Manchester United top the rankings for September

On the rankings in the Football Ranking System Manchester United have regained top spot from Manchester City, who have slipped to fifth with indifferent form of late. Chelsea have jumped from fourth to second, only held back by draws with QPR and Juventus. Everton have kept up their early season form and are in third position.

Inevitably, Celtic head the Scottish challenge, falling one place to seventh. Hearts are next for the Scots in 27th.

Rangers continue to fall and have slipped from 19th to 33rd. from 8th to 19th.

Aston Villa have staged something of a recovery, rising from 29th to 19th and Championship risers Cardiff City jumped from 37th to 23rd.

Biggest fallers were Coventry City, who plummeted from 53rd to 72nd.

Ten-place plus movers elsewhere include:
Leicester City, up from 34 to 24.
Dundee United, down from 18 to 32.
Brighton & Hove Albion, up from 47 to 31.
Kilmarnock, up from 46 to 35.
Wolverhamption Wanderers, up from 49 to 36.
Sheffield Wednesday, down from 31 to 47.
Ipswich Town, down from 40 to 55.
Portsmouth, down from 57 to 70.
Crawley Town, up from 84 to 74.
Morton, up from 91 to 80.
Leyton Orient, up from 92 to 82.
Hamilton Academical, down from 76 to 87.
Port Vale, up from 102 to 92.
Southend United, up from 105 to 95.
Wycombe Wanderers, down from 85 to 96.
Hartlepool United, down from 87 to 98.
Burton Albion, up from 113 to 99.
Aldershot Town, down from 96 to 108.
Oxford United, down from 99 to 113.
Dartford, up from 169 to 157.
Chester, up from 173 to 159.
Oxford City up from 179 to 168.

Ferdinand and Park, please let's move on

Given all that went the week before it almost defied belief that QPR's Anton Ferdinand and captain Ji Sung Park refused to shake the hand of Chelsea captain John Terry before Saturday's game.

What happened to the football brotherhood following the findings of the Enquiry into the Hillsborough disaster of 1989? It lasted less than a few days.

Ferdinand and Park refused to move on and betrayed the continuing grudge against the - pronounced innocent, let's not forget - Terry.

While one migh have some understanding and empathy with Ferdinand, Park's connection is tenuous at best (I guess it must be that he played with Ferdinand's brother Rio at Manchester United before moving to QPR).

QPR boss Mark Hughes mooted the idea of doing away with the pre-match handshake between the teams. But does he suggest the same for the captains - as it was his captain Park who refused to shake Terry's hand before kick-off. What next: do away with any references to sportsmanship altogether? (I guess that might actually be more honest in the game these days.)

Is there no room for forgiveness in these hard hearts? And forgiving an innocent man, remember.

Can we move on?

Early season shapes the football rankings

From the Football Ranking System we see that Manchester City have just about retained top spot from the very in-form early season pace-setters Chelsea. Indeed, a Chelsea win in the UEFA Super Cup tonight might see them take over on top.

The other early season form team Everton have risen from 6th to 4th.

It will be fascinating to see how far Rangers fall now that they are in Scottish League Division Three. Among such lowly opposition they will not score so many points unless they thrash everyone of them, and they're not doing that yet. In August Rangers have fallen  from 8th to 19th.

Conversely, Swansea City have gone the other way, rising from 18th to 9th, and Wigan Athletic have gone from 14th to 7th.

Ten-place plus movers elsewhere include:

• Sheffield Wednesday, up from 55 to 21.
• Leeds United, up from 49 to 36.
• Motherwell, down from 28 to 38.
• Yeovil Town, up from 80 to 69.
• Swindon Town, up from 87 to 71.
• Dundee, down from 62 to 73.
• Preston North End, up from 85 to 74.
• Crawley Town, up from 98 to 84.
• Chesterfield, down from 76 to 86.
• Bradford City, up from 107 to 97.
• Ayr United, down from 88 to 100.
• Southend United, down from 95 to 105.
• Dumbarton, down from 106 to 117.
• Brackley, new in at 157.
• Bradford Park Avenue, new in at 161.
• Woking, up from 177 to 166.
• Dartford, up from 178 to 168.
• Chester, new in at 173.
• Altrincham, down from 165 to 176.
• Oxford City, new in at 179.
• Billericay Town, new in at 184.
• Corby Town, down from 174 to 186.
• AFC Hornhcurch, new in at 190.
• Bromley, down from 189 to 199.

Football talks a good Olympian game; let's see it in deed

The Footballers versus Olympians debate has raged and has quietened down and will rear its head from time to time over the next season.

The problem with football is that it refuses to learn from other sports; it knows it is the Beautiful Game, but thinks that it is the pinnacle of beauty. But it isn't.

I am not going to go into all the things that football should learn from other sports in this post; they will be the subject of many other posts to come.

However, in the Footballers versus Olympians debate, one thing has struck me. The Olympians have never said a word. People in the media and many of us bloggers, tweeters, facebook posters have commented on their behalf: "Weren't they wonderful?", "Fantastic attitude", "Actually apologising to supporters", etc. But I can't recall seeing any quotes from any of the participiants themselves.

Yet those "in the [football] game" have felt the need to speak out: Richard Scudamore, Joey Barton, Gary Neville are a few that spring to mind. And, of course, they're mostly defending their sport. Well, what would we expect? Of course they would.

The problem lies in the very fact that they need to defend their sport, and the behaviour of players, managers and supporters. And they do need to. It's because football's reputation is so woeful by its deeds that it needs to defend itself in words. Prime example: Alan Pardew (a most unexpected culprit) demonstrates his attitude by his deeds (pushing an assistant referee), but then apologises in words afterwards.

There's always been the joke about the not-so-good manager or player, who "talks a good game".

How about those "in the game", cutting the talk, and improving the reputation of football in their actions? Come May next year, let's see if football no longer needs to defends its actions in words.

Weep for England

So we weep for England.

Once again we were beaten on penalties in a quarter-final. It is our lot.

But let us not disguise the fact that it would have been an absolute travesty of Chelsea-like proportions for England to have sneaked past Italy to the semi-finals. Italy totally dominated the whole of the second-half and extra-time, but just couldn't turn their dominance into a goal. England, however, barely got into Italy's half in that time.

Yet there is some pride in England's performance in the tournament. It does seem to show a new realism about England's limitations. We are simply not good enough to compete with the top nations in World football, of which most are in these European Championships. Top eight (i.e. quarter-finals) is the best we should realistically expect.

My worry is that the fact that Roy Hodgson has done pretty well with a weak and threadbare squad may blind people to the dearth of English talent and the trends that continue to sweep English players aside in our own Premier League.

With few English owners and English managers in the English Premier League, where is the concern for English players and the English national team? It isn't there.

We've got years of this international misery to come, and it will get worse.

As a final point: let's finally lay to rest this myth that there are any World-class English players. There are none.

All these officials - and they still get it wrong!

Well, good for England. They beat Ukraine and won the Group!

It wasn't entirely convincing, but not many teams are convincing all the way through a tournament. Quarter-final opponents Italy, for example, have been particularly adept over the years at sneaking through the group phase without, in some cases, even winning a game!

But England will have to get better to stand a chance of progressing in this tournament.

England have played Italy only twice before in tournament matches and, strangely enough, they have both been IN Italy. The first was in 1980 in the European Championship when they lost 1-0 in Turin. The second time was in the third and fourth place play-off match of Italia '90 when Italy won 2-1 in Bari.

Going back to the Ukraine v England match and it is astonishing that we still have to suffer from goals not being given when the ball is over the line. This time luck favoured England as John Terry's clearance was of a ball that had crossed the line. The fourth (fifth or sixth or seventh?) official was standing less than ten yards away, but failed to see the ball had crossed the line (or, at least, failed to signal it).

WHAT DO THESE OFFICIALS DO? No one at the BBC or ITV seem to know and surely they would have found out by now. And why do they patrol the goal line on the same side of the pitch as the assistant referee (linesman in old money)? Maybe the goal line official was told NOT to signal for goal line decisions (which would be madness), as that is the assistant referee's decision, but the latter's view would be obscured by the former! (At least it would have been if the assistant referee had been able to keep up with play - he was five yards short!)

In addition, this same assistant referee missed a blatant offisde in the build-up to the phantom "goal", which would have avoided all this goal line fiasco. (I note that a furious Oleg Blokhin didn't complain about that decision not being given.)

Come on, even without goal-line technology, surely the now huge number of officials can get key decisions right.

Nervous about England's chances

Am I alone in being a little nervous about England's chances this evening?

They 'only' need a draw against Ukraine to progress to the quarter-finals and everyone seems to think it'll be a bit of a breeze.

I don't.

• We are AWAY to Ukraine in what appears to be the hottest venue (at least it has been before).
• Ukraine MUST WIN to progress themselves.
• England drew unconvincingly with France.
• England did beat Sweden - but that wasn't convincing either.

No, I don't want to be a pessimist, but getting knocked out of the Euros is such a common occurrence for England, that I'm always amazed at the optimism that usually abounds. This time round - at least, before the tournament - no one gave England a chance - even in England!

But of course it only takes one win for England to become world-beaters in so many eyes. And "we've got Wayne Rooney back". He might just upset such a delicate balance, but let's hope not; let's hope he shines.

England are no world- (or even Euro-) beaters for me. They're not the weakest team in the tournament, but are they really one of the top eight (i.e. worth of a quarter-final spot)? No, Ukraine might be one of the best eight either, but they'll quietly fancy their chances.

Beware the cauldron-like atmosphere that is bound to greet England's players this evening. Have they got the right stuff to progress?

We shall see.

Table ordering system at Euro2012 is over-complicated

I'm delighted to say that Euro 2012 has so far risen above expectations. There have been some interesting and some exciting games, and very few have been boring. No nil-nil draw yet either! Excellent.

However, there are always one or two things to gripe about (of course!).

As we half-way through the final round of group matches, it has come to light the extraordinarily stupid way of determining the order of teams in the groups. The number of points is the key way to order the teams and, thankfully, that is still the main way (but, as we see the way order is determined after that, we cannot be sure that UEFA will always retain points as the key method!).

If teams are level on points we go through this ridiculous ordering system:

1. head-to-head results
2. if three countries are level, goal difference from games between them
3. if three countries are level, goals scored in games between them
4. goal difference from all group games
5. goals scored in all group games
6. UEFA coefficient rankings
7. fair play ratings from the finals
8. drawing of lots.

All this head-to-head nonsense unnecessarily complicates the picture and means that you can't look at a league table and no who will qualify - you have to know all the results too. What is wrong with goal differences, then goals scored? This is supposed to be a LEAGUE system; i.e. it is results over the whole league that should count. By pinning so much on  head-to-head results, they're turning the league into a knock-out.

In other words, ignore numbers 1, 2 and 3.

In this more sensible method, Group One's qualifiers would have been Czech Republic and Russia (rather than Greece).

But there's no hope. Why keep something simple if you can over-complicate it?

Grass Roots Football Part 2

From a contributor:

I read and listen too many of the debates about the Grass Roots football transformation in England lead by the FA. As a youth team coach (volunteer) like so many other willing parents it all sounds wonderful and I’m all for it.

However, I find it so frustrating that The FA, the local County FA’s and the local Leagues don’t seem to be completing the circle themselves.

My own under 12 team have had a fantastic season, playing some really good passing football and developing their skills along the way. I know and agree that it isn’t all about winning but they reached their first ever cup final and were delighted... BUT their day was ruined because the local league insists on playing it on a full size senior pitch with full size goals. Even worse the pitch was awful, like a plough field, only worse! It was the ground on a Ryman League team and goodness knows what kind of horrid kick and rush football they have to play on it. Subsequently the match that followed was by far the worst of the season (for both teams), which ended up in a poor 1-1 draw, decided on penalties (which we won, just so you don’t think this is about sour grapes). Neither team played to their usual level and this was solely down to the size and extremely poor quality of the pitch provided.

We and the team we played in the final both benefit from having smaller junior size pitch with junior size goals (21’x7’ feet rather than 24’x8’) and both of us would have been happy to flip a coin and play it at either of our own grounds – but “oh no, we can’t do that” says the league, it has to be at a neutral ground. Obviously our massive home crowd of a dozen or so parents would be too much of an advantage over the opposition!!

It is just so unimaginably stupid that a local league affiliated to the local County FA which is subsequently responsible to The FA itself who are driving these changes can be so stubbornly ridiculous.

I applaud The FA’s drive and commitment to changes in junior and youth football, particularly bridging the gap between 7 aside and 11 aside with the 9v9 format, which my own team has unfortunately missed out on. But, please get your own act together first and INSIST that local County FA’s INSIST that local Leagues play cup semi-finals and finals that they organise on neutral grounds on appropriately size pitches with appropriately sized goals – surely this isn’t too much to ask!?

Negativity beckons in Euro 2012

So we come to Euro 2012 in Ukraine and Poland. I never was convinced of the validity of these two countries as a joint venue, and the stories we hear as we approach the tournament are not encouraging. Blimey - if it's enough to put England fans off travelling, then things must be bad! Let us hope that the tournament passes off without any major hitches.

On the field I have a feeling it's going to be a negative tournament. The trouble is that success can be achieved by negativity - you don't actually have to win or seek to win football matches to win football tournaments. Chelsea have proved that recently in the Champions League and Greece have proved it before in Euro 2004.

I know there's more than one way to win a football match, but we must do away with the odious penalty shoot-out and think of a better way to encourage teams to actually score goals - that is meant to be the object of the game after all. I have always advocated taking a player off each team every five minutes during extra time, and just play on till someone scores.

The old Golden Goal didn't really work - and it didn't work because there was still the back-up of a penalty shoot-out. Get rid of it! If you take a player off from each team during extra time and they know they MUST SCORE to win, then a goal will come. It will have to!

I can see teams trying to stifle the teams that want to attack and, having seen Barcelona fail this season, lesser teams will be encouraged to snuff the light out of the more enterprising teams.

Sadly, England fall into the "lesser team" category (they have done for years, but it seems that everyone has finally realised it htis tiem round!), so don't expect many goals in England's games. I could yet end up hoping against hope that they can win a penalty shoot-out!

Congratulations to Chelsea

Congratulations to Chelsea on winning the Champions League!

I'm not sure they won it in the greatest style (either by getting past Barcelona or by beating a dominant Bayern Munich on penalties in the final), but there are many ways to win football matches and Chelsea know how to do that. And the Germans can hardly complain about losing a match on penalties, can they!

The Blues stuck doggedly to their task, only attacking when they were behind and equalising from their only corner (to Bayern's 20) over the course of the 120 minutes.

That their talisman Didier Drogba, who one way or another contrived to defeat Barcelona in the semi-final, should score the winning penalty will be extra sweet for the Chelsea fans.

It was inevitable that Chelsea would eventually win the Champions League with Abramovich's millions (or is it billions now?). Maybe he'll decide his job his done and quit, or maybe he'd like to win the same tournament with a bit more style. It certainly won't be with this same core of players as Drogba, Lampard, Terry and Cole (Chelsea supremely solid rocks) are all the wrong side of 30.

The mistake that Andre Villas-Boas made was to try and move them on too quickly. They will move on soon.

Abramovich should certainly give Roberto Di Matteo the manager's job. Surely he must recognise that he's a lucky manager - and a lucky manager is always better than a good one.

Chelsea have ridden their luck in the past few weeks to lift two trophies. Surely Di Matteo cannot be denied the job now.

Why bigger clubs get more decisions in their favour

The offisde goal scored by Branislav Ivanovic against Wigan on Saturday was ridiculous. How the assistant referee could fail to spot the fact that Ivanovic was way offside was a mystery.

It brings up the old question of whether the bigger clubs have more decisions go in their favour.

The answer is yes, and here's why.

Chelsea score an offside goal at home. The crowd cheers, the Wigan players complain. Less trouble to let the goal stand. Chelsea 1-0 Wigan.

Wigan score an offside goal away. The crowd bays for the officials' blood, the Wigan players cheer, the Chelsea players complain. Less trouble to disallow the goal. Chelsea 1-0Wigan.

Chelsea score an offside goal away at Wigan. The crowd is small and makes less complaint. Just as easy to allow the goal as disallow it: Chelsea 1-0 Wigan.

Wigan score an offside goal at home. The crowd is small and makes less noise for the goal. Chelsea's big-name players mob the referee. Just as easy to allow the goal as disallow it: Chelsea 1-0 Wigan.

You can replace Chelsea with any large, well-supported club.

The officials don't mean it; it's not deliberate or malicious; it's not black or white, and it doesn't happen all the time. but it does happen and the end result is that the decisions will favour the bigger club.

Misplaced loyalty costs Fabio dear

So Fabio has gone!

The mistake the FA made when they appointed Fabio was thinking that putting a good manager in charge of the players would help create a great team.

But you can’t expect a chef to create a great meal with rotten ingredients.

And Fabio Capello couldn’t create a great team with overrated, overpaid and in the end, rotten players.

It is not surprising that the root cause of his downfall was a player who has caused and continues to cause ruffles and ructions wherever he goes. In his annoyance against the FA stripping John Terry of the England captaincy, Fabio Capello showed misplaced loyalty to a player whose very actions show little respect for the thoughts or feelings of anyone else. Capello would have been better off without him.

Whether England will be better off without Capello is open to question – and millions of words will be written in trying to answer it.

For now, it’s farewell to Fabio, but we’re still stuck with Terry.

Manchester clubs trump the north London cards

So Manchester gained the whip-hand over north London on Sunday as City beat Spurs 3-2 and United beat Arsenal 2-1.

Manchester City only just squeezed over the line against Tottenham with a last-gasp penalty taken by a player who might not have been on the pitch on another day, as Mario Balotelli supposed "stamp" went unpunished, but might have resulted in a sending-off on another occasion. My opinion is the same as Lee Dixon's on Match of the Day: there was enough doubt about the action to merit no action. Indeed, it may be that Howard Webb didn't even see it as his head was partly turned away when Balotelli's foot came down.

Perhaps, however, Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp should use his words to Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe for failing to convert a glorious chance seconds before Balotelli's telling spot kick. It's all about points of view, isn't it?

And so it was in the Arsenal v. Manchester United game as Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was roundly criticised and booed for substituting the threatening Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Andrey Arshavin as minutes ran out at the Emirates. The fact that Arshavin was ineffectual in preventing United's winner would not help Wenger's case. But he must have had his reasons. He said: "Arshavin is captain of the Russian national team. You have an 18-year-old kid making his first Premier League start and a player who is captain of his country and they are querying the substitution?"

Although no manager - including Wenger - can be right 100% of the time, I am staggered that Arsenal fans can doubt the man (trophyless for six years or not). Look around, you Gooners. If you sacked Wenger, who would be your ideal managerial candidate?

Why do we have corners in football?

Many years ago my grandfather, who was not a great football follower, asked me (as a teenager) why, when a defending team put the ball over the goal line, was a corner kick given.

"Well," I replied, "that's the rule: if the defending team puts the ball over the goal line, a corner is awarded."

I had missed his point.

"Yes," he said, "but why is a corner given? Why is play restarted by kicking the ball in from the corner of the pitch?"

I couldn't answer him. I had no idea and still don't. I suppose someone came up with the idea as being a good way of giving the attachking team a chance to score when the defending team had knocked the ball out of play past their own goal line.

Perhaps a more pertinent quesion for football would have been: why do players throw the ball in with their hands when the ball has gone out over the touch line? That is a bit odd.

About 15 years ago there was an experiment at a low level (approximately Isthmian League level) where they played a season kicking the ball rather than throwing it. Presumably it didn't prove a success, or we'd all be doing it now.

Odd rules when you examine them, but maybe they show that not all is wrong in football, and some things are just right.

Third round weekend delivers as expected

It proved to be an interesting FA Cup third round weekend (as it so often is), from Paolo Di Canio's Swindon Town knocking out Premier League Wigan Athletic to Thierry Henry making a dream comeback for Arsenal, scoring the winner against Leeds United.

The Manchester derby didn't disappoint as we had the return of Paul Scholes, a dubious sending-off of Vincent Kompany as United roared into a 3-0 lead, and a stirring effort to peg United back from City - yet the half-time pundits on both ITV and Sky would have had City "accept and settle for the 3-0 defeat so that it wouldn't get any worse"! A pathetic assessment, and one that would no doubt have had any City fans growling with anger.

Crawley Town pulled off a giant-killing, by dumping Bristol City out of the cup, and Macclesfield Town (2-2 with Bolton Wanderers) and MK Dons (1-1 with QPR) came close and get a second chance.

As for Henry - fair play to him, and will be interesting to see if he can deliver in the Premier League, but from a Leeds United's fan's perspective, the overwhelmingly biased coverage by ESPN on Monday night was little short of disgraceful.

Where to look for Round Three shocks

As ever, when FA Cup third round day comes around, we all look for shocks. Of course, it's no longer "a day" as the third round is spread over four days this year, starting with Liverpool v Oldham tonight - no shock there, I'm sure.

The majority of the ties (26) take place on Saturday, so where might the shocks come?

Barnsley might knock out Swansea City at Oakwell given Brendan Rodgers's propensity to turn his nose up at anything that's not devoted to survival in the Premier League. Crawley Town could prove a tough trip for Bristol City. Fleetwood Town against Blackpool could be a tasty local encounter, but it's hard to see anything other than a Blackpool win.

For a real giant-killing, Macclesfield Town might fancy their chances against Bolton Wanderers, whose form has not been inspiring in the Premier League this season, but their recent 2-1 over Everton might have given them the boost they need.

Recent cup-fighters and form-team Cardiff City might also think they've got a good chance against West Brom at the Hawthorns, and it may depend on the strength of the side Roy Hodgson puts out.

On Sunday the might of Manchester meets head-on at City, with United probably having the bigger need to win, following back-to-back defeats. Without doubt, it's the tie of the round.

On Monday Leeds United travel to the Emirates, but it's hard to see anything other than an Arsenal win, despite the same tie last season going to a replay after a 1-1 draw at the same ground.

Can Spurs really challenge City and United for the title?

Tottenham Hotspur brushed aside Norwich City last night to go seven points behind the two Manchester clubs with a game in hand.

Are Spurs a real threat for the Premier League title?

After losing their first two games (to United and City) they have only lost once since - to Stoke City - and they were desperately unlucky to lose that one. So it's been 12 wins in 15 games since those two opening defeats.

Spurs have been knocked out of the Europa Cup while both City and United have fallen into it since being knocked out of the Champions League. That could be a blessing for Spurs, but there is no question of United or City treating it as anything like a priority.

In the League Cup Manchester City play Liverpool in the two-legged semi-final. United and Spurs have already been knocked out.

In the FA Cup one of Manchester United or Manchester City will definitely get knocked out and one will definitely progress - as they are drawn against each other. Tottenham have the 'luxury' of a home draw against League Two Cheltenham Town, so they should progress.

It boils down to Manchester City having a lot of games; United with the League and FA Cup (at least as far as beating City is concerned) as priorities, and Tottenham with the League and the FA Cup as far as it takes them.

Tottenham undoubtedly have a multi-talented midfield, with Scott Parker, Luka Modric, Rafael Van der Vaart, being supported superbly by Gareth Bale on one side and Aaron Lennon on the other. The defence looks fairly strong and is backed by 40+ Brad Friedel showing no signs of a dip in form.

Maybe it is only up front where Spurs lack the fire-power to match the best. They average 2 goals a game; United average 2.61 and City average 2.94.

But with City possibly distracted by other tournaments, it may depend on United and Tottenham's progress in the FA Cup as to which will challenge City the most.

I don't think Tottenham are quite ready yet, but they're close.

Rodgers should stop moaning and get on with it

I see Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers is moaning about the Premier League schedule over the festive period. They play - as do all the Premier League clubs - four games in 12 days or so.

I find this all this rather incomprehensible. No club in England or Scotland has played fewer games than Swansea City have so far this season - 17. In contrast, Fulham have played 31, including their assault on the Europa League, but I haven't heard Martin Jol complaining. (If he has, he might have some justification.)

Swansea City got themselves dumped out of the League Cup at the first attempt - beaten 3-1 at Shrewsbury Town - and one wonders what effort they'll make to get past Barnsley in the FA Cup third round in January.

I'm sure the Swansea City board will welcome the games over the festive period as they are always well attended and bring in commensurate revenue

Swansea City could end up playing a mere 40 games in the whole season. One wonders what the objective is: to play football or not to play football?

Fulham undone by last-gasp header

Fulham were undone by a sucker punch last night as they were knocked out of the Europa League by an injury-time header by Odense BK of Denmark.

Fulham were seemignly curising into the last 32 at half-time with a 2-0 lead, and needed to win to remain above Wisla Karkow in the group. But two second-half goals put paid to Fulham's Europa League ambitions. So ends a 14-game run in the competition which started way back on 30 June - nearly six months ago!

Despite a 3-1 defeat in Turkey, Stoke City qualified for the knock-out stages last night, but they could be the only British team to make it through the Europa League groups.

All of Celtic, Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City are starting this evening's round of matches in third place and all look unlikely to qualify.

But will they be sad or happy?

Celtic will be left to push for the SPL title. Tottenham will be left to push for (ahem) a European place, although they will hope to qualify for the Champions League; and Birmingham will be left to catch up their league games and settle down to plotting a way out of the Championship.

It makes you wonder why they bother to qualify in the first place.

Manchester City and Manchester United, take note.

Manchester has the Europa League to look forward to

I'm sure a few weeks ago, Manchester was preparing to laugh at London as, at various times both Arsenal and Chelsea appeared unlikely to progress out of the Champions League groups.

Well, the luagh was transferred to London last night as both Manchester clubs failed to progress, while both Chelsea and Arsenal had already won their groups the previous evening.

Oh, woe is Manchester!

City's damage had alrady been done in previous matches - not only losing to both Napoli and Bayern Munich away, but also only drawing with Napoli at home.

United had faltered in earlier matches two - having beaten only Otelul Galati in this group - but even so, a draw in Basel last night would have seen them through. They lost 2-1. The loss of so many strikers to injury is taking its toll, even on a squad as big as Manchester United's.

So, they're both left to concentrate on domestic competition - oh, and the Europa Leagu, of course.

Grassroots Football the Debate Goes On

I have made this post on behalf of a contributor who wished to remain anonymous.

I listened with interest this morning to the Radio 5 Live debate regarding Grass Roots football. As usual a large proportion of the callers cited the example (or lack of it) given by professional players each week on Match of the Day etc. They are of course an easy target and a point Trevor Brooking, once great player and an ideal role model, defended to the point of saying to one caller that he was wrong that the top level has to be sorted before the Grass Roots. Trevor’s view is that the club level, coaches and parents, the Grass Roots has to take the lead.

We’ve been told for years that we have to get things right at the bottom with the youngest of players, but as with all arguments there are two sides. My own view, without sitting on the fence, is that both are right. But, as important as it is to get it right when players are young, it is ludicrous to think that you can try to attempt to educate young boys and girls about respect and to play the game in the correct manner and spirit if the same isn’t done in the professional game at the same time. So, Trevor and 5 Live callers you’re both wrong ... and right!

For example, it is interesting that a young player sanctioned for violence on the pitch, i.e. punching an opponent in a youth game is likely to be banned for months at a time, perhaps longer (quite rightly), but the same offence in the Premier League can only carry a maximum three-game ban – crazy! Or that a young player swearing at a referee will be sent off and banned for a long period of time, but a professional player is unlikely to even be booked. Double standards that, I’m afraid, “the professional game” simply ignore and which, even more simply, just isn’t good enough.

The other usual argument that arises in these debates is comparing football with rugby and people generally put this down to a “class thing”: football is a working-class game etc, etc – rubbish! It’s about education and being set the right example. I feel insulted that as a middle-class person of means I can be ostracised from being able to enjoy playing or watching football because I have been deemed to have taken the game away from the masses. In the same manner I am sure the vast majority of decent working-class people feel insulted about being derided as unable to be respectful towards referees and are the parents who watch their child’s match shouting abuse and swearing, etc. This isn’t about class – it’s about society and basic manners.

Both ends of the spectrum have to be tackled and better examples set. This includes the PFA who continually defend players from the sometimes indefensible. Players not being allowed to be fined more than two weeks wages, or insisting some players are given another chance after they’ve punched someone on the pitch or in a nightclub for the umpteenth time and already had three or four previous chances.

The Football Association, County Associations and local Leagues have a long way to go too. Small sided football on smaller pitches is a fantastic idea and the new plans for 5v5 and 9v9 should be implemented straight away. However, County Associations and Leagues don’t promote this themselves.

Last season my under-11 side, playing 11-a-side football for the first season, played a cup semi-final on a neutral ground organised by the League on a full size pitch measuring 110m x 85m with full size goals. This is nearly the maximum allowable size for a football pitch – what a stupid thing to do, and subsequently an appalling game of un-enjoyable football was the result. At my own club we’re lucky to have a youth size pitch of 80m x 45m with youth size goals and yet the League itself insisted on organising matches on pitches that are inappropriate; it’s farcical and shouldn’t be allowed. It’s even more ludicrous when you consider both teams were happy to play the game on our club’s pitch but the League would not allow it!

It’s also interesting to note that now in our second season of 11-a-side football my young team has only played on a youth sized pitch with youth sized goals, that we are fortunate to have, away from home twice.  

The plan for the development of smaller sided teams playing on smaller pitches is great but the FA is going to have to support clubs and councils financially to provide the equipment. A set of 9v9 size goalposts cost approximately £400 a pair and even more for those with wheels that can be easily moved when not in use. Multiply that across hundreds of local leagues and thousands of teams because not all clubs will have the money available and in the current financial climate I suspect local councils will be prioritising their funds elsewhere.

The Respect campaign and Charter Standard Programme also need work. The Charter Standard programme is very good but essentially you get this status by filling out forms. The local FA then monitor that you have the right number of qualified coaches and proper documentation about codes of conduct etc, but they don’t look at the actual behaviour of the clubs, players, coaches and parents.

We play against a Charter Standard Club that frankly shouldn’t be allowed on a football pitch. Players as young as 10 are abusive to referees and the parents are truly unbelievable. I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to swearing but I never do it at football. I’ve even seen a parent from this club walk onto the pitch and confront a 15-year-old referee whilst an under-11 game was in progress and the teams coach was egging him on and hurling four letter abuse at our parents and coach who were trying to calm the situation!  Yet this club proudly boasts its Charter Standard status on their website.

I’ve heard, albeit anecdotally, that these incidents aren’t isolated for this club but other clubs who have complained officially to the League in the past have see nothing happen and now consider that there is no point in bothering to say anything because the League and local FA simply haven’t done anything. Why isn’t the behaviour of a clubs, players, officials and parents the key monitor for continuing to be called a Charter Standard Club?

It’s a damning indictment of the game as a whole such that I felt I had to write this article anonymously because of the concern I have that my own team and club will be vilified by the local FA and the local League by saying things about their organisation and the lack of action taken against clubs whose behaviour and Charter Standard status goes unpunished, even though I haven’t mentioned any by name. I’m sure this view is shared across the country.

All in all the FA have some great ideas for the development of the game at Grass Roots level but both ends of the spectrum have to be tackled at the same time, and professional players, coaches, managers, administrators, pundits, commentators, administrators and the PFA have to recognise that something has to change at their level as well and not continue to use the excuse that they are “professional” and exempt because of it.

Succinctly, a dive to get a penalty is cheating. It’s not “professional” nor is it “being clever”; both quotes are an ex-player-turned-pundit’s worst statements, but they are heard most weekends on Match of the Day when analysing a match and the eradication of that type of attitude alone would mark a major step forward for the game we love, all the way down to the Grass Roots.

Anon: Football fan, and youth coach.

Gary Speed's untimely death leaves us numb

The news of Gary Speed's death on Sunday was devastating.

As a Leeds United fan, I have extremely fond memories of Gary Speed and his contribution to the winning of the last Division One Championship before the Premier League in 1992.

Speed was one of those unassuming players who plied his trade with craft and application while always remaining calm and respectful of his opponents. Therein must lie some of the reasons for his career's longevity.

I remember Speed as one of the talented midfield also consisting of Gary McAllister, Gordon Strachan and David Batty. Speed was a player with poise and elegance and a knack for scoring headed goals that you really didn't expect him to manage.

Amazingly, Speed played until late 2008, with Sheffield United, in his fortieth year. It was a magnificent career of 677 games and 103 goals.

His recent role as Wales manager looked to be turning into a success with four wins in the last five games. We'll never know where Gary Speed might have taken Wales.

The high regard in which Gary Speed was held has been demonstrated by the reaction of neutral fans in the games since his death. Watch out for reactions at Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United when their first home games come around.

We are left with a numbing death of a marvellous player, and the sad mystery of why he chose to take his own life when things were apparently going so well for him.

Odds against Manchester City progressing in Champions League

Despite all their millions it looks as though Manchester City are going to be knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage.

Only a win against Bayern Munich will do for City and even then they have to rely on Napoli drawing or losing against Villareal in Spain. So far in this season's competition Villareal have yet to register a single point.

It's not looking good for Manchester City. Maybe they should make plans for the Europa Cup instead.

Yet in the Premier League they have been dominant thus far, winning 11 of 12 games and scoring 42 goals while conceding only 11.

Suddenly, Sunday's televised game for City away at Liverpool (conquerors of Chelsea last week) seems to take on huge significance. Liverpool's home record of two wins and four draws is not too impressive, but City's attacking prowess might allow Liverpool to take more of an "away game" approach.

A defeat certainly won't spell crisis for Manchester City, but will further dent confidence before the visit of Bayern Munich on 7 December.

Pity Northampton Town, but what about Gala Fairydean?

I'm sure Manchester United fans suffered when they lost 1-6 at home to Manchester City. I'm sure Chelsea fans suffered when they lost 3-5 at home to Arsenal, as well as yesterday when they lost 1-2 at home to Liverpool.

But Manchester United and Chelsea fans have far more good days than they do bad. Manchester United, for instance, haven't conceded a goal in five games since that disastrous defeat.

Get over it, big boys.

Consider poor Northampton Town fans. There were 5,039 in attendance at Sixfields on Saturday (not all home fans, of course) for the visit of Shrewsbury Town - not long back in the Football League, but in a play-off position in League One. "The Cobblers" are at the wrong end of the table, but the fans couldn't have expected the events of Saturday afternoon.

Northampton Town were 3-0 down at half-time; already a bad day. Four minutes into the second half, however, Ben Tozer pulled a goal back to give the home fans some hope. And it remained at 1-3 until the 82nd minute when Marvin Morgan made it 1-4. No doubt this was a cue for many home fans to exit, but they would have missed Ade Akinfenwa pulling another back to make it 2-4 three minutes later. A bad result, but not a disaster.

However, the next few minutes would make it a disaster. Shrewsbury Town helped themselves to three more goals in the dying minutes to make a final scoreline of Northampton Town 2, Shrewsbury Town 7. It's the kind of result you avoid buying a paper for.

A terrible day for Northampton Town's suffering fans as the team remained 20th in the table. Not bottom then! No, poor Pymouth Argyle are seven points behind Northampton.

There's always somebody worse off than your team.

What about the poor Gala Fairydean fan(s) whose team lost 11-0 to Airdrie United in the Scottish Cup on Saturday?

Unimpressive England shake the monkey off their back

England completed back-to-back1-0 victories with their win over Sweden last night.

The result against Sweden was, for once in a friendly, more important than the performance, as it shook the monkey from its back in the form of failure to beat Sweden in 12 attempts in 43 years.

However, it was another typical England performance - despite numerous personnel changes from the Spain game. A reasonable first half was rewarded half-way through with a deflected Gareth Barry header to give them the lead, but the second half was pedestrian and England failed to capitalise on their first-half performance, thereby always keeping Sweden in the game and with a chance of equalising.

It has happened so many times before, but on this occasion England held on to win.

Complaints from the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Vicente Del Bosque about England's performance and style of play ("defensive", "physical") against Spain rather smack of sour grapes. England know they are not as good as Spain, and to try to match them at their own game would be footballing suicide. There are many ways to play football - that's what makes it so fascinating - and although we can all admire and aspire to Spain's style of play, it would takes years to get anywhere close.

Having said that, as Gus Poyet says (BBC) something must be done about the lack of technical ability in England. Talk gets us nowhere; it's time for action.

Wenger had it right as Arsenal rise continues

The top four - Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle United - all won by the odd goal on Saturday. Good enough for three points, of course.

But the biggest winners on Saturday were Arsenal, who beat West Brom 3-0. Now the crisis-hit Arsenal of some weeks ago sit in 7th place, on the same points as Liverpool and Tottenham, and only three behind Chelsea.

Now it's all about Robin van Persie is single-handedly lifting them up the table. He scored one and made two on Saturday.

As usual, there is little or no perspective and it's all by the media. It's all doom and gloom or the best thing ever.

When Arsenal were struggling they had just lost two key players (Fabregas and Nasri) and had injuries too. Now they are doing well, they have centre-backs back in the team, Song back in midfield and, yes, van Persie back up front.

Arsene Wenger (quite ridiculously touted for the sack by some) was right all along, and Arsenal will be in among the challenge for honours when it matters.

Arsenal and Chelsea edge nearer qualification

Although London's two Champions League entrants only managed draws in this week's group matches, they both sit in a good position in their respective groups.

Arsenal might have expected to win their home game with Marseille, but a 0-0 draw kept them above the French team, and four and five points clear of Borussia Dortmund and Olympiakos respectively. Another win will see the Gunners through to the knock-out stage, though they will, of course, hope to win the group.

Chelsea's 1-1 draw in Genk was treated like a home victory for the Belgian team, whose home supporters' roar at the final whistle will be hard to match anywhere throughout the whole competition. The goal by Jelle Vossen was Genk's first Champions League goal in their four matches. Given the ease of Chelsea's 5-0 home win over Genk only two weeks ago, this was indeed a momentous draw for the Belgian club.

Meanwhile Chelsea's woes continue. Following their 1-0 loss at QPR and 5-3 loss at home to Arsenal (with a 2-1 carling Cup win at Everton sandwiched in between), this draw was hardly the boost they needed. But they do have some relatively easy league games coming up. As with Arsenal, another win will see them qualify.

Work still to be done.

It's fun to make predictions

It's fun to make some scoreline predictions from time to time, so let's have a look at this weekend's Premier League clashes.

Everton face Manchester United in the noon kick-off on Saturday. Manchester United "bounced back" from their 1-6 loss at home to Manchester City during midweek by beating Aldershot Town 3-0 in the Carling Cup, but it's necessarily in quotes because, in all fairness to Aldershot, they weren't top class opponents, in addition to which, Sir Alex Ferguson changed his whole starting eleven anyway. Everton can be stubborn and drew with Chelsea over 90 minutes in the Carling Cup on Wednesday.
Prediction: Everton 1-1 Manchester United

Chelsea play Arsenal in the Saturday lunchtime televised game. Chelsea are progressing well, if unexcitingly (last week's oddity at QPR an exception), and Arsenal have now won seven out of their last eight games. Hence, the Gunners are not making the news any more. Where's the fun in them winning? I think the Blues will prove too strong, however.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal

A bit of a nightmare for Wolves, who, having been dumped out of the Carling Cup on Wednesday by Manchester City 5-2, now face them again in the league. Without a win in six league games for Wolves, City are not the ideal opponents. City are in seemingly imperious form.
Prediction: Manchester City 3-0 Wolves

Here are the rest:
Norwich City 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
Sunderland 1-1 Aston Villa
Swansea City 1-0 Bolton Wanderers
Wigan Athletic 0-0 Fulham
West Brom 1-2 Liverpool

Noisy neighbours City begin to roar

It would be hard to be writing a football blog this week and not talk about Manchester City's thrashing of Manchester United 6-1.

The fact that three of the City goals were scored in the last minute of the game and added time, and that five of the City goals were score after Jonny Evans's sending off cannot disguise the fact that City outplayed United and always looked the more likely to score.

Yes, of course, the Evans sending off and the late goals distorted the scoreline, but after so many years of playing second fiddle to United's dominance, City fans won't worry about that.

With players like Sergio Aguero, David Silva (magnificent), and even Mario Balotelli firing on more cylinders than City have had in the last forty years combined, there can be little doubt that the Blue half of Manchester is set for something big. The huge money spending is finally paying off.

Good news for England too: James Milner and Micah Richards were tremendous, and were ably supported by Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott and Gareth Barry.

The noise from the neighbours is become a deafening roar.

Abandoning relegation would be insanity

I have never heard anything so stupid as the apparent proposal to abandon relegation from the Premier League.

And that's saying something when we've had proposals for a "39th game abroad", mid-winter breaks (a pet hate of mine) and Celtic and Rangers to play in the English League.

I'm not sure who's proposing such nonsense, but, at a stroke, it would render about 75% of the games in the Premier League as irrelevant. The top few would still battle for the title and places in the Europa League they later decide they'd rather not have, and the remaining dozen or so clubs would have nothing to play for in the league - ever!

And guess what? No one would want to watch: at the ground, in the pubs, on TV, or even in deepest Malaysia. It's not a recipe for sanctuary for the clubs who might fear relegation; it's a recipe for disaster.

If this is some crazy notion based on the US model of the NFL, then what should we expect next? Overtime to ensure there are no draw? 117 players on each side, 106 of whom would be on the bench (what would Carlos Tevez think of that?)? Full body armour? Renaming football to soccer?

Come on. If our American friends Stateside were so good at inventing sports, some of them might just get played outside of their own back yard, and not have "world champions" from ONE country. Football (yes, NOT soccer) CAN learn a lot from other sports (like replays in cricket, and on-pitch injury treatment in rugby, to name but two), but it should ignore nonsensical proposals from apparent foreign owners who should remember why they bought into our game in the first place.

And why should the current members of the Premier League suddenly decide to ring-fence themselves? Would it be because some of them know they're not really part of the elite? Here's a list of the real top 20 clubs, based on league positions since the war:

1 Manchester United

2 Arsenal
3 Liverpool
4 Tottenham Hotspur
5 Everton
6 Chelsea
7 Aston Villa
8 Manchester City
9 Newcastle United
10 West Ham United
11 Leeds United
12 West Bromwich Albion
13 Wolverhampton Wand.
14 Nottingham Forest
15 Sunderland
16 Leicester City
17 Middlesbrough
18 Blackburn Rovers
19 Birmingham City
20 Southampton

The other current Premier League members are placed as follows:
23 Stoke City
26 Bolton Wanderers
31 Norwich City
32 Fulham
33 QPR
53 Swansea City
80 Wigan Athletic

You know what motivates proposals like this? Greed, fear, cowardice.

Give Rooney a year off from international football

So there it is: Wayne Rooney got the three-game international ban.

So, as I said in this blog on Monday: don't take him to Euro2012.

Rooney will miss the whole of the group stages. The last time England played more than four games in the Euros was at home in 1996, so is it worth taking Rooney for one game in the hope that he can squeeze us through to another?

For those first three games England will have to play a Rooney-free style; a style that they will have developed over the course of friendlies between now and June 2012. If England qualify for the quarter-final, is it realistic to suddenly change back to a Rooney-centric style of play?

I'm afraid it's best to write off Rooney from international football until the start of the 2012-13 season and the next set of World Cup qualifiers.

Sir Alex Ferguson must be delighted!

Euro2012 qualifiers

The qualifiers for  Euro2012 in Poland and Ukraine are shaping up.

The 12 countries who have already qualified are:

Poland

Ukraine

Germany

Russia

Italy

France

Netherlands

Greece

England

Denmark

Spain

Sweden

There are 8 countries who have qualified for the two-legged play-offs in November. If they are seeded by the FIFA rankings, then they will come out like this:

• Portugal (5th)
• Croatia (9th)
• Bosnia-Herzegovina (22nd)
• Montenegro (26th)
• Turkey (27th)
• Republic of Ireland (29th)
• Czech Republic (40th)
• Estonia (58th)

Thus, the top four would be seeded, and drawn randonly against the bottom four.

The draw takes place tomorrow (Thursday 13 October).

How do you solve a problem like Wayne Rooney?

"How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Wayne Rooney?
A flibbertigibbet, a will-o'-the-wisp, a clown."
[With thanks - and apologies - to Rodgers and Hammerstein, from The Sound of Music.]

Sent off for England on Friday, Rooney will now miss at least one - possibly two, and maybe even three - games at the start of Euro 2012.

If UEFA decide he should be banned for three games, solving the Rooney problem will be easy - don't take him at all. Let's face it, England only rarely progress even one game beyond the groups at the Euros, so it would be a waste of a squad place to pick Rooney in the hope that we get beyond the group.

At least, following this latest pathetic show of petulance, we've been spared the same old line that we've been bored with for the last eight years: "You've got to remember he's still young." At last the pundits have realised he's not - at 25 - particularly young any more, particularly with younger - yet more mature - colleagues around him; for example, Phil Jones.

Gary Neville says we should stop trying to solve the Rooney problem per se, and solve the wider England problem - which is that we're not very good, and as a result Rooney gets frustrated, leading to such actions. I think he's got a point. We're often too reliant on one person - or at least believe we are - and how many times has that player missed out on the big tournaments? Think Keegan, Brooking, Robson, Gascoigne, Owen, Beckham, Rooney, metatarsals, etc.

The team should be built to play good football, based on a system, not a player. Let Rooney be a cog in a well-oiled wheel, not the oil without which the wheel simply can't turn.

City and United struggle in Europe

Manchester City and Manchester United may be leading the domestic charge, but both are struggling to find their feet in the European Champions League.

City, for all their extravagant spending, have only a single point from two games, and United are not much better off, with two points. Both sit third in their group.

City had a rough night, losing 2-0 to a resurgent Bayern Munich and with some controversy as Carlos Tevez appeared to refuse to go on as substitute (he has since claimed: "There was some confusion on the bench and I believe my position may have been misunderstood"). City now need two good results against bottom-placed Villareal to stand any chance of progressing.

United were stunned last night as Basel came from two goals behind to lead Manchester United at Old Trafford. Ashley Young scored an injury-time equaliser to save United from an embarrassing (not to say damaging) home defeat. With both Benfica and Basel two points ahead of Manchester United, the Reds need to gain two wins against Romanian club SC Otelul Galati to keep their hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages alive.

City and United take to the European stage

Both Chelsea and Arsenal got off to satisfactory starts in the Champions league groups last night.

Chelsea eased to a 2-0 home win over Bayer Leverkusen, courtesy of goals from David Luiz and Juan Mata - both made by Fernando Torres.

Arsenal were frustrated by a late equaliser by their hosts Borussia Dortmund, but Arsene Wenger will at least be pleased that they didn't fall to the sucker punch of an even later winner. The team - in re-development - showed some signs of resilience and an away draw at this stage is a good start.

Tonight it's the turn of England's Manchester giants - United and City - who have both started the league season at a sprint.

Manchester City will revel in their bow in the Champions League, with the visit of Napoli and an expectant crowd. Stand by for some "Poznans" when (rather than if) City score.

As for United, 18 goals in their first four league games, have raised expectations to unsustainable heights - surely? A trip to Benfica this evening may serve to demonstrate how much they have progressed since their humbling by Barcelona in last season's final in May.

It should be an exciting night!

Aguero could be Manchester City's real star

Have Manchester City finally got themselves a real star?

Last night Sergio Aguero (mysteriously wearing "Kun Aguero" on his back) came on as substitute with the score at 1-0 against Swansea City, and he proceeded to score two (the second one a beauty) and make another as the Blues an out 4-0 winners in the end.

Indeed, Aguero helped make the scoreline a bit harsh on Swansea who for much of the first half were the equal of the rich Mancunians, at least in terms of possession. In the end statistics such as the shot count were overwhelmingly in the home side's favour.

Edin Dzeko scored City's opener after the impressive Vorm in Swansea's goal couldn't hold a shot from Yaya Toure, and David Silva (who also had a good night) go the other goal after good work by Aguero.

But the real story of the night was the Argentinian Aguero. He looked keen, quick, robust and undoubtedly had an eye for goal.

Could City finally have the man who could make the difference?

Premier League stutters into action

And so the 2011-12 Premier League season got off to a ... rather stuttering ... start at the weekend.

Saturday afternoon saw only five games start the season, with Liverpool the biggest of the clubs getting underway - and they could only manage a tame 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland. Tottenham v Everton was called off after the riots, so it was left to Bolton Wanderers to make their mark, winning 4-0 at newly-promoted QPR, and proudly heading the Premier League table straight away - and they still do!

Arsenal's trip to Newcastle was shown live on Saturday early evening, but made headlines for all the wrong reasons (Song, Barton, Gervinho) and produced no goals. Joey Barton may protest his innocence, but one has to wonder why he is so often at the centre of controversy. As for Stephen Taylor trying to claim that Gervinho had elbowed someone (when all he did was wave his fingers in Barton's face) - oh dear, oh dear, let's all try and get sensible, shall we? Taylor is one of those English players who's all huff and puff and machismo, with a heap of indignation thrown in. We don't need it.

We hoped that Sunday's two live games featuring Chelsea and Manchester United might enliven proceedings, but Chelsea's rather one-dimensional display against Stoke did nothing, and it was left to the champions to chose touches of inspiration, even if Ashley Young's winning shot was in the end helped into the net by two deflections.

Can we rely on Manchester City or the Welsh Dragons from Swansea to breathe some fire into the nascent season tonight?

Tottenham v Everton falls victim to the riots

I see that Tottenham v Everton has been postponed for this Saturday as a result of the recent riots in the area. This has to be the right decision at this uncertain time.

It will be interesting to see what other games get postponed. Games in London and Bristol were postponed in the Carling Cup during the week.

Thus, other games that must be vulnerable are:
Fulham v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Sunderland
QPR v Bolton
Birmingham v Coventry
Crystal Palace v Burnley

West Brom v Manchester United on Sunday, and
Manchester City v Swansea City on Monday.

It looks like being a stuttering start to the season.

Football fans will join the rest of the public in their anger against these idiotic looters.

United see off City - just

Manchester United came from 2-0 to beat arch-rivals Manchester City 3-2 in the Community Shield at Wembley yesterday. As an advert for the forthcoming season, this was pretty good.

Big spenders City would love to take the Premier League title away from United, of course, but spending lots of money is not the simple answer. Manchester United will want to keep their title, but they also want to challenge the likes of Barcelona for the Champions League. After their humiliation at the hands of the Catalans in May, there were one or two notes that they may have learned a thing or two from that game.

The equalise was the result of a series of one-touch passes ending with Nani planting the ball high into Joe Hart's net. Nani also got the winner as the usuall-reliable Kompany floundered on the half-way line.

United will be disappointed that they conceded two goals, but they will shrug that off with their victory.

City will realise that there is still a long way to go to turn money into titles.

Sven cracks a break joke

Leicester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has joined the mid-winter break bandwagon, saying that England will struggle to win a major tournament unless the Premier League adopts a winter break.

With England due to play Holland in a friendly before the season has even started, Sven's comment is really funny.

Get this as well. He said: "It's more difficult for England than other countries to do well in a big tournament."

"You have to have a break. You need to give every Premier League player seven days to fly to wherever they want."

He added: "They can have sunshine, relax and then one week of preparation and then start again."

With all the foreign players in the Premier League, I'm not sure why this is a specific problem for England - probably because none of our players want to play abroad. With all the sun, breaks and lack of games in foreign places, why is that?

Before we think about a mid-winter break (when would that be, by the way?), let's think about a summer break. Many players had not long finished last season before they were whisked away on lucrative tours abroad. Why not spare them that and play half-a-dozen games at places like Bradford, Halifax and Hartlepool so the players don't get too tired?

Do me a favour, Sven.

The Championship beckons

And so, with the weather just about as nice as it has been all year, we come to within a couple of days of the new football season for the Championship and Leagues One and Two. The spectators may bask shirtsleeved in Saturday's sunshine (if it holds!), but the players (all tans and new hair cuts) will suffer in the heat.

The Championship promises to be more competitive than ever this season. There are many strong clubs in there and all are desperate to make it to the Premier League.

Relegated clubs Birmingham City, Blackpool and West Ham United will be among the most desperate for promotion, but they will certainly not find it easy. Clubs like Leicester City (big summer spenders), Cardiff City, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest may head the rest, but consider Burnley, Coventry City, Derby County, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Middlesbrough, Reading and Watford! Promoted clubs Brighton and Southampton may even have a shout.

I'm sure the other seven clubs will fell that they should be included too - everyone is optimistc and hopeful before a ball has been kicked.

Whatever happens, expect the unexpected and a firecely fought campaign.

Tough World Cup draws for home nations

The World Cup in 2014 in Brazil seems an awfully long time away. In Europe qualification for next year’s European Championship hasn’t even reached the business end of operations. Yet the draw for the qualifying groups for the 2014 World Cup took place on Saturday.

England found themselves in a pretty tough group, with tricky trips to Eastern Europe in Ukraine and Poland, as well as Moldova, together with Montenegro, who are proving tougher than expected in the Euro qualifiers, and minnows San Marino. If Fabio Capello though his stint as England manager was awkward, then he’ll be delighted that he’s leaving the hot seat before those trips come up!

As well as facing each other, Scotland and Wales have another pair who’ll have their own neighbourhood squabble – Croatia and Serbia – as well as Belgium and Macedonia. Qualification looks unlikely.

Northern Ireland have a couple of teams that they should beat – Azerbaijan and Luxembourg – but with Russia and Portugal heading the seedings, they’ll need something like a miracle to qualify. Israel make up the six.

Spain got the toughest non-top seeds in France, but there’s nothing at the moment that will worry the Spaniards.

Qualification goes directly to the eight group winners, and the eight runners-up are paired (no doubt on a whim by FIFA) in four play-off matches.

Modric, Fabregas: who's going to win and lose?

As the transfer mayhem continues throughout this miserable British summer, Tottenham Hotspur are holding out for more than £27m for Luka Modric; Arsenal have rejected a bid of £27m from Barcelona for Cesc Fabregas.

If those players eventually move - Modric to Chelsea, Fabregas to Barcelona - who will be the big winners and losers in the deals?

Tottenham: loser or winner by selling Modric for, let's say, £30m?
Chelsea: loser or winner by buying Modric for that price?
Arsenal: loser or winner by selling Fabregas to Barcelona for, let's say £35m?
Barcelona: loser or winner by buying Fabregas for that price?

I'd say:
Tottenham: winner, by getting so much for a player who didn't play that much last season.
Chelsea: probably a winner, given the lack of inspiration in their midfield for much of last season.
Arsenal: loser; they need top players; they need players.
Barcelona: Fabregas to improve their team? Really? Not now, but maybe in the future. Just about a winner.

So, I'd say:
Biggest loser: Arsenal.
Biggest winner: Tottenham.

But the game's all about opinions, isn't it?

So familiar - England's women pay the penalty

In the end England's women's did tread exactly the same path as the men usually do - they lost on penalties in the World Cup quarter-final.

Misses in the penalty shoot-out by skipper Faye White and Claire Rafferty meant that England succumbed 4-3 to France after a 1-1 draw after extra time. This, despite leading the penalty shoot-out 3-2 with only two kicks each left. England missed their two; France scored theirs.

And that was after England had led 1-0 through a Jill Scott goal, only for Elise Bussaglia to equalise for the French with only three minutes of normal time to play.

It all sounds so depressin gly familiar doesn't it? Only the names have changed.

Yet, once again like the men, England's women performed up to the expectation of their ranking; tenth in the world, they reached the last eight of the tournament.

France are joined by Japan (conquerors of hosts and holders Germany), USA and Sweden in the semi-finals.

England's women look to make further progress

The transfer nonsense carries on.
Fulham have already progressed through one round of the Europa Cup of the new season.
The managerial musical chair game has settled down a bit.

And England's women eventually made serene progress out of the group stages of the World Cup to face France in tomorrow's quarter-final. England are 10th in the world rankings compared to France's 8th (indeed, only Australia (11th) are lower than England in the rankings of the teams left in the competition).

In matches between the two countries England have won two, France five and there have been five draws. It looks tough for the English girls, but their competitive spirit has been shown already in this tournament with a turn around from 1-0 down against New Zealand to win 2-1, and a fine 2-0 win against group favourites and 4th-ranked Japan to win the group. Otherwise they would have been facing Germany.

There's seems to be an upbeat togetherness in the England ranks and it may seem them progress. Manager Hope Powell said: "We've played well in all three group games but not quite to our best yet so hopefully we can get better.

"This squad wants to win games and now it's a case of you win you stay, you lose you go home, so we have to prepare ourselves the best we can before we face France."

England's women follow traditional path

The men do it all the time, the youngsters did it a couple of weeks ago, and now it's the women's turn.

I'm talking about their failure to grasp a tournament by the scruff of the neck - and actuall win the first game.

At last year's World Cup England's men took an early lead only to end up drawing against USA 1-1 (a match they were expected to win). Although they qualified from the group the stumble meantr that they had to face Germany in the first knock-out match and they lost 4-1.

At the recent Under-21 European Championship the men actually did rather well to draw 1-1 with Spain in their opening game, but they then failed to beat the Ukraine (a match they were expected to win) and went out with a defeat to the Czech Republic.

And now the women are doing the same. They drew their opening World Cup match on Monday, 1-1 with Mexico (a match they were expected to win) , and now face a 'must-win' game against New Zealand tomorrow.

Sorry to be cynical, but I can already read the headlines ...

England's youngsters come home

For the English the football season finally came to an end yesterday as England Under-21s crashed out of the UEFA Under-21 Championship in Denmark.

Needing a win, England were leading 1-0 with a minute to go when the Czech Republic equalised and  then moments later stole a winner to go through and send the English youngsters home. It was a disappointment for manager Stuart Pearce who must have thought his boys were on the verge on a semi-final spot.

But it was not to be.

Pearce said: "It was probably the best performance of the tournament. But perhaps us going home now was symptomatic of us not passing the ball well enough in the first two games."

So it's holiday time for these boys with most of the rest already on hot beaches. Pre-season training will sart in early July, and the first Premier League games are on 13 August (some of these players will start in the Championship a week earlier).

Until then, relax.


Mind you, the Women's World Cup starts next Sunday in Germany, with England's women having an outside chance (they're rated 10th in the world). Good Luck to them!

Managerial merry-go-round in full panic

The madness of the managerial merry-go-round is in full swing.

Carlo Ancelotti sacked at Chelsea. No appointment yet
Mark Hughes resigned at Fulham. Martin Jol appointed at Fulham.
Gerard Houllier resigned at Aston Villa.
Billy Davies sacked at Nottingham Forest. Steve MacClaren appointed at Forest.
Alex McLeish resigned as manager of Birmingham City. Resignation rejected.
Aston Villa have now asked to talk to McLeish.

Fun, isn't it?
And funny how clubs believe that managers who have failed at other clubs will succeed at theirs. It was the old manager's fault that he failed at their club. It was the old club's that the new manager failed there.

Blind optimism? Blind panic? Blind stupidity?

There's got to be some fun during the summer when there are no games to keep us occupied!

Pearce bemoans England's absentees

The European Under-21 Championships open in Denmark this weekend. England's under-21 team is one of eight competing. The other seven are: Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Belarus (Group A), and Spain, Czech Republic and Ukraine with England in Group B.

England under-21 boss Stuart Pearce is unhappy that several of England's top young players have withdrawn from the squad. Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Micah Richards and Andy Carroll are the big four names - all with senior international experience - who have pulled out.

"We've probably got the biggest number of absentees who have represented the seniors," Pearce said. "We need to make sure that when we turn up to these tournaments that the big, big players are here."

He went on to say that experience gainmed from such a tournament didn't have a downside. "It adds value to the players, which obviously the club pick up on as well.
"I'll still deem that there's a real learning curve from the tournament like this. It's really high-profile, it's gaining in momentum profile-wise every two years."

It's a shame that so many of England's top youngsters will miss the trip. Invaluable experience will be lost, which could have stood them in good stead for future senior tournaments.

Nevertheless, others will gain from - such as Jordan Henderson, now of Liverpool, and Scott Sinclair of newly promoted Swansea City.

We wish them well.

The insanity of a mid-winter break

Talk of a mid-winter break in the English Premier League has reared its head again.

Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned it after Manchester United were crushed by Barcelona; England players have talked about it after their embarrassing draw against Switzerland last week; Fabio Capello said England players looked tired in that game.

But a mid-winter break simply would not work.

First of all - when IS mid-winter? November suffered snow in 2010; but so also did February 2010. So when do you break? December?

Secondly, the game is all about money and attendances at games on Boxing Day and New Year's Day are always at a peak. This might not matter to clubs whose stadiums are full every week, but it will certainly matter to the Wigans and Fulhams of this world.

Thirdly, it is not the breaks that matter, but the number of games. There are 38 Premier League games, as many as 19 Champions League games, plus possibly 11 cup games. So that's 60+ games in a season of around 41 weeks. That's not mentioning the half-dozen pre-season games, of course. What are we suggesting with a mid-winter break? That we cram those 60+ games into two or three fewer weeks?

Fourthly, the truth is that there will be no mid-winter break for players. If there is a break in the Premier League, then the clubs will whisk their players off to Thailand, Japan, USA for a lucrative mini-tour to ensure that revenue is boosted. Add three more games to the schedule.

Talk of a mid-winter break is misguided foolishness. Forget it now.

England end on a poor note

And so another football season comes to a close, and it ended, for Englnad, on a pretty gloomy note. The performance in the 2-2 draw at home to Switzerland in Saturday's Euro 2012 qualifier was poor, to say the least.

Excuses of tiredness; some lame claims that they had done well to come back from 2-0 down, can't disguise the fact that a home draw against the Swiss is simply not good enough.

There was some respite in the group as Montenegro could only draw at home to Bulgaria, and so missed their own chance to claim top spot ahead of England.

So what's wrong with England? People like to blame the manager and his tactics ("too cautious"). Tiredness has been blamed. Apparently England players averaged 46 games to Switzerland's 31. Yet, Glen Johnson has missed half the season, as has Rio Ferdinand; Milner's not a regular at Manchester City, and Scott Parker has missed several games for West Ham. For Switzerland, Senderos, Djourou and Behrami all played in the Premiership last year, so I'm not sure about that stat.

It was supposed to be a good thing that Ferdinand and Terry were back together in central defence; that Wilshere was playing; that England played 4-3-3 (4-5-1, take your pick). They were all "good things" until Switzerland took a quick-fire two-goal lead in the first half. The recovery to grab a draw only partly disguised the dismal performance.

Top passers in the England team were John Terry (71) and Rio Ferdinand (57). Why? Because they spent most of the game passing to each other! Why? Because there's little or no significant movement ahead of them. They are then left to chip the ball forward (England's disease) and possession is lost.

We have no thrusting midfielders; none who can make a 20-yard run so that our possession is in the middle of the opposition half rather than in the middle of our own (indeed the Swiss had several who could do this: Shaqiri and Xhaka being two); none who slip quietly into open space in dangerous positions (like Xavi or Iniesta of Barcelona); none who can play quick one-twos to open up the opposition; and, more crucuially, none who can instantly control a ball and be ready for the next pass or move immediately. They call it technique and they've been going on about it for years, but nothing improves.

I think England fans live on in (blind) optimism that things will get better, but really they know they won't. We want England to be good, but we don't really believe they are or can be.

Teams like Switzerland are better than we are.

Blatter back in as FIFA president

So Sepp Blatter was re-elected unopposed as President of FIFA yesterday.

The FA's "too-little-too-late" attempt to postpone the election in the light of corruption investigations and unopposed candidacy was mocked and scorned by a succession of speakers from Haiti, Congo, Fiji, Benin and Cyprus. They called the FA's stance unconstituional and said that the interference from media and politicians was unwarranted. I'll bet.

The FA went out on a limb, with little support, and their position was defeated as 172 delegates (of 206) voted to continue to the election. Blatter was re-elected. "Today something marvellous happened and I'd simply like to tell you I'm deeply moved and honoured. It's a challenge, a new one for me, and I accept it," he said, in somehwat mock surprise.


Is there any light at the end of this murky FIFA tunnel?

Well, maybe the corruption investigations will find something to stick.

It appears that the way World Cup venues are chosen will change to encompass votes from ALL the delegates rather than the 24-man executive committee. That should make it more difficult for widespread corruption from potential hosts.

There were words (let's hope, not platitudes) around making FIFA more transparent and to "restart the credibility of FIFA". Blatter said: "Everyone was waiting for solutions - now we will apply them."


I'll not be holding my breath.

Sponsors voice concerns about FIFA

Now sponsors are apparently getting twitchy about the goings-on within FIFA.

President Sepp Blatter has stated that the organisation is not in crisis, but both Coca-Cola and Adidas have voiced their concerns.

A a Coca-Cola spokesperson said: "The current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport."


An Adidas spokesman said: "The negative tenor of the public debate around Fifa at the moment is neither good for football nor for Fifa and its partners."

Blatter is now unopposed for the presidency of FIFA (vot on Wednesday) after Mohamed Bin Hammam dropped out of the race following recent allegations.

"Football is not in a crisis, only some difficulties," Blatter claimed.

Relegation looms for two out of five

While the city of Manchester celebrates its League and FA Cup wins for United and City, at the other end of the table the folk of Blackburn, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Wigan and Blackpool will be living a fearful week as the threat of relegation looms large over all of them. Poor West Ham United already felt the axe as they were relegated after defeat at Wigan yesterday.

At the weekend Blackburn Rovers got a valuable point against the champions, while Wolves, Wigan and Blackpool all recorded wins, which they would have hoped would have dragged them clear of the relegation mire, but didn't. One point now covers all these five teams - Blackburn and Wolves on 40, the others on 39. Of the five, maybe Birmingham City are fearing the most after their dreadful home defeat against Fulham (0-2) on Sunday made them the only losers of this group.

So it will all come down to the final day and no games look easy. Perhaps the stand-out game is Wolves v Blackburn as it involves two of the clubs. In addition, Birmingham City travel to Tottenham (looking for fifth place), Blackpool travel to already-crowned Champions Manchester United (who, even if they field a supposedly weakened team, will still present a mighty threat and will not want to dent an almost perfect home record further), and Wigan Athletic face Stoke City who might be a little deflated after their FA Cup Final defeat on Saturday.

For those involved, next Sunday is going to be an awful afternoon.

Manchester United on verge of record 19th title

Manchester United pretty much clinched the Premier League title yesterday with the 2-1 win over Chelsea.

The fast-start goal after 36 seconds was a body-blow for the Blues from which they never truly recovered. And the second United goal was the clincher.

Chelsea, never a team to lie down, mounted something of a second-half revival, with Frank Lampard cutting the arrears, but, despite some nervous moments for the home team, it was always going to be too much for Chelsea to turn around the early setbacks. In truth, the defending that allowed United to score their goals was woeful, and David Luiz (who has otherwise impressed greatly since his arrival in January) paid the price with his half-time removal by boss Carlo Ancelotti.

Manchester United only need a point to secure their record-breaking 19th English League title and, with due respect to Blackburn Rovers (away) and Blackpool (home), there is no doubt that they will get it. This championship has been won at home, with only one draw denting an otherwise perfect home record. Away from home, United have not been so impressive - even Blackpool have won as many games away.

Indeed, United have not always looked to be championship material. But in this oddest of Premier League seasons, none of the other contenders - Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester City - have done enough to stop the Reds from virtually securing the title with two games to spare.

As for Chelsea, they will lick their wounds from a trophy-less season and try to figure out how to get the best out of Fernando Torres next season. The fact that neither Torres nor Drogba scored a goal while both of them were on the pitch has to be a key pointer.

Leeds and Burnley charged: why?

I am a Leeds United fan, but sadly live over 200 miles away in the south, so getting to see the team in action is an infrequent occurrence. I did, however, get up to see the tense 1-0 win over Burnley last Saturday. It's a shame for Leeds that the hard-fought, but deserved win will probably count for little as Nottingham Forest look certain to claim the last place in the play-offs by avoiding defeat at Crystal Palace tomorrow.

I was rather bemused, however, to read that both Leeds and Burnley are to be charged by the FA for failing to ensure that their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour.

The incident happened in front of where I was sitting - only 20 yards away. A high challenge on Leeds's Max Gradel by Chris McCann sparked a melee in which I believe McCann, and Leeds's Neil Kilkenny and Eric Lichaj were booked. The melee was nothing more than the sort of thing you can see on Match of the Day every week. I have no idea why the FA chose to charge these two clubs.

There is a bit of a paranoid conspiracy theory at Leeds (justified, as "they" are always out to get us!), but this did seem over the top.

I am even more surprised to see this morning that Leeds have pleaded guilty to the charge. No doubt they will end up with a more severe punishment than QPR will receive for their misdemeanours (judgement mysteriously delayed by the FA yesterday).

Norwich City make it back to the big time

Congratulations to Norwich City who secured promotion to the Premier League last night with a 1-0 at Portsmouth.

This followed Cardiff City's inexplicable 0-3 surrender at home to Middlesbrough earlier in the evening. That result meant that Cardiff were left hoping for a Norwich failure at Fratton Park, and results to favour Cardiff next Saturday.

But Norwich were in no mood to let slip their advantage, and a Simeon Jackson header gave them the win they needed to clinch promotion.

Manager Paul Lambert called it "a miracle" as the club has achieved back-to-back promotions - the first club to do son since Manchester City did so in 2000. Lambert took over as boss at The Canaries after his then-club Colchester United won 7-1 and Carrow Road on the first day of last season. They have rarely looked back since then.

Norwich City join Queen's Park Rangers as clubs promoted from the Championship to the Premier League. Cardiff City are left to fight out in the play-offs with Swansea City, Reading and, almost certainly, Nottingham Forest.

Mancini must hope unconvincing Manchester City deliver the FA Cup

I watched Manchester City stumble to a 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park yesterday evening.
For the millions City have spent, they have come up with an entirely unconvincing unit. Players like Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko (although he did score the winner) do not look like players who will win the Premier League for City next season.

Yet, they have made the FA Cup Final - delightfully, for them, at the expense of their more illustrious neighbours from Old Trafford. The chance to bring the first silverware to City since the League Cup in 1976 looms large, but opponents on 14 May Stoke City (last winners of silverware in 1972 with the league Cup) will present tough opponents, and City should be mindful of Arsenal's defeat in the League Cup at the hands of Birmingham City earlier this season.

City look comfortable in fourth place and, in spite of Arsenal's recent troubles, are likely to stay there to claim a Champions League qualifying spot for next season.

Time could well be running out for Roberto Macini and, if he fails to deliver the FA Cup next month, he could see his number up.

Give the captaincy back to John Terry

The discussion about John Terry's captaincy of England has reared its head again recently.

When it first came up for discussion in February 2010, I commented on it. Here are some snippets:

"So should John Terry carry on as England captain?

Chelsea obviously see no problem with the situation as he has carried on as captain of the Blues.

Why should it be any different for England?

Some may say the job's so important and it's representing the nation and all that. Is it? Is that the real reason for all this debate? Or is this just a typical media storm in a tea cup, brought about because of the lifting of restrictions on reporting this story, and the "haven't-we-done-well-to-expose-him?" media frenzy that has followed?

Let's face it. The media (newspapers in particular) love to "get" someone, don't they? And the bigger they are, the better. Captain of England? Top score!

If Fabio Capello sacked Terry as captain (and he won't), who would he put in his place?

Who are the candidates?

Steven Gerrard (he of the nightclub fight accusations)

Wayne Rooney (he of the dubious onfield discipline)

Rio Ferdinand (will he be fit?)

etc.

The fact is that Capello chose John Terry as England captain because he is the best man for the job - football-wise. Does there need to be another reason"

The only thing I was wrong about was that Capello DID sack Terry as captain. He chose Rio Ferdinand as his replacement, but Ferdinand has figured very infrequently due to injury (as I expected).

Give the captaincy back to John Terry - it's the right thing to do, Fabio.