-backs in the league. He has been virtually ever present for Spurs since arriving from Manchester City in 2008, but has recently lost his place to Alan Hutton and hasn’t featured in the Premier League since September.

Centre Back – Jonny Evans (Manchester United)
A player that probably plays more than most in this side, but if other are fit will not feature. Evans has been a regular deputy for England captain Rio Ferdinand in the heart of the United defence, but with Ferdinand enjoying a good run of late, Evans has not started a game since September. On his day though, Evans would make it in to most Premier League sides.

Centre Back – Joleon Lescott- (Manchester City)
Lescott arrived at Eastlands with a massive price tag, but has never really been able to live up to expectations. This season he has struggled to hold down a regular place in the City side, and hasn’t featured in the Premier League since mid October.

Left Back – Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal)
One of Arsenal’s next generation of young stars. At just 21 Gibbs already back-up for Ashley Cole for England, but has found it difficult to displace Gael Clichy in the Arsenal defence.

Right Wing – Shaun Wright Phillips (Manchester City)
One of the most likeable players in the Premier League, SWP found himself out of favour at Chelsea and moved back home to City in a bid to find regular first team football. But as City splashed the cash on big name signings, Wright Phillips once again found himself warming a bench.

Holding Midfielder – Patrick Vieira (Manchester City)
The towering Frenchman might be ageing now but he could still do a job for most Premier League sides. He has made just one start in the Premier League this season for City.

Attacking Midfielder – Tomáš Rosický (Arsenal)
Rosický’s Arsenal career has been plagued by injury but he has often shown us that when fit he is a player of immense talent. This season has season Rosický make just three Premier League starts for the Gunners.

Left Wing – Adam Johnson (Manchester City)
Another one of England’s up-and-coming starlets Johnson has fallen out of favour with City manager Roberto Mancini, who despite Johnson’s obvious contributions to the side opts against picking the former Middlesbrough man.

Striker – Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City)
During his time at Arsenal, Adebayor was one of the most feared strikers in the Premier League. He signed for City in the summer of 2009, but is another that has fell out of favour under Mancini. Adebayor has made just a handful of appearances in the league this term.

Striker – Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur)
It’s all gone wrong for Keane since his big money move to Liverpool. Since returning to Tottenham he has found it difficult to get a regular start and moved on loan to Celtic for the second half of last season. It seems as if Keane will be on his way out of White Hart Lane sooner rather than later.

Do you agree or disagree with any of the picks above? If you disagree, which players would you swap out and why?

Ahead of City’s trip to Fulham, the pressure was very much on Roberto Mancini. After a disappointing run of form which had seen the blues draw their last two games 0-0. A bad result in London could have spelled the end for Roberto Mancini, but what followed was their best performance of the season.

In many ways it was a matter of time before City finally produced a display that would strike fear in to their Premier League rivals, and you have to feel that Mancini was extra motivated to do it against Fulham, managed by the man he replaced last December.

Mancini has been blasted by the media of late with many saying he has done no better than Mark Hughes, his predecessor at Eastlands. Much of this criticism has been fair, because City haven’t showed that they have developed in the time since Hughes’ departure.

But today everything clicked for Mancini. Yes they were against a Fulham side who produced a desperately below par performance, but generally City were fantastic and didn’t give the hosts any opportunity to grasp the game.

Yaya Toure starred in a midfield role which saw him utilised all over the pitch, while Carlos Tevez was at his influential best. Mancini’s side have now set a standard that really needs to be maintained over the coming months.

If City can consistently match today’s performance, they have a fantastic chance of achieving great things this season, but so often this season City have been caught out, just when we think they are going to make a charge for glory. However Mancini does seem to be fairly satisfied with his sides start to the season, even though they should be at least six points better off.

In many ways I feel Mancini seems to find the expectations of the City fans very difficult to manage, and constantly looks to play down their title hopes. In reality he has to be aware that a title challenge is the only thing that can prolong his City tenure.

Results and performances like today’s will give him a title challenge, there is no doubt about that, but whether City can now find consistency is another question.

Ben Foster was on top form to deny Chelsea

Birmingham’s victory yesterday was one of the classic stereotypes of the Premier League, a unfancied side in the relegation places prior to kick off defeating the reigning champions by going ahead and defending that lead with their lives.

Playing a system that isolated their midfield and relied on the forward holding the ball up from the off, it was against the run of play that Birmingham took the lead after 17 minutes.

However Chelsea were made to look foolish as their defence remained statuesque as Cameron Jerome cushioned a header into the path of Lee Bowyer who coolly finished Petr Cech, in what turned out to be the only goal of the game.

Going behind seemed to spur Chelsea into action and Didier Drogba should have scored once one on one with Ben Foster, but the England international made one of many great saves in the half. Chelsea swarmed the Birmingham half creating chances, with Drogba hitting the woodwork and Kalou spurning one or two golden opportunities.

Birmingham got to the half time break with their lead intact and this seemed to allow them to regroup and take stock of the fantastic position they had put themselves in and organise defensively.

The second half was an old school battle of attack versus defence, with Petr Cech cutting an isolated figure practically in the Birmingham half for the full 45 minutes, as the play continued ahead of him.

As the second half continued Birmingham rarely left their own half after the break as Chelsea continued to pile on the pressure, although clear cut chances were few and far between as the Birmingham back line continued to hold firm.

In the centre of defence Scott Dann and Roger Johnson showed the merits of strong committed defending, as they blocked, harried and frustrated the Chelsea forwards with inspired defensive performances.

At one point it seemed as if Ramires had broken through the defensive shackles bursting his way into the middle of the Birmingham penalty area only for Johnson to dispossess him with a perfectly executed last ditch tackle to break down another attack.

This spirit extended to the rest of the team who effectively formed a nine man defensive unit in the second half. They were able to repel every attack, frustrating Chelsea and heaping more misery on a weakened Chelsea side.

Despite the defensive performances of Roger Johnson and Scott Danns, Chelsea had twenty five shots on goal of which ten were on target. However Ben Foster did his part in  keeping Chelsea at bay with a man of the match performance, making some fine saves including one or two which could be considered world class.

This was not a pretty game for Birmingham, players like Bowyer, Larsson, Hleb and Jerome can play attractive football, but this was not the time for fancy football. The defensive tactics worked and whilst on some days Chelsea would have scored three or four goals with the chances created, today defence overcame attack.

A fantastic result for Birmingham will most likely be overshadowed by the implosion that has occurred at Stamford Bridge in the week, but for Tottenham’s comeback against Arsenal then this result would undoubtedly been the result of the week.

With a tough December ahead, Manchester United, Arsenal and potentially a few others will be ecstatic to see Chelsea  undoing all their good work at the beginning of the season and their injury list grow.

Will Chelsea regain their form of that I have no doubt, will Chelsea still be in the title race by that time, I am not so sure.

Brought to you by

After their stunning comeback in the North London derby yesterday, all the talk this morning is about Harry Redknapp’s men. The White Hart Lane club have certainly showed their title credentials with that win, but could they really mount a serious challenge for the Premier League this season?

Harry Redknapp certainly feels they can. Talking after the win at the Emirates Stadium, the former Portsmouth manager said: “We can beat anybody. This has put us right back in the race again. It’s wide open. We’re not writing ourselves off, you’ve got to aim for the top. If my players believe in themselves as much as I do, we can achieve anything.”

Redknapp is quite right to believe that his side do have a very good chance of winning their first league title since 1961, because this season every side has been inconsistent.  You have to feel that anyone from five sides could win the Premier League this season.

But Spurs, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal have all shown that they are currently lacking any real momentum and while Manchester United are yet to lose a game this term, they haven’t reached anywhere near their top form.

This means the league is very much up for grabs, and if Tottenham can make use of the depth in their squad it might just be their year. Redknapp has an amazing wealth of talent at his disposal and that could really be something which could bring his side success this season.

Chelsea have shown in recent weeks what happens when they are without their top players, but if there was to be a similar injury crisis at White Hart Lane, you have to feel that they would be able to cope better.

In an era where three games a week is the norm, a big squad is so advantageous now. Manchester City and Tottenham have the two strongest squads in the league, and if other sides suffer with injuries you have to feel that either could be an excellent position to win the league.

Luck will have to go their way, but the simple answer is; Yes, Tottenham could win the Premier League this season. Personally I don’t think they will but stranger things have definitely happened in football.

What do you think? Could the Premier League Trophy find a new home at White Hart Lane this season?

The dawn of the internet age has catapulted fantasy football into a global phenomenon with millions of people watching the weekend’s results coming in and simultaneously trying to calculate how the events unfolding will affect their team.

With the internet the ease of use, graphics and statistics have revolutionised the industry that started in the back of British newspapers such as the Telegraph and the Sun. Originally these games ran for the whole season, but now games can be weekly, monthly or now even match by match.

This week I signed up for and played a new fantasy football game called Picklive, a fantasy football game that uses an innovative game engine to provide a real time fantasy football experience for game being shown live on British TV.

The way it works is simple, you pick three or five players (depending on the game) and these players score points depending on their actions during the game in real time. Should one of your players be underperforming substitutions can be made in real time (30 second delay before implementation).

There are two types of game both of which can be played in free of charge or for cash against other players across the world.

The Big Game

• Pick 5 players before kick off
• Game lasts for whole match
• Unlimited number of players to compete against
• Unlimited substitutes available

The Live Game

• Pick 3 players before kick off
• Game lasts for 7.5 minutes
• 6 -25 players to play against
• Unlimited substitutes available

PLAYING THE GAME

Signing up was easy and I was instantly given a free £3 credit as an introduction and having got to the game after kick off, I chose to enter the cash ‘Live’ game using my free credit during the Arsenal v Tottenham thriller on Saturday.

I chose Arshavin, Gallas and Fabregas to start the game with the score 1-0 and with the ball being passed regularly against the back line of both sides I sat in the middle of the table and quickly used two or my three substitutions to bring in Kaboul and Koscienly for Fabregas and Arshavin and take advantage of this.

With five of the seven and a half minutes elapsed I was not in second place, two points off top spot and in the money (the top three get paid). Therefore I decided to make my final substitution in an attempt to add to my 15 points and try and take the top spot.

I elected to change William Gallas for Alan Hutton and this was the masterstroke that won the day with just 15 seconds left in the game he made a tackle to send me into top spot and £16.43 richer, not bad at all and I must admit I was now immersed in the world of 450 second fantasy football.

The game was fast paced and exhilarating and added an extra aspect watching a thrilling London derby as every pass, tackle, shot and goal mattered more than ever.

Offsides, misplaced passes and bookings took on new significance, a poorly timed booking could cost you the game and with only seven and a half minutes to play recovering from this is nigh on impossible, but a goal from an unlikely source can make you invincible.

All in all I played six ‘live’ games on Picklive and enjoyed them thoroughly without matching my winning debut again.

OVERVIEW

With a simple and easy to use game engine, a unique concept and ability to play and chat with real people, playing PICKLIVE was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Whether playing for fun or for cash it adds a totally new aspect to watching football and I will certainly be playing again.

PICKLIVE can be found here

Editor’s note: Unfortunately Picklive is currently not available for readers in the United States.

England’s poor 2010 concluded as they slid to a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to France, but the night may be remembered for the “Club v Country” debate returning once again. Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry and captain Rio Ferdinand all picked up injuries for the Three Lions, summing up a generally miserable year for the Italian.

But it is the injury to Gerrard which has sparked fury. Liverpool fitness coach Darren Burgess was far from happy with the England manager after he didn’t substitute Gerrard around the hour mark as planned.

On his Twitter account, Burgess said: “Unbelievable from all associated with England and English FA with regard to SGs [Gerrard’s] injury. Completely ignored agreement and past history, Completely amateurish and now we pay for their incompetence. Absolutely disgraceful.”

While the comments were later removed from the Australians account, Capello did admit that he hadn’t stuck to an agreement with Liverpool. He said: “I told Liverpool he would play for an hour if possible. They asked that he can play one hour if it’s possible. They can’t decide how long a player plays with the national team. If it’s possible, he’d have played an hour.

“I understand why they’re upset and I’m also upset. The problem is that, when you play this game on Wednesday after a lot of Premier League, Europa League or Champions League games, it’s possible there might be an injury for a player. The Premier League, every time, is a tough league for the players.”

While Liverpool will quite rightly be disappointed with the injury to their talisman, as Capello suggests, there is very little that can be done to avoid it, especially if England insist on playing meaningless friendly games.

Capello took the opportunity to give the likes of Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Kieran Gibbs a chance, he still won’t have learnt a great deal from the game. You have to feel that a training camp would have surely been gave him an adequate chance to view some potential additions to his squad.

This isn’t going to happen though, especially with the constant need to make the most out of Wembley and pack in as many friendly games as possible to boost revenue. So the unfortunate fact is the long running debate will run on.

The BBC has reported that Alex has joined Chelsea’s growing defensive injury list and is estimated to be out of action for between 6-8 weeks with a knee injury that requires surgery.

With John Terry injured this leaves Chelsea with only one fully fit recognised centre back and a major selection headache for Carlo Ancelotti as the decisive festive period approaches.

Against Sunderland Paulo Ferreria deputised at centre back however whilst a useful bit part player he is nowhere near the standard required to play at the heart of the Chelsea defence and alternate options are a must if Chelsea are to remain competitive.

This means that Chelsea will be forced to either grin and bear this shortcoming or throw one of the club’s youth players into the limelight.

The candidates to partner Branislav Ivanovic in the centre of defence are:

Jeffrey Bruma

A full Dutch international at the age of 18 a regular starting role in the next six weeks would be the culmination of an amazing 12 months which has included first team and international debuts for the versatile defender.

In addition to this he was the star of the club’s FA Youth Cup victory last season and has displayed talent and maturity in each of his performances in the first team to date.

Able to play at right back and full back he has been tipped to become a first time regular, could now be the time he proves this in Chelsea’s time of need?

Michael Mancienne

On loan to Wolves a club he joined in the summer, the England u21 player may be the solution if Chelsea can find a loophole to retrieve him from his Wolves loan spell. With Premier League experience with both Wolves and Chelsea he would be desperate to prove that the early hype in his career was justified and that his future lies at Stamford Bridge after a nomadic few seasons on loan.

Comfortable on the ball, his defending has been criticised in the past, but with Chelsea lacking options could he finally come of age as a footballer?

With Ferreria and Bruma available immediately, Mancienne may never get a chance I am sure he would jump at, I would really like to see Bruma given the starting berth at this juncture, experience may count for alot but based on his talent in I think the Dutchman deserves his chance.

Brought to you by eChelseaFC

In many ways it would be unfair to be overly critical of Chelsea’s display because it would take the shine of a Sunderland performance which was arguably their best ever in the Premier League. Steve Bruce’s side were nothing but superb, not only in their effort and application but their ruthlessness too.

But as good as Sunderland were, Chelsea were equally poor. Carlo Ancelotti will put the blame at injuries to the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Alex, as well as the suspension of influential midfielder Michael Essien.

In years gone by though a Chelsea squad would have easily been able to cope with an injury crisis, and you have to question the clubs decision to constantly let players go without replacing them? Yes they are trying to cut costs, but is it worth seeing the team suffer?

The Chelsea squad is drastically ageing, and in the next few years they will need to invest heavily in their playing squad if they are to remain competitive with the likes of Manchester City, because if they don’t Roman Abramovich’s dream of a Chelsea empire will rapidly slip away.

When the Russian arrived in West London there was an intense period of investment in to the playing squad, but this slowly decreased and over the last few seasons the incomings transfers at Stamford Bridge have been few and far between.

Deco, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole and Ricardo Carvalho were the big name departures from Stamford Bridge in the summer, and no matter how strong the squad that won the double was last season was, no side can lose that sort of talent and expect to be as strong.

The Chelsea bench on Sunday demonstrated Ancelotti’s problem with only Salomon Kalou boasting any real experience in the Premier League. While the Italian must be praised for bringing through young players and giving them a chance, it is highly unlikely that this will bring the success that Abramovich demands.

Personally I still think Chelsea will win the league this season, because their first team is so strong, but if they continue to have bad luck with injuries there may be plenty more shock results to come. Chelsea were once the team with best squad in the league, this simply isn’t the case anymore.

Supporters of Premier League clubs often pride themselves on their nicknames, but do you really know the origin of them? Do you know the origins of the Baggies, Gunners, Red Devils, Toffees, Trotters, Hammers, Lilywhites and Citizens?

Let’s take a closer at look some of the interesting stories behind each of Premier League club’s nicknames.

Arsenal – The Gunners

Like many, Arsenal’s nickname goes right back to when the club was originally founded. Way back in 1886, workers at Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory decided to form a football club called Dial Square. The club would be renamed as Woolwich Arsenal before dropping the prefix in 1913, but their original connection with the armament industry would remain and the names Gunners is now synonymous with the club.

Aston Villa – Villans

Not the most fascinating story behind this one. Formed when a local cricket team Villa Cross needed something to occupy themselves during the winter months, the name Villa inevitably evolved to Villans.

Blackburn Rovers – Rovers

Again not the most imaginable nickname. Rovers is a common team name for a side which is willing to travel distances for victory. Logically fans shortened the clubs name to Rovers.

Birmingham City – Blues

When the club was formed as Small Heath Alliance they decided the club would play in a dark blue shirt. The club would stick with these colors and the nickname Blues was born.

Blackpool – Seasiders/ Tangerines

One of several clubs to have multiple nicknames. The term Seasiders relates to the popularity of the town as a tourist resort on the North West coast, while Tangerines relates to the color of the clubs home kit. The club picked up the colors after been impressed when a club official saw a Netherlands side play.

Bolton Wanderers – Trotters

There are a few reported explanations for this one. One explanation claims that like Rovers, the term Wanderers implies a side is willing to travel great distances for victory. The term Trotters is simply a variation. Another explanation claims that the Trotters nickname originates because people from Bolton have a reputation for being practical jokers. Pranksters are known locally as Trotters. The most bizarre explanation claims that an old ground was built next to a pig farm and stray balls would end up with the pigs.

Chelsea – Pensioners

The nickname comes from the well known Chelsea Pensioners – war veterans living in a nearby hospital. In 1905 the club adopted the crest of  the Chelsea pensioners, and the nickname followed on.

Everton – The Toffees

The famous nickname comes after a local sweet shop known as Mother Noblett’ sold and advertised the Everton mint. The sweet shop is located opposite Prince Rupert’s Tower, which forms the majority of the Everton crest.

Fulham – Cottagers

This nickname originates from the famous cottage which is an iconic part of Fulham’s Craven Cottage ground.

Liverpool – The Reds

Another nickname which doesn’t take two much explanation. When Liverpool adopted the city’s color of red as the color of their strip, the nickname of the Reds simply followed on.

Manchester City – Citizens/ The Blues

Again not the most fascinating story behind this nickname, the name Citizens has simply evolved from the term City, where as The Blues has obvious connections with the clubs home colors.

Manchester United – The Red Devils

A few conflicting stories describe the Red Devils nickname. One rumor suggests that during a tour of France in the 1960s the club were branded the Red Devils due to their red kit and Sir Matt Busby liked the name so much he asked for the club to incorporate a devil in the badge. Another story suggests it stems from local rugby Salford. The rugby club were nicknamed the Red Devils and with United formally training in Salford the nickname transferred over.

Newcastle United – Magpies / The Toon

The name Magpies originates from the clubs iconic black and white striped kit, where as ‘The Toon’ comes from a local pronunciation of town.

Stoke City – Potters

A fairly straightforward nickname that originates from the large connection with the pottery industry in North Staffordshire.

Sunderland – The Black Cats

In 1997 when Sunderland moved to the Stadium of Light the clubs supporters were also given the opportunity to vote on the clubs official nickname. With 11,000 votes the club announced their official nickname as ‘The Black Cats’.  The historical link with black cats goes way back to the 1800’s with a River Weir artillery base named “Black Cat Battery”. This name reportedly developed after a member of the local militia who was manning the station fled after thinking a black cat was a devil incarnate because of the howling wind and full moon at the time.

Fast-track to 1905 and a black cat was pictured sitting on a football next to the club chairman at the time, and three years later a black cat would appear in the clubs team photo. The fans believed that the animal brought them good luck and in 1937 Sunderland fan Billy Morris took a black cat to Wembley in his pocket, Sunderland would win their first FA Cup trophy that year. The connection grew even further in the 1960s when a black cat lived at Sunderland’s Roker Park ground and was cared for by the club.

Tottenham Hotspur – Spurs/ Lilywhites

Spurs is obviously a shortened version of Hotspur which comes from the clubs connection with Shakespeare character Harry Hotspur. Lilywhites simply comes from the color of Tottenham’s home shirt.

West Brom – Baggies

One of the most debated nicknames around is West Brom’s. The popular belief is that the name originated from the baggie shorts that the players wore around in the early 1900s. But club historian Toby Matthews claims: “In its early days The Hawthorns had only two entrances, one behind each goal. On match days the gatekeepers would gather up the takings at each end and be escorted by policemen along the sides of the pitch to the centre line where there was a small office under the stand.

“The gate money, mostly in pennies, amounted to a considerable sum and was carried in large cloth bags. It wasn’t long before some wag in the crowd started shouting “Here come the bag men!” at their appearance in front of the main stand, and this developed into a chant of “Here come the Baggies,” giving the team its nickname.

West Ham – Hammers

West Ham’s nickname originates from the Thames Ironwork Football Club, a team from which they developed. The West Ham crest features two crossed rivet hammers and the club has been known has the Hammers ever since

Wigan Athletic – Latics

Wigan are not on their own with this nickname with League 1 side Oldham Athletic also claiming it. Latics is simply a corruption of the world Athletic.

Wolverhampton Wanderers – Wolves

Probably the most unimaginative nickname out of the bunch, but the most commonly used. Most football fans will know the Midlands club as Wolves, and there is no prize guessing why!

Cardiff striker Jay Bothroyd is a surprise name in the squad

Fabio Capello has announced his squad for Wednesday’s friendly with France and one name in the squad will certainly cause England fans to raise an eyebrow. Cardiff striker Jay Bothroyd has received a surprise call-up and while it is a fitting reward for the 28-year-old’s impressive start to the season, it does make you think about the strength of English footballers in the Premier League.

When the Premier League was launched it would have been almost unthinkable to see player from outside the top flight representing England. But now Bothroyd’s call-up could open the door for more lower league players to represent the Three Lions.

More and more English players who would have previously easily managed to play in the top-flight, are now dropping in to the lower leagues in a quest for regular first-team football.

This has meant that there is a general lack of options for Capello in the Premier League, and in the future you have to feel that there will be a much greater number of players from outside the top flight in contention for places in the England squad, and this can only damage England’s chances of success.

If you look at Spain all of their squad are playing in not only Europe’s top leagues, but for the top sides and England will not be able to mould top players if their international players aren’t able to test themselves against the world’s best on a regular basis.

The lack of English players in the Premier League means that when a good young player emerges they are often fast-tracked in to the England frame. This is exactly what Capello has done with the inclusion of Jordan Henderson, Andy Carroll and Chris Smalling who despite their tender age and lack of real experience have been called-up for the game at Wembley.

England are looking to follow the German example of giving young players a chance and in many ways there is no problem with this. In years to come Carroll, Smalling and Henderson look set to be key parts of the England set-up, so why not give them the experience at  a young age?

While Carroll might miss the game through injury the experience of been part of the England camp can only be of benefit to him, and the same goes for Henderson and Smalling if they don’t feature on Wednesday night.

But in an ideal world Capello would love to see a much greater pool of English players in the Premier League for him to choose from, so he wouldn’t have to rush his youngsters through or include players who haven’t proved they can do it at the top level.

This isn’t going to happen overnight though, and while the home-grown player rules that were introduced for this season may have some impact in increasing the percentage of English players in the league you have to feel that there will never be the same number as of when the Premier League was launched.

The Premier League is now a global industry and unfortunately the England team has, and will continue to suffer as a result.

England squad to face France on Wednesday: Foster (Birmingham), Hart (Man City), Green (West Ham); Gibbs (Arsenal), Cole (Chelsea), Terry (Chelsea), Jagielka (Everton), Lescott (Man City), Richards (Man City), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Smalling (Man Utd); Walcott (Arsenal), Wilshere (Arsenal), Young (Aston Villa), Gerrard (Liverpool), Barry (Man City), Johnson (Man City), Milner (Man City), Henderson (Sunderland); Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Bothroyd (Cardiff), Carroll (Newcastle), Crouch (Tottenham), Cole (West Ham).

But his call-up will not be without controversy. The 21-year-old’s well documented troubles in his private life have seen Carroll fill newspapers throughout the UK for all the wrong reasons. Many are now of the opinion that the Gateshead born forward is not the sort of role-model that an England international should be.

While I do not wish to defend Carroll for his actions, you have to remember that he is only 21. When somebody so young is bombarded with massive wages and fame there is a real recipe for problems. Carroll isn’t the first talented footballer to go off the straight and narrow and he certainly won’t be the last.

However Carroll does seem to have an ability to switch off from his private life when he crosses the white line, something which many other footballers struggle with. For example in the week after his car was torched, Carroll headed Newcastle to victory at West Ham, an achievement which is quite remarkable.

That is a quality which could see the striker become a role model for youngsters, and I have no doubt that as he matures the problems in his personal life will become a thing of the past. If anything, giving Carroll a place in the England squad could only see him mature quicker. Fabio Capello is the ideal man to advise Carroll, and while the Italian will only be around for 2012 he could really focus the forward on making the most of his footballing talent.

His footballing talent will be enough to see Carroll as a permanent fixture in the England squad. He is hard-working and committed, couple this with his obvious ability to score goals and the Three Lions will have a real asset. So while it may be controversial in the short-term, calling Carroll in the England squad will be the best for the country in the long-term and more perhaps more importantly for Carroll’s whole career.

Sir Alex Ferguson's gamble did not pay off

Owen Hargreaves suffered another injury set back just six minutes in to his Manchester United comeback. The likeable midfielder was making his first start in over two years, but was forced off early on with a hamstring complaint.

Speaking after United’s 2-1 over Wolves, assistant manager Mike Phelan admitted the injury to Hargreaves was very disappointing. He said: “Obviously he is down in the dumps. He has put a lot of work in and today we took a gamble with him. We put him in to the frame and thought we could get a performance out of him. That was a risk and it didn’t work out for us.

“He has to overcome the slight problems. It is unfortunate for him and we feel for him but he’ll be okay. We’re not quite sure what the injury is at the moment but we’ll find that out.”

I think I speak for the whole footballing community when I say that I hope this is only a minor setback in the former Bayern Munich mans recovery. It is a real shame to see such a talented and energetic footballer have his career tainted by a persistent injury.

Hargreaves won the support of nearly all England fans with his dedication and commitment during the 2006 World Cup. Before then he was often lambasted by the Three Lions faithful but eventually his character and ability would win him plenty of admirers.

He now really needs to dig in to his tough character and overcome this setback and if there is anybody that could cope with another injury it is Hargreaves. Many would have given up on football after such a long spell out through injury, but testament to his commitment Hargreaves stuck at it, and now really deserves some reprieve from constant injuries.

A hamstring injury shouldn’t see a long term spell on the sidelines for Hargreaves and would I encourage people not to ridicule him for been ‘injury prone’. Niggling injuries are only to be expected after a long time on the sidelines, but will become rarer as he build up his general fitness.

I for one hope that we see him lining up for United again in the very near future, because if anyone deserves to play football at the top level, it is Hargreaves.

So often we see Premier League sides produce excellent results and performances in Europe, only to see disappointment in their next game. Success against Inter will have left Spurs both physically and mentally tired, and Bolton will be looking to capitalise on this.

Owen Coyle’s side have had another solid start to the campaign, especially at home with only Liverpool beating Bolton on their home soil this season. While Coyle has looked to apply his footballing principles since taking over the club, the likes of Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander still have a big part to play in the tactical shape of the Bolton side.

Defensively Coyle has arranged his team with the stubbornness that you would expect from a Bolton side, and they will have to be at their very best to deal with the man on the lips of half the footballing world right now.

Gareth Bale will arrive in the North West brimming with confidence after his second sensational display against Inter within a matter of weeks. But as of yet he hasn’t been able to replicate these performances in Premier League with just two goals to his name this season.

In many ways this is Bale’s most important game of the season. If he is going to really establish himself as one of the world’s very best footballers he needs to produce his top displays on a regular basis, something that as of yet he hasn’t really been able to do.

Bale and the Tottenham side in general will be out to prove the Inter game was no fluke, and there would be no better way to do that by returning back to London with three points. But as mentioned before, Bolton will have real hope of causing an upset, and I for one certainly wouldn’t back against Coyle’s side picking up a surprise win.

We all know the ability that Gerrard has, and there is no need to harp on about the number of times he has come to Liverpool’s rescue. However even Liverpool’s inspirational captain has struggled to produce displays resembling his usual self this season.

In many ways I think Gerrard has suffered with the same World Cup hangover that has seen Wayne Rooney desperately lacking in form during the opening stages of the Premier League campaign. Excluding the Napoli game, there hasn’t been any standout displays from the Liverpool skipper and generally there has just not been the same intensity in his performances.

Intensity is what makes Gerrard and Rooney so important to Liverpool and Manchester United respectively, and with the pair obviously short of confidence after the World Cup, it is only understandable that they looked to almost play in their comfort zone when they returned to domestic football.

But it was inevitable that Gerrard would show us that form really is temporary as his confidence grew. In many ways though you feel he struggled so much because of the general feeling of disappointment around the club during the opening weeks of the season.

In the last few weeks though things have gradually picked up for Liverpool both on and off the field, and it was only a matter of time before Gerrard joined the party.  With United also beginning to reach their top form, Rooney should also find it easier to perform at his best when he returns from injury.

Gerrard’s return to form should give Rooney confidence because it demonstrates that it can be done. As an England fan, and more importantly a football fan it is crucial that we see the both of the England stars firing on all cylinders in the not so distant future, because the Premier League is definitely a better place as a result.

A trip to Poland on a wet Thursday night was always going to be difficult, but with the strength of City’s squad most would have expected them to return with a solid European win. Once again though Mancini found that his opponents raised their game meaning a tough trip became even harder.

This is becoming the norm this season. City have become a big scalp and in attempting to beat them, sides raise their game accordingly. Mancini has found this very difficult to deal with. The expectation of the club and it’s fans are that City should win most games comfortably, where in reality an easy win won’t be the norm.

It doesn’t help Mancini that his own players further add to the expectations of the fans with wild claims about their ability. Ahead of the Poznan game outspoken Mario Balotelli set out his ambitions for his time in Manchester.

Speaking to the official City website he said: “I want to be the best player in the world. It is good to have ambition. I’ve said in the past that I don’t care what other people want or expect of me because I know what I want.

“I will always give everything because I want to become the best. That is my aim and I am determined to make it happen. I am here at City to play Champions League football, that’s the competition I want to be in and that is what all the players here want to play in.”

 I’m sure Balotelli was only looking to drum up some excitement ahead of his expected start against Poznan, but when City fans, and maybe even the clubs hierarchy read comments like that they will be expecting big things of the striker, and ultimately the City side. This makes disappointing results feel a lot worse when they arise.

Unfortunately for Mancini you have to feel that too many of these disappointing results have occurred and it seems only a matter of time before Sheikh Mansour will be looking for a new boss. Whoever comes in to replace Mancini should make lowering expectations his top priority, because if he doesn’t he will soon face the same fate as Mancini.

Bale had already sent out a warning to Rafa Benitez’s side two weeks ago, when with Spurs four goals, and a man down, he ran the Inter defence ragged, ending the night with three excellent goals and a memorable hat-trick.

In many ways his performance tonight may just prove to be even more important, because it demonstrates that his display in the San Siro was no fluke. While fans in the Premier League have been aware of Bale’s ability for some time now, he is only just beginning to establish himself on the European stage.

Consistency in his performances is now crucial if Bale wishes to establish himself as one of the world’s best footballers, and if he can continue to turn out displays like he has been recently there is no reason why he shouldn’t.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp couldn’t have heaped any more praise on Bale when speaking after the Inter win. Redknapp said: “He was amazing. Maicon is rated as the best right-back in the world and what he’s done to him over the last two games is amazing. He can cross, his left foot is great on the run, he can shoot, dribble, head it, he’s got everything.”

Bale is now arguably the first name on the Spurs team-sheet and this is quite unbelievable when you consider he is only 21. In years to come you really do see him starring at the very highest stage, because his potential his limitless.

I have no doubt that the world’s super clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona will come hunting for Bale in the not so distant future, and it will really be a test of Spurs’ ambition as to whether they sell or not. To challenge for the Premier League they need to keep hold of Bale, he is that vital to their future.

That is not just a measure of how good Bale is now, but how good he could be. The talent is there, the work ethic is there, and now the confidence is there. Barring injuries Bale really could go down as one of the Premier League’s best ever players.