Catania has always had to battle relegation, some years they went down, some they stayed up. When their wonder-coach Walter Zenga left them for Palermo after saving them last season, Catania were left with a large hole to fill. While Atzori tried, his inexperience led to results that were not good enough, leading to his […]

Football can be cruel some times and that will be all the more apparent this Sunday when one of the biggest and most important last day games in English football history takes place as, Sheffield Wednesday take on Crystal Palace with both teams needing to gain some form of points to stay in the Championship. […]

Since his takeover of Newcastle United in 2007, Mike Ashley has had a turbulent tenure as owner of the Toon Army. Ever since I left the North East to attend university in Leeds, I get asked quite a lot what I think about Mike Ashley and why the fans have such a strong dislike towards […]

Newcastle fans must have watched Leeds United's loss to Millwall in the League One play-offs and shuddered. It was like watching The Ghost of Football's Future. Two clubs of similar size with similarly raucous fans, they are teams that by rights should never experience relegation from the top flight, let alone into League One. But […]

The weekend promised excitement, drama and last-minute heartache with several sides still fighting for survival at the season's very end. Sunderland, Hull, Newcastle and Middlesbrough were all on the edge of the cliff. Some already hanging off the side. Others teetering on the brink. In the end, four losses would keep all sides in their […]

So, how's your nerves? Sky Sports News have today been running an article about stress relief for fans for Sunday. Tips included having a hot bath, avoiding alcohol and meditating to stay relaxed in the build up to the final round of matches in the Premiership. Which will be no help to any of the […]

Is Roy Keane smirking right now? Is he rolling his eyes? Both? For two years Sunderland was Roy Keane's baby. He took the struggling side, nurtured it back to health and delivered it from the relegation zone of the Championship and back to the top flight. In every transfer window he made moves to improve […]

It says a lot, for better or for worse, that Manchester United's eighteenth championship sent barely a ripple through the footballing press.  Most headlines read, "Man United 0 – Arsenal 0," with United's Premier League-winning feat mentioned in the sub header.  It seems the Premier League ended some time ago, perhaps when Liverpool drew Arsenal […]

The story has been told a million times before. The greatest team in football, on their flight home from an exhibition game in Lisbon, meet with a premature end when their G-212  plane smashes into the Basilica di Superga. All 31 passengers died, including the entire Torino squad. Sixty years on, the pain felt on […]

After another defeat, Newcastle United look destined for the Championship. Alan Shearer’s men have three games to save their season, but it appears too little too late, and although it is not mathematically certain they will go down, performances on and off the pitch have made it clear they are just not good enough to […]

Sheffield Wednesday, QPR, Manchester City, Wimbledon (aka MK Dons), Leeds, Oldham, Nottingham Forest, Swindon, Leicester, Barnsley, Bradford. Soon to be joined by another two and probably three in Charlton, Southampton and Norwich. All these clubs have tasted the sweet nectar of life in the Premier League only to later sup at the workaday bitterness of […]

Newcastle has been in a rudderless malaise for most of the season. Kevin Keegan resigned and nearly every potential replacement rejected the offer. The club pulled backdated Joe Kinnear out of retirement, gave him the full time job and then watched him succumb to heart trouble. Chris Hughton took over as a caretaker, and the […]

Buoyed by Mark Hughes’ overachievement and shrewd signings, Blackburn had been living in a fantasyland of consistent contention for Europe. Paul Ince transported them rudely back to small city reality. Blackburn took an admirable risk, hiring the Premier League’s first black manager, but, in this instance, it clearly backfired. You know things are dreary when Sam Allardyce […]

Stoke City are a newly promoted side from the Championship, and they certainly play like one. The operating procedure has been physicality, holding the line at home and hoping for some magic from Rory Delap’s wicked throw-ins. It has worked with a modicum of success. They are sixteenth in the table on 32 points. Form: […]

Until late October, Portsmouth seemed destined for a mid-table season. After a rough August start against Chelsea and Man United, the trophy-winning club won four out of seven matches, looking frisky once again. Then Harry Redknapp left for the Tottenham and the seam exploded. Tony Adams had no perceivable managerial skill. Financial problems forced the […]