Fabio Cappello has seemingly had the golden touch ever since he took over the reigns of England’s unsteady and sinking ship. All the way through World Cup qualification, England showed more discipline, desire and put in some strong performances, which was a stark contrast to the damp squib under Steve McClaren which failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

The Italian mastermind has done things such as banned WAGS (wives and girlfriends) from the team hotel, banned cellphone and Twitter from training camps, and made overtures to indiscipline and setting the wrong example by both public words on the subject and stripping John Terry of the captaincy after his personal life made the headlines for the wrong reasons.

So, all in all, with one or two minor setbacks in exhibition games, everything Fabio touches turns to Gold.

Except today, in England’s opening World Cup fixture vs the USA, things went quite awry.

Today Fabio somewhat surprisingly selected West Ham goalkeeper Rob Green, ahead of most pundit’s choice, the vastly experienced David James. He also selected James Milner and played him out of position on the left of midfield, in spite of reports that the Aston Villa midfielder had been struggling with a virus. He also lined up 4-4-2, which although not totally unfamiliar, is a bit out of sync with a 4-3-3 or 4-4-1-1 type formation which has been more familiar in recent times.

England got off to the perfect start, when newly appointed captain Steven Gerrard made a sharp finish off the outside of his boot from 15 yards out to score the opening goal just 4 minutes in, following a quick move from a throw in and a nice layoff from Emile Heskey, albeit poor marking and defensive awareness from the USA contributed to this.

However, it became obvious early on that Milner was struggling, he wasn’t half a yard off the pace, he was 2 yards off the pace and the USA exploited this by loading the left side and Donovan was a constant threat, delivering dangerous crosses into the box and set pieces, creating a couple of great chances for Altidore to head an equalizer but the young American was wasteful with his chances. After a couple of late challenges, Milner went into the book on 26 minutes and was substituted 4 minutes later before he risked a sending off.

Then the most obvious incident of the game came on 37 minutes, when Clint Dempsey turned inside Johnson and King and hit a fairly tame shot straight at keeper Rob Green, who made a schoolboy error in failing to get his body behind the shot and fumbled the ball agonizingly into his own net. A true horror mistake which gave USA a deserved equalizer.

Ledley King, the injury prone Spurs defender didn’t come out for the second half – not sure if he had an injury, or Capello felt he had a poor performance, but while he could have replaced King with Michael Dawson (who had a great season with Spurs and has pace, but little international experience) or Matt Upson, he instead chose Jamie Carragher, Liverpool’s experienced stopper. Carragher just returned to the  England fold recently after a 2 year self-imposed exile, but had a disappointing season with Liverpool and is not the quickest player. USA forwards Altidore and Findlay, both of whom are quick had a field day up against the turtle speed of Carragher and Terry, Carragher booked only a few minutes after coming on, was then treading a tightrope which almost lead to a second USA goal when Altidore outmuscled him and ran past him, Carragher had to let him go or risk being sent off and the American forced a great save from Green which was pushed onto the post.

Mr. Capello did however show some tactical nous – England were outpossessed and for long periods of the first half, struggling to get into the game (in spite of taking the lead on their first attack and looking sporadically dangerous on the counter-attack), Rooney, Lennon and Lampard were barely visible. In the second half, he changed the formation a bit to a 4-4-1-1 and Wright-Phillips and Lennon started to have influence on the flanks, Rooney got on the ball more and England created some chances and half chances. Unfortunately, the best chance fell to Emile Heskey who’s goal ratio is very poor and when played clean through could only shoot straight at Howard from about 15 yards out. Pity for Heskey, who was England’s best player, holding the ball up well and making things happen up front.

All in all, a tad disappointing from an England point of view, in spite of an improved second half and the USA showed great athleticism and mental resolve and overall, the draw was a fair result. Dempsey, Donovan and Bradley were particularly impressive, Altidore had a good game apart from his finishing, and at the back Onyewu was a rock (and dangerous coming forward for set pieces) with a good performance from captain Bocanegra at the back too.

In the end, a decent game to watch, 27 goal attempts, some nice passing moves from both teams and a few chances squandered, ending up with the right result – a draw, which gives both teams hope of progressing.

In recent years though, the F.A. Cup has seemingly lost some of that magic. Almost all of the top half of the Premier League view qualifying for Europe via the Champions League (and even the Europa League) as their priority. It’s not hard to see why, a typical Cup winning run will bring in 4-5 TV appearances at around 600,000 (split with the opponent) for rounds 3-5, 800,000 for the quarter-final and semis, and 1.5 million for the final. So TV money is typically around 2-3 million pounds. The gate receipts (which are shared 45% each to both teams, and 10% to the F.A.), vary more widely from a typical figure of 1.5 – 3.5 million depending on the size of the gate, and which is why almost any club outside of the PL likes an away draw at Old Trafford, even if they get hammered. In the best case scenario, a winning Cup run can be worth around 6.5 million, but more typically, it’s worth around 4 to 4.5 million for most PL teams. For many clubs, even in the PL, this is significant – However, if you qualify for the group stages of the Champions League, you are guaranteed 6 million pounds of TV money alone, not including 3 home games with 95% gate receipts (which for a team like Man U is worth another 2.4 million). And should you make the last 8, this increases to around 12 million and winning the whole thing is worth 18.5 million, not including gate receipts which can make this figure up to around 25 million in total.

Therefore, many league sides who are challenging for the Champions League top 4 places in the Premier League, often field a team weakened with reserves and youngsters risking that this might be enough to get through and if not, well, we didn’t lose players to injury for the Premier League in their quest to achieve that top 4 finish. Manchester United even withdrew from the 2000 F.A. cup to play in a World Club Competition (albeit, pressurized into doing so for political reasons by the government and F.A. to try and land the 2006 World Cup). A cynical element has cropped up since then in the Cup with attendances down significantly, and in some cases, leading to ‘less glamourous’ finals such as the 2008 final of Portsmouth vs Cardiff City (of the 2nd tier Championship League) playing a dire game to a 1-0 win for Portsmouth. This year, already Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal (the top 3 teams in terms of support and viewing figures for matches) are out of the Cup, Man United losing to my club Leeds (currently 2 divisions below the reds) in a real shocker, even though Man United’s team had injury problems and fielded some of their less elite players at the start. Liverpool lost to Championship side Reading again, with a weakened team, and after being a goal ahead. Arsenal lost to PL side Stoke which was less embarrassing, but also learned a lesson of fielding a weakened side. Chelsea, Spurs, Man City and Aston Villa are left in the last 8, so there are still big clubs in the hat at this stage.

Therefore, credit to Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa – Villa have now been rewarded with a League Cup final place vs man United, and are still in the hat for the quarter-final draw after fielding an almost 100% full strength team in the 5th round at Crystal Palace. This match was definately like a throw back to the F.A. Cup’s glory days, a team from the second tier of English football, currently struggling financially and under administration, backed with a full house crowd and amazing vocal support from both sets of fans, both fought like tigers and battled hard to a 2-2 draw, Villa rescuing themselves from a ‘Cupset’ with a late 87th minute equalizer, which had an element of controversy as the corner leading up the goal should have been called a goal-kick, leading to some post match raucousness from veteran Palace manager Neil Warnock. For the neutral this game had everything and a great atmosphere. The replay was not beneficial to Villa, meaning they must play 3 games in a week with the 3rd game being the League Cup final vs Man United and are still chasing hard for PL points to get in the top 4. However, it was beneficial to Palace, whose administrator confirmed that the Cup run, even if they should lose at Villa, combined with a couple of sales in January, will provide enough capital to keep the club afloat at least until the summer.

andrei arshavin - silky skills in midfield but not a centre forward

Arsenal’s defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, compounded by a home defeat the week before to Manchester United will no doubt have the media circus in Britain talking up the Premier League title as ‘then there were two…’ or ‘it’s official – it’s a 2 horse race’ following the Gunner’s failures against their two biggest rivals, which has seen the wheels fall off a very impressive run after they were already ‘officially’ written out of the title race in November, following a crushing 0-3 home defeat to Chelsea. Perhaps.

Although I am a committed Leeds United fan, and I can marvel at some of the great football we played in a 3 year spell from winning the old second division (now Coca-Cola Championship) title in 1990, a very commendable first season in the top flight finishing 4th in 1991 (a year when Man United came 6th and Chelsea 11th), and then the great first division (now Premier League) title triumph of 1992. The midfield four of Strachan, McAllister, Batty and Speed (with support from Steve Hodge), played some really nice stuff. The Arsenal title winning team of 1991 in comparison, erm- not so much. George Graham’s team were a better footballing side than they get credit for, but one thing that team had in abundance was spirit, desire and a winner’s mentality. Arsene Wenger is regarded as the messiah at The Emirates Stadium for being able to not only build successful teams, but teams which play elegant, beautiful soccer. Even that great Leeds championship winning team (and not forgetting Chris Fairclough, an elegant Rio Ferdinand like defender, Tony Dorigo, a very decent attacking left back, and a certain flamboyantly skilled Eric Cantona who played a vital cameo role) does not come close to the purity of Arsenal’s beautiful game.

I love to watch Arsenal play soccer. They can be truly mesmerising, unbelievable pass and movement, elegant and deadly give and gos, telepathic like understanding sometimes with little flicks, reverse passes and some awesome goals, most of which seem to be from arounf the edge of the box or further. This Arsenal team does not have an Alan Smith to ping balls at and play off from. They pass the ball around the back and through the midfield and rarely seem to score headers or scrappy goals from within the six yard area and their football seems to get more short pass and thread through the eye of a needle every year. When Arsenal had players like Thierry Henry, Kanu, even Adebayor (when he felt like it), they had some players who they could ping a few longer balls at, run the channels and get on the end of some crosses. Unfortunately, Mr. Wenger has not seen fit to replace Adebayor, lacking the financial clout of newly minted Man City, and not prepared to buy players and run deficits like Man United and Chelsea, there were precious few targets identified who had the potential quality who Arsenal could afford. His new plan for the season hinged a lot on the unbelievable young talent at the club, and banking on consistency and fitness on Van Persie and Eduardo. Unfortunately, both have succumbed to injuries and the lanky Dane Niklas Bendtner has yet to show consistent goal scoring form in the team and has had injury problems of his own. Arsenal have had to therefore rely on attacking midfielder Andrei Arshavin, a box of tricks with some serious talent, but definately not at his best trying to play centre forward against the hulking frames of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho.

The theme is a common one. Manchester United have a blend of youth and experience but have already won back to back titles, most of this team were in the Champions League winning squad of 2 years ago and domestic cup winners to boot. The likes of Giggs and Scholes, with careers drawing to a close, seem as hungry to win another title as their first when they were late teens. Arsenal have some brilliant players, they fluidly play a beautiful passing game, but both Manchester UNited and Chelsea emerged as victors because of their depth of squads, because of their ability to play devastatingly quick counter attacks, and because of their physical and mental strength and desire to win, backed up with several players who know how to get that job done. Man United allowed Arsenal to play their pretty football, but tied up Arshavin and Fabregas, had more muscle in midfield, and when Arsenal pushed their full backs up, launched devastating counter attacks at speed, down the flanks. Chelsea were gifted an opener by Arsenal, blame it on naivety of youth allowing John Terry a free header and then no-one marking Drogba and no player on the far post at a corner, allowing the Ivorian to tap in Terry’s flick on unchallenged from 5 yards out and the Blues don’t give up many goals at Stamford Bridge. The turning point in the game was that Arshavin, having being played clear by a wonderful Arsenal passing move, could only shoot straight at Petr Cech on his weaker right foot when well placed to score, following a good period of pressure from the Gunners which was saved easier than it ought to have been. Less than 2 minutes later, another fast, sweeping counter attack played in Drogba who ran seemingly unchallenged through a couple of Arsenal defenders before pinging a laser past the bemused goalie. 2-0 at that stage was a bit harsh on Arsenal who had threatened to get level, but this seems to be a recurring theme when playing the better sides. Both Man United and Chelsea having gone a couple of goals ahead, showed their vast experience at tightening up and playing out the match.

Arsene Wenger's young charges disappoint - again.

Arsenal, in spite of being (arguably) the best team for a neutral to watch, with their endless attacking style of play and fluid passing game, are unfortunately destined to win nothing for a 5th season in a row and the worst part of it is, Wenger doesn’t seem to be learning from his mistakes – when his team last won, he had the midfield steel of Patrick Viera, and the power, pace and natural goalscoring skill of Thierry Henry. Even though both of these players are well into their 30s and a little past their prime, how he must have wished he could have had them on loan for the past couple of games for their steel, skills and winning mentality to rub off on some of his younger naive charges. For a long time, people didn’t rate Mathieu Flamini, but when he got his chance he emerged as a player who complimented Fabregas’s silky skills and amazing footballing brain so well. Denilson, Song and co are not terrible, can pass the ball neatly -  but they’re not good enough to win you a title, and not having any strikers with pedigree available is a cardinal sin. You have to be able to score goals against the best teams – Arsenal’s beautiful skills are good enough to slice through most of the also-rans in the division with consummate ease, even with these shortcomings, but not good enough to beat the experience, steel, and will to win of the quality players at Man United and Chelsea, even if both of these teams are a touch shorter on style than the Gunners. They have the substance to back up the style.

L.A. Galaxy megastars David Beckham and Landon Donovan have both made their seemingly annual pilgrimmage into Europe’s top Leagues, in a quest to prove themselves at a higher level and ramp up their selection chances for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa. While it’s a shoe-in that Donovan will be included (barring injury) in the USA’s World Cup squad, a little extra sharpness against many quality players he could encounter at international level is never a bad thing, and Landon is am ambitious boy who wants to be remembered as an all American hero in the game of soccer, something he can’t do unless he achieves it in a League with worldwide respect (MLS is improving and becoming a stronger league each season but has some way to go before it can compete against the top leagues in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and even the next level down , the French Ligue 1, Portugal’s LTP and the Dutch Eredvisie) and/or leading the USA to World Cup Glory – which it has to be said, at this stage is very unlikely.

Beckham is less of a certainty, although his skills (his dead ball delivery is still right up there with the best in the World), fitness levels (almost 33 but still runs like a 23 year old) and unselfish play (never one to shirk his defensive duties) are still impressive qualities and give him a kind of ‘niche’ value in the team. Fabio Capello is not Beckham’s biggest fanboy though, they had a mixed time as player and coach at Real Madrid where Capello frequently left Beckham on the bench and like Sir Alex Ferguson, Capello is not someone who buys into media hype and gets starstruck by famous big names. In some ways, this has made Beckham more determined to work even harder and I personally hope he is included in the World Cup Squad, although his role this time might be more of a ‘supersub’ than a captain’s role of assured starts.

So Beckham goes back to the Rossinieri of A.C. Milan and is very impressive in his debut, a 5-2 victory, with one assist and some good general play. He has impressed boss Leonardo with his work rate and attitude too.

Landon Donovan has played in the German Bundesliga on loan  with mixed results. Last season, after going to Bayern Munich on loan, he impressed in some winter break friendlies but had limited opportunities in the League and Cup to impress and most of his time at Bayer Leverkusen earlier in the decade was spent on loan in the MLS. Donovan and MLS completed a loan deal with Premier League side Everton for 10 weeks, and because Everton are really struggling with injuries, the Toffees actually gave the player a start in the 2-2 away draw at Arsenal today (Jan 10). Donovan provided an assist for the opening goal, his floated right wing corner met decisively by the diminuitive Leon Osman’s head to power in from 12 yards early on. Donovan worked hard and was tidy in possession and generally did well on his debut, playing behind Louis Saha up front and often drifting into the right hand channel and linking up well with Phil Neville. He was helped by the fact that Arsenal had one of their poorest home performances of the season, but credit goes where it’s due, Everton worked really hard to press the ball high up the park and stifle Arsenal’s fluid short passing game and in the end were unfortunate not to come away with the victory, Steven Pienaar’s exquisite 81st minute chip looked like it would be the winner but the Gunners showed a lot of resolve and after great work by Abou Diaby, he played an inch perfect slide rule pass to Rosicky who’s first time shot took a wicked deflection to wrongfoot Tim Howard and give Arsenal a share of the spoils, 2 minutes into injury time. The game was played at a frenetic pace in conditions which worsened with snow as the game progressed and Donovan did well to last 69 minutes before being substituted for James Vaughan.

All in all, a good week for the Galaxy loan stars and both will hoping they can feature in the next round of matches and build upon this.

Maybe old age is mellowing SAF. Many journalists, as well as SAF also talked up Leeds manager Simon Grayson for the undoubtedly superb job he has done so far. Of course a couple of weeks prior to this, Leeds were not this ‘super team’ considered a threat to the mighty champions Man United – they were struggling to beat non league part-timers Kettering Town, requiring a late equalizer to force a replay and extra time in the replay at home. This is more the typical Leeds side the fans have known – upset by fellow non-leaguers Histon in the F.A. Cup last year, and several other poor results against lower league opposition, such as losing to (then Div 3 strugglers, now non league) Mansfield in the League Cup. But suddenly everyone puts in this amazing performance and we cause the shock of the 3rd round, albeit against a somewhat less than full strength Manchester United,  who are going through a defensive crisis with 7 regular defenders on the treatment table. Wes Brown and Nemanja Vidic played but both were not  match fit and both were making their debut appearence after long injuries. Anyway, after this game, it was a done deal – Leeds will romp to promotion, will win the Johnstone Paint Trophy and win the F.A. Cup ….Simon Grayson had the foresight not to get carried away, a typically modest and low key Yorkshireman who supported Leeds as a youngster, played for the club as a junior and made the professional squad, only to be cast aside by Howard Wilkinson with only a handful of senior appearances to his name, Grayson showed the same quiet determination as a player as he is now as a manager by going on to carve out a successful playing career at Leicester City, Aston Villa and Blackburn before stepping down a couple of divisions to play for Blackpool, where his hard work and loyal service got him a job on the coaching  staff after retiring, and eventually he did a great job with Blackpool, getting them promotion to the Championship before been lured away by his boyhood heroes Leeds. Grayson’s message, which was lost in the hullaballoo was simple – The F.A. cup victory was a boost, and something for the supporters to enjoy, but for him and the players, it means nothing if they don’t achieve their main objective – promotion.

So Leeds playing at home against relegation threatened Wycombe Wanderers, who have a truly dismal away record this season, must be a forgone conclusion, right ?  The conquerors of  the mighty Champions Man U must surely just have to show up and play at 50% of their capability to win. Well, soccer isn’t that simple – Wycombe only narrowly lost 0-1 to second placed Norwich City the week before and gave a good account of themselves. Of course, many Leeds fans already knew that because we ARE Leeds United, we don’t do simple. We are legendarily inconsistent and have a history of bottling things, hence every play off final we ever played and the majority of cup finals (2 wins out of 6), and the 1987 F.A. cup semi final, where we threw it away with just a few minutes left. Even our promotion to the top flight in 1990, went from us romping the league several points clear at Easter to having to get a result in the final game of the season to be totally sure. So I was not surprised that Leeds put in a dreadful performance against Wycombe, and in spite of getting an early goal, instead of kicking on and getting at Wycombe’ s confidence looking for a second, the goal was the cue to relax and take our foot off the pedal. Wycombe took advantage of it and equalized mid way through the second half and looked the more likely team to win. Of course, Norwich took advantage of this lapse with a 3-1 home victory against Exeter to close the gap to six points. Leeds now face 11 matches in 42 days. This will have a major influence on our season. We have been stuttering a bit for form recently and been lucky to win some games where we could have drawn. Speculation continues about top scorer Jermaine Beckford, out of contract in the summer and demanding a transfer. Simon Grayson has been named as a contender for the Burnley job in the Premier League after Owen Coyle left for Bolton – let’s hope this is tabloid rumour. Leeds have a miserable record in the January – March period over most of the last 20 years.

So thanks to Wycombe for the reality check. Any of the Leeds team who thought they were big time Charlies after beating Man United (and bullish talk that we can repeat this against another excellent, in form Tottenham Hotspur away from home in Round 4) must wake up and smell the coffee. We must approach EVERY game, whether it’s in front of 75,000 at Old Trafford, or 4,000 at Stockport or Exeter etc, as if it were a CUP FINAL. A 3rd failure to promotion wil surely test the resolve of even the most hardened Leeds supporter and will surely lead to sales of players capable of getting us to bigger and better things to be replaced with loanees and journeymen. I don’t think Leeds can count on another season or two of 24,000 average attendances , less revenue = more sales and smaller chance of promotion. We MUST make it this year, otherwise that opportunity could be lost forever. Hopefully Wycombe’s performance will make us wake up and smell the coffee. NOBODY is too good to go up in January.

ARSENAL – Play a fantastic brand of youthful, quick passing football, had a great record against the big 4 last year, but let themselves down away from home against weaker teams who stifled them. Keeping captain Cesc Fabregas is key and the Gunners could be a good bet for a cup, but the young squad are not yet ready IMHO for a serious title challenge and they do not possess the wealth to buy the world class players who could make that difference.
Last Season : 4th
MSD Prediction : 4th
Player to watch : Andrei Arshavin

ASTON VILLA – Were brilliant for the first half of the season, then fell away alarmingly. Losing talisman defender Martin Laursen is a blow, and club captain Gareth Barry was a solid performer. One month left to go, Villa need to hang on to Ashley Young and John Carew and sign at least one central defender and possibly a couple of midfielders. Martin O’Neil is a great man manager though and tends to make good signings, he needs a couple this summer to keep Villa in the race for Europe.
Last Season : 6th
MSD Prediction : 7th
Player to watch : Ashley Young

BIRMINGHAM CITY – The Blues have been a yo-yo team and come back from the Championship where they finished 2nd last year. Boss Alex McLeish has made some signings, but so far nothing really eye catching, Lee Bowyer has bags of PL experience and Espinoza looks an intersting prospect but McLeish himself admits he needs a couple more signings. Goalscoring could be an issue, Kevin Phillips has an eye for goal but is past his best, Scot James McFadden will carry a lot of weight up front.
Last Season : Championship 2nd (promoted)
MSD predicts :  18th (relegated)
Player to watch : James McFadden

BLACKBURN ROVERS
Sam Allardyce steadied the ship, but his teams are noted for a workmanlike dtermination, rather than flair. Summer signings have been on the budget end, bringing in a couple of defenders (Givet who was on loan last season, plus Everton cast off Jacobsen) and a couple of young but little known midfielders in NZonzi (from French Ligue 2) and Van Heerden (FC Bruges). Tugay and Santz Cruz, 2 of Blackburn’s biggest stars are gone, and again, goalscoring is a concern, Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts are not prolific goalscorersl, Allardyce has a good record as a manager in the PL and his sides rarely face relegation battles, last season being a first in that he took over in December with the club at the foot of the table and rescued them.
Last season : 15th
MSD Prediction : 13th
Player to watch : Morten Gamst Pedersen – the supply line

BOLTON WANDERERS – Uncompromising, hard working, a team who believes in teamwork rather than stars. Bolton have been doing their thing for several years in the PL, although the last 2 seasons has seen them looking more fragile and having to scrap in the relegation dogfight. Kevin Davies is again the inspiration. Sean Davis is a good acquisition in midfield, but it looks likely that another hard year will be in the works for Bolton.
Last Season – 13th
MSD Predicts – 16th
Player To Watch : Johan Elmander – needs to get among the goals and share the load with Kevin Davies.

BURNLEY – Last season’s play-off winners from the Championship, had a great season and claimed a few PL scalps (albeit often with weakened teams in cup games) and played a nice brand of passing soccer. The small Lancashire team will face tough derby games with Blackburn and Bolton, the outcomes of which could decide their status at the end of the year as all 3 are expected to struggle. Some shrewd signings such as higly rated SPL forward Stephen Hughes, experienced Tyrone Mears and retaining captain Graham Alexander are positives, but this year, the pressure is on them and I don’t know if they have it in them to survive. Could be this season’s West Brom – nice to watch but without the experience and backbone to survive.

Last Season : 5th Championship (promoted as play-off winners)
MSD predicts : 19th
Player to watch : Martin Paterson – so impressive last year.

CHELSEA – Chelsea remain a strong team, with many top class players who should put in a good challenge again. A lot depends on 2 things – How new manager Carlo Ancelotti handles the pressure, and if Chelsea’s ageing squad can be successful, given they are expected to do well in the Champions League and the domestic cups as well as challenge for the title. Chelsea have been quiet in the transfer market so far, left back Khirkov being a useful addition, but a striker to supplement Anelka and Drogba is a priority. Can Frank Lampard keep producing 20 plus goals per season from midfield – I think he might have another season or two left in him to have those expectations
Last Season : 3rd
MSD Predicts : 2nd
Player to watch : Michael Essien – every year his influence grows

EVERTON – Last year was a success for Everton, who ended the season with a threadbare, injury ridden squad. Coming 5th and narrowly missing out on the FA cup to Chelsea was progress for the Toffees. Holding on to key players such as Lescott and Jagielka is key, and in an ideal world, signing another creative midfielder and a proven striker could take this club to the next level – the only drawback being, they have no money to do so. Bringing in right back Kyle Naughton from Sheff U seems like a good idea, as Tony Hibbert, while a good pro, is a bit suspect for pace. If Mikkel Arteta and Tim Cahill stay fit, should be another good year, and getting Jo in on loan adds some depth up front, as will getting Yakubu back.

Last season : 5th
MSD predicts: 6th
Player to watch : Tim Cahill – dynamic midfielder and decent stand in striker when needed.

FULHAM – Last season’s surprise package, Fulham had a good blend of work ethic and passing soccer, adeptly managed by veteran Roy Hodgson to a very commendable 7th place and European football for the first time – Hodgson did have the benefit of not suffering many injuries and the stability of his team helped the players. Qualifying for Europe was a nice cherry, although it is also a pressure as they don’t have the biggest squad and could be distracted from the league, away form was still an issue for the Cottagers and they don’t have much transfer clout, and there is a lot of interest in key players such as rock defender Brede Hangeland, they will need his services this year.

Last season : 7th
MSD predicts : 11th
Player to watch : Brede Hangeland – towering defender

HULL CITY – Hull burst on the Premiership like a bouncing bomb early doors last year, but ended up surviving only by the skin of their teeth. Phil Brown has desperately tried to add some quality signings but all of his efforts have been rebuffed so far. Without at least a couple of high quality players, especially a proven striker with an eye for goal, and more solidity at the back, you fear for them. Geovanni started so well, but was soon singled out and although Hull played some nice soccer at times, they didn’t carve out many chances for the strikers in the second half of the season. Daniel COusin and Manucho (on loan from Man U) struggled and relying on 36 year old Nick Barmby is obviously not a good long term strategy.

Last Season : 16th
MSD Predicts : 20th (relegated)
Player to watch : Kamil Zayatte, solid defender.

LIVERPOOL – Liverpool were so close to ending their almost 20 year title drought last season, and it has to be said that the off field issues are still problematic to the Reds, as is the lack of transfer funds. Liverpool rely heavily on a spine of Reina, Carragher, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres. When they have all of these players fit and well, they are capable of taking on and beating any team in the world. But take a couple of these out and you realize the depth is not as strong as Man U or Chelsea. IN the summer Liverpool have not yet signed anyone of note barring defender Glen Johnson (and given that Dossena and/or Arbaloa could leave is a semi-preventitive measure), while rich predators such as Real Madrid and Barcelona are seriously trying to take Alonso and Mascherano (the heart of the midfield) away and may yet succeed in doing so. Liverpool do not have the depth to challenge for the Champion’s League, cups and the Premier title and look less likely than last season right now of being champions but if Gerrard and Torres stay fit, they have a chance.

Last Season : 2nd
MSD predicts: 3rd
Player To Watch : Steven Gerrard, captain fantastic.

MANCHESTER CITY – Now backed by the richest soccer club owner in the world, and desperately trying to sign big name marquee players for huge money, Manchester City are discovering that money without pedigree is problematic – this season they need to raise their profile by doing much better than the previous season, and then they might attract some of the Eto’os and Kaka’s of this world. In the meantime Gareth Barry is a good signing, but City still need to capture another good striker (Tevez has been linked but will he go?) as Santa Cruz while doing well at Blackburn, has a poor injury record, as does Craig Bellamy and additionally the defence is an issue as captain Richard Dunne is a target for other clubs and the promising Micah Richards had a huge bust up with the manager at the end of the previous season and Robinho is a player who is very inconsistent, in spite of his record signing status. City still need 2 or 3 word class players if they hope to challenge for a Champions League spot and I believe that is beyond them this year. I don’t know if Mark Hughes will end the season as boss either, he is under a lot of pressure to deliver…

Last season : 10th
MCD predicts : 8th
Player to watch : Stephen Ireland – truly sensational last season and cost nothing !

MANCHESTER UNITED – Obviously, Ronaldo’s departure is the big news here. Ronaldo has scored 67 goals in all competitions in the past 2 seasons, with over 40 of those in the Premier League, and although Ronaldo has been used as a striker quite a bit, many of these goals came from midfield or set pieces. Fergie has bought well in Valencia from Wigan, although he is an out and out winger with a much less impressive scoring ratio. Michael Owen could be a wild card, and obviously retaining player of the year Vidic is a big plus. Although some of United’s senior players are now looking a bit long in the tooth, i.e. Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, and Owen Hargreaves is perennially injured, they still have a lot of depth and the youngsters such as Jonny Evans and Kieron Gibson and the Da Silva boys look impressive when filling in. This is a huge year for Dimitar Berbatov – with Tevez and ROnaldo gone, there will be much more pressure on the Hungarian to provide goals along with Wayne Rooney – both of them have the skills, but replacing Ronaldo’s goals is a big ask, while at the back, Edwin Van Der Sar will be 39 years old – Ben Foster and Thomas Kusczack will have to step up or expect a new challenge for the keeper’s jersey
Last Season : 1st
MSD Predicts: 1st (sorry to say !!)
Player to watch : Dimitar Berbatov, silky skilled strike assassin when on his game.

PORTSMOUTH – Turbulent times off the field proved a major distraction to Pompey last season and even this season, with a new owner, much uncertainty remains. The clean sweep broom has seen several players released such as Noe Pamarot and Glen Little, veteran defender SOl Campbell has yet to sign a deal and although no longer burdened by huge debts, the club’s new Arab owner does not appear to be throwing the big money around like his Manchester City counterparts, so far releasing players and selling Glen Johnson, Sean Davies and talk of Peter Crouch leaving is worrying for the Pompey faithful, unless quality replacements are being lined up. The manager situation is still to be resolved too. However, I can see them signing a couple of decent players and there are still weaker teams around – with resolution of off-field problems, they should be OK.

Last Season : 14th
MSD predicts: 12th
Player to watch : Niko Kranjcar

STOKE CITY : Tony Pulis’s men had a superb first season in the PL, confounding critics by easily surviving. Signing James Beattie and Matthew Etherington  in January provided a springboard,  Beattie and Ricardo Fuller forged a good partnership. Solid play from Liam Lawrence, Abdoulaye Faye and keeper Thomas Sorensen and the home fans were truly the 12th man with exceptional vocal support. This season will be tough for Stoke, and they need to retain their impressive home form, and try and pick up more on the road as the away record was quite grim. They could use maybe one more quality striker and a right sided midfielder to challenge Rory Delap, who is more useful for his long throws than creative play.

Last season : 12th
This season : 14th
Player to watch : Ricardo Fuller (still the showman).

SUNDERLAND – This club has fantastic support but was really badly let down last year. Roy Keane blundered in the transfer market and paid the price, and the likeable, hard working Scot Ricky Sbragia proved he was not ready to make the step up from assistant, and failed to attract quality players to the club. However, now the takeover has been finalized and experienced campaigner Steve Bruce has been appointed, I expect better this year. Sunderland desperately need a fit striker with an eye for goal alongside Kenwyne Jones, they need more drive and creativity in midfield, and a dominant centre back, Anton Ferdinand could fit the bill, but his signing in January’s transfer window did not bring the authority required – yet. Bruce has a habit of picking up good value signings and then making big profit on them and did well with Wigan, so long as he can make a couple of good signings, I expect more this season and for once,  Steve Bruce can spend a bit more to pick up the next level of player he couldn’t afford in the past.
Last season : 16th
MSD predicts: 10th
Player to watch : Kenwyne Jones

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR – After a terrible start  last season, wily old campaigner Harry Redknapp came in and replaced Juande Ramos and soon had Spurs back on track again, finally placing 8th in the League. Harry will wheeler deal and expect five or six ins and outs as expensive Ramos flops such as David Bentley and Roman Pavyluchenkov hit the door and new signings come in. If Tottenham make a good start, I can see them being top of the ‘rest’, i.e. coming in 5th. They have not yet got the depth of squad to challenge near neighbours and deadly rivals Arsenal for 4th but with players such as King, Woodgate, Modric, Keane, Lennon, Palacios etc and a much improved goalie in Gomes, they could pip Everton and Villa for 5th.

Last season : 8th
MSD predicts: 5th
Player to watch : Aaron Lennon

WEST HAM – West Ham continue to play nice soccer, continue to develop good young players, and will always have good support from their home fans. Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke have done a good job, on a small budget. West Ham, like Everton, have done well on few resources and will need to continue to find signings in the lower budget area who are actually better players than their fee suggests. I expect to see them in another mid table finish.

Last season : 9th
This season : 9th
Player to watch : Valeri Behrami, solid midfield performances.

WIGAN ATHLETIC – Steve Bruce did a great job keeping the Latics up, with several games to go, but they fell away in the final few matches badly, where new manager Roberto Martinez has the difficult task of organizing a new season while missing the 2 players who arguably did the most to keep Wigan in the PL, Wilson Palacios (sold to Spurs in the jan. window) and Antonio Valencia sold to Man Utd. Martinez will probably be handed a proportion of these transfers, so he must spend wisely on 2-3 players, and hope to hold on to other players such as Austrian internatioal Paul Scharner and former Middlesbrough youth Lee Cattermole, and Ben Watson signed for a song from Crystal Palace and already looking good in the PL.

Last season : 11th
MSD predicts : 15th
PLayer to watch : Manny Figueroa – raiding left back/winger

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS – Last season’s Championship winners by a narrow margin, well supported club Wolves have been busy adding to their squad with several signings, including Kevin Doyle from Reading (who scored 13 goals in his last PL campaign), Greg Halford from Sunderland, Ronald Zubar from Marseille etc. Wolves will need to do well at home. Sylvain Ebanks-Blake did well at Championship level, he will need to reproduce his goalscoring at Premier League level if Wolves are to survive. It will be tough, but I give them a chance to just edge it and get 4th bottom to narrowly retain their status.

Last Season : 1st (championship winners)
MSD predicts : 17th
Player to watch : Sylvain Ebanks-Blake

Recap

1) Manchester United          85

2) Chelsea          82

3) Liverpool          80

4) Arsenal          74

5) Tottenham          65

6) Everton          62

7) Aston Villa                 61

8) Manchester City      60

9) West Ham  Utd          54

10) Sunderland             51

11) Fulham                     49

12) Portsmouth            47

13) Blackburn               46

14) Stoke                        42

15)  Wigan                     41

16) Bolton                     40

17) Wolves                   37

18) Birmingham         35

19) Burnley                  33

20) Hull City               28

This was also helped by the introduction of intelligent, technically skilled players such as Dennis Bergkamp, Gianfranco Zola, Juninho, Eric Cantona and later the likes of Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and others whom had come into the British game at a time when it was known for passion and pace, but not especially known for technical skill. A decade and more of long ball, percentage type soccer, with a couple of good players to finish off the chances had become the normal way and proven fruitful to a point domestically, but England were always found wanting on the international stage, and failed at the 1992 Euro championships badly and in failing in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup under Graham Taylor, a major exponent of the direct, long ball type football (even though he did select players like Gascoigne and Waddle who were clearly not well suited to this ethos, workman like selections such as Geoof Thomas and Carlton Palmer in midfield was more representative of Taylor’s philosophy), English football reached it’s lowest ebb. In truth, much of this was down to more and more teams adopting the direct approach and youngsters being taught less technical skills and more about physical prowess and direct play. Taylor had been lauded for his achievements with Watford (a team he got promoted from Division 4 to coming 2nd in the top flight) using these methods, and he also had some success as manager at Aston Villa for a time with the same plan.

graham taylor – do I not like that !

In fact, Arsenal were long since regarded as being a defensive, efficient, direct team who played a lot of long ball up to players like the lanky Alan Smith who was good in the air but also held the ball up and brought more talented players like Paul Merson into the game and who had perfected the flat back four and offside rule to perfection. Near neighbours, Tottenham Hotspur used to frequently moan about Arsenal’s negative, defensive play, yet apart from an FA Cup win in 1991 (with a win over the aforementioned Arsenal in the semi-final which many neutral observers saw as a victory for nice passing football over aggressive defence), they did not come close to matching Arsenal’s success under George Graham, a man who’s plan was a lot closer to Graham Taylor than Arsene Wenger. The Arsenal fans even had their own ironic ‘Boring, Boring, Arsenal’ or ’1-0 to the Arsenal’ chants.

george graham celebrates with captain david o\’leary 1993

Wenger in fact, has bemoaned several times in recent years about more physical, direct teams playing negatively against his cultured, skilled players. Bolton Wanderers, a team operating on a shoestring, and relying much on physical presence and effort and commitment more than skill, had enjoyed many good results against his team. But more recently, Wenger has claimed that he has never seen such negativity in the EPL since he first came in 1996. That almost every team just packs the midfield and rarely ventures forward in the hope of protecting a 0-0 draw.

Aresen Wenger – \”they came for a draw ….\” Do you think though that Mr. Wenger is correct in his estimation that the EPL is becoming more and more defensive, and teams away from home are playing for a draw and packing the midfield and defence more than they were in the past ?? Sport journalist, and former Manchester United, Q.P.R (when in the top flight) and England full back Paul Parker seemed to agree with this as well, when interviewed on Setanta Sport’s Friday Night Football Show recently, he claimed “It’s a different game today. When I was playing, the league was more competitive and there was less of a gap between the top teams and the middle teams at least, and we would go away from home and try to take the 3 points. Nowadays, especially for teams in the bottom half of the table, there is a fear of remaining in the Premier League with all it’s riches and spoils, which leads to a lot of teams setting up a very defensive stall and hoping to nick something on the break. In my day, teams went to Old Trafford and had a go and although we won a lot more than we lost, we typically did lose 3 or 4 games at home and had a good battle on to get a draw in a few other games over the course of a season.” Are you in agreement, or is Paul Parker remembering looking back with rose tinted glasses ??

Sir Stanley Matthews home

One of David Beckham’s mansions *his British home*

Soccer was always historically regarded as the blue collar guy’s domain. Saturday afternoons standing on a ramshackle, crumbling terrace, with your sons and a pork pie at half time. Toilets that were little better than latrines. An escape from anything female or feminine, it was almost an extension of the working men’s clubs that existed the length and breadth of the country. The pre game pint at the pub, followed by a walk through the inner city streets to watch your heroes of the day, and what hereos ! Sir Stanley Matthews, Sir Tom Finney, Bobby Charlton, Booby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, Danny Blanchflower, Billy Bremner, George Best, Geoff Hurst etc. The game before sponsorship, Bosman transfers, executive suites and boxes, obscene riches of TV money and sanitized all seater stadia. Soccer used to have a MAXIMUM wage in the early 1960′s of 10 pounds per week. That was still a considerable amount, but certainly experienced plumbers, electricians and some factory bosses could earn as much and more. In other words, the BEST players of the era, still had the average joe lifestyle. Sir Stanley Matthews, one of the legendary players in British soccer history, lived in a modest terrace house and was delighted to have that home. Even growing up as a kid, in a time when the maximum wage was abolished, standing on the terraces at Elland Road, the parking lot at Leeds would have a Rolls Royce or Bentley or Mercedes lined up only in the chairman or directors parking spaces. The players parking spaces would be populated by second hand Ford Cortinas and Capris and Morris Marinas.

Morris Marina circa 1977

In those days, most players top flight career was done by the age of 30, with maybe 2-3 years in a lower division. By 35, it was exceptionally rare to still have a career in professional football. My heroes of the day often had to work again after soccer, and one quite popular pastime for retired soccer players (who had played at high levels and been among the top earners) was to go into the licensing trade and run a pub, like Peter Lorimer. Many of these players were still living in semi-detached houses in the suburbs, with their modest car, or increasingly, as the 70′s came to an end, a vehicle sponsored by a car dealership, usually with decals advertising ‘Jones Ford Motors’ etc quite prominently. Liverpool had been the first team ever to have a shirt sponsor, signing a deal in 1979 with Hitachi and this very rapidly changed the course of the game.

Liverpool’s David Johnson wearing Hitachi sponsored jersey, 1980

Until the early 1980′s, all club’s revenue was mostly gate receipts, plus a share of television rights, which were quite paltry. But following Liverpool’s commercial partnership with Hitachi, soon everyone else was seeking corporate sponsorship and those corporate logos on jerseys became the norm. Within 5 years or so, sponsorship money was already the club’s primary source of income. With this, and an effort to stamp out the hooliganism problems of the 70′s and early 80′s, clubs started to build more seating areas (easier to control crowds), set aside dedicated family areas (often a whole stand) and more and more corporate boxes for sponsors were being built in these new seated stands. The League itself got a sponsor ‘League Division One’ becoming retitled ‘Canon League Division One’, the League Cup was famously associated with national dairy farmers association and renamed the ‘Milk Cup’ (and subsequently Worthington, Coca-Cola and Carling cup etc). Suddenly the influx of commerce into football really changed the face of the game. The powers that be claimed that it was necessary to keep the standards of the game up and prevent players draining out into European leagues. Top profile players such as Kevin Keegan, Tony Woodcock and Dave Watson headed to Germany’s Bundesliga, Joe Jordan, Mark Hately, Ray Wilkins and Trevor Francis headed to Italy’s Serie A and Liverpool’s Michael Robinson to Spain’s La Liga, where wages were higher and corporate sponsorship was already in play.

Kevin Keegan playing for HSV Hamburg 1978

In 1979, the first one million pound transfers happened in the English football league. Trevor Francis went to champions Nottingham Forest and before too long others followed such as Steve Daley from Wolves to Man City for 1.4 million just weeks later.

John Barnes became the first player to given a playing contract of 10,000 a week and as these wage demands soared, so did the cost of admission at the stadiums. With the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and Lord Justice Taylor’s report, which categorically demanded all seater stadia, the clubs had to spend big to knock down shambling old terraces and build new stands or increasingly, move to a new stadium, often on the outskirts of the town or city and near to the highway. The new stadia looked magnificent, but in many cases lacked the heart and passion of the old, inner city stadium. This rebuilding work, plus the fact that seating had always historically been more expensive than standing, started to bring a whole new breed to soccer. What Roy Keane referred to, disaparagingly, as “the prawn sandwich brigade”. Suddenly, with all the hype of the new Premier League and the Sky Sports TV money and redevelopment of facilities, the game increasingly priced itself out of the blue collar guy’s budget and the new culture of families, seating and corporate sponsorship alienated the values of what soccer stood for. We now have players earning 3-4 million pounds a year with soccer and commercial advertising deals they signed with sports manufacturers, perfume makers or whomever. Many high profile modern players not only do NOT live in an end terraced house in one of the city’s less desirable areas, they often have multiple mansions, in different countries, holiday villas and an exclusive collection of rare vintage or modern muscle cars, such as Porsche, Lamborghini etc. Long gone are my first memories of paying 50 pence to stand on the Kop as a kid at Leeds, as a naive 7 year old in 1978, paying 20 pence for a programme, and having my on field heroes return to their suburban semi in their Ford Cortina. The games were often just as thrilling as modern day, even if the new soccer players play at a faster pace and are more conditioned as athletes (their one penance for earning their millions).

In some ways, I still love the FA cup because it gives you a chance to see some small, semi pro teams taking on more illustrious opponents, on a cabbage patch of a field, playing hard in mud (often having been hard at work the night before, or even the morning of the game) in a stadium that resembles a crumbling wreck with iron poles everywhere and a few areas resembling someone’s garden shed. The game is not what is once was, but the new riches don’t make it anymore noble a profession. OK, some soccer players such as Beckham, Cantona, Lucas Radebe and Thierry Henry have all championed causes for the less fortunate to ‘give back’ but it must be a darned site easier to organize this stuff when you’re a media star and a multi-millionaire !

Out with the new - Blackburn sack Paul Ince after 17 matches

In with the old - wily old fox Sam Allardyce is back in the game

Soccer management is a precarious and high risk form of employment at the best of times, but never more so than in these days of financial greed and crises.

Recently, some premier league clubs have decide to go for the fresher faced, younger emerging talent as managers. Good examples being Gareth Southgate at Middlesbrough, Tony Adams at Portsmouth and Paul Ince at Blackburn and Sunderland’s Roy Keane (he took charge of the club in the Championship but guided the team to the Premiership in his first year and kept them there in his second year). All ex international players, all successful ex-players, all qualified with UEFA Pro licences (Southgate was appointed on a UEFA ‘B’ license, but was given special dispensation to take the job on the condition he complete the coaching badges within an 18 month time frame, which he subsequently achieved). All players of high standing. It seemed that certain older school managers, such as Graeme Souness, Sam Allardyce, Joe Kinnear and even the venerable Harry Redknapp (in spite of his FA cup triumph with Portsmouth) were in danger of becoming an endangered species, while the bright young things forge ahead.

Suddenly, the wheels seem to have fallen off that train of thought. Spurs fire their ‘new progressive’ coach Juande Ramos, in favour of the good old British tried and trusted methods of Redknapp. So far, it is paying big dividends and Spurs are revitalized, although in all honesty, judgement should be reserved although Redknapp’s immediate goals are low brow stuff, basically keep the club in the Premiership and make the last 32 in Europe. The latter achieved, and now out of the immediate relegation zone, this is progressing nicely. On the other hand, the Premiership has lost two of it’s leading young managers in Roy Keane and Paul Ince.

The circumstances of both are quite different, but ultimately it boils down to two things – the desire for immediate results and the fear of the financial consequences of failing to retain Premiership status and being relegated. In the summer, Keane spent heavily on a crop of players, most with good Premiership pedigree, as opposed to plucking out promising Championship grade players, as he had done the previous year in the likes of Kenwyne Jones, Michael Chopra and Andy Reid. That team survived, but played a brand of dogged, determined football, where the beautiful game was scarcely seen. So players like Steed Malbranque (ex Fulham and Tottenham), Pascal Chimbonda (Wigan and Tottenham), Salif Diao (Bolton), and ex Liverpool and Marseille player Djibril Cisse all seemed like a step up. The problem for Keane was that a new majority investor had taken his seat in the Director’s Box, and unlike the passive and likeable Niall Quinn, wasn’t afraid to voice his discontent with the under performing team. While not directly critical of Keane, criticising Keane’s signings is paramount to the same thing and this was certainly expressed. It was not a surprise to many that Keane (a fighter on the field, but someone with a bit of a Keegan-esque mentality to run from problems off the field) resigned. Paul Ince arrived to replace another ‘bright young thing’ in Mark Hughes, who departed for the brighter light and bigger bankroll of Manchester City. Having cut his teeth with Macclesfield in the 4th tier of British soccer, he then did well at MK Dons and gained promotion to League 1 (the 3rd tier) with that team, to halt their downward spiral. This won him several admirers, and initially the Blackburn fans showed him some goodwill as results were not good off the bat, hopeful that he was the man to turn things around. However, a dismal run of results saw him become the latest managerial casualty barely 6 months after being appointed. Blackburn are long since past the days of being bankrolled by Jack Walker’s millions, which bought them a league title in 1994. Blackburn are owned by a trust, set up by the Walker family following the death of major benficiary Jack Walker in 1998. The trust is in the process of selling the club and Chairman John Williams said he was ‘sad’ that things hadn’t worked out with Ince, but that he had to act immediately in the best interests of the club. Like so many clubs in the Premiership, Blackburn could face a catastrophe if they were to be relegated. They have several high wage earners at the club in Santa Cruz, Pederson,  Nelsen, Paul Robinson and the like, who are (unsurprisingly) among the club’s best players. They would almost certainly have to dispense of most of that group if relegated. Certainly, Roque Santa Cruz has already attracted the interest of several other clubs. So, in an act that some call inspired and others call utter desperate, they turn to the wily old fox of Sam Allardyce. Allardyce had earned his managerial wings with local rivals Bolton, where he had 8 successful seasons, keeping a team with one of the lowest playing budgets and squads in the Premier League and even going on a run in the UEFA cup. Given Blackburn’s economic situation, Allardyce won’t have too much to spend in the January transfer window, but the club have vowed to not sell their prize assets and allow a couple of signings. Allardyce could also consider selling Santa Cruz for upwards of 20 million pounds and use that to strengthen his squad, although it is likely ‘Big Sam’ won’t want to go that route unless absolutely necessary, because the club are desperately short of firepower, and Santa Cruz scored more than 20 goals last season in an ordinary Blackburn side. Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts are good team strikers who work hard, and provide assists and link up play, but neither, especially Roberts who is the typical strong in the air, hold the ball up British type Emile Heskey centre forward, are natural goalscorers in the vein of Santa Cruz, who is a penalty box striker, more in the mould of Alan Shearer. So out with new and in with the old …. Nobody would have ever considered that former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear could ever take over at a club like Newcastle and improve things, but in he goes and suddenly there is an air of belief about the place. Kinnear’s career seemed deader than a dodo, after his unsuccessful and controversial stint at Nottingham Forest, which saw him still banned from the touchline for his first 3 games in charge of Newcastle, whereupon he immediately launched a foul mouthed tirade at the media, including using 52 curse words in his debut interview. Obviously, his passion and pride seems to have rubbed off a bit on the players, and even the fans, (although not wishing to keep him or the current board and owner long term). They respect a man who was willing to fight for them in spite of the club being in limbo, Keegan’s departure, the owner Mike Ashley going from been a beer swilling honourary Geordie in with the fans in his Newcastle jersey to being the invisible man, plagued by death threats and rock bottom of the league. Newcastle are currently out of the relegation zone, but who knows how long it will continue. Ashley was not willing to take a chance on some fresh raw talent, he picked an experienced manager who is from the old school and not afraid to throw plates and curse at the players in the dressing room, but who stands by them loyally in the media and accepts all responsibility. Most people thought Kinnear wouldn’t last 5 games and he is about to lead Newcastle into his 13th game,  with only 3 defeats.

To add to this, Mark Hughes is under pressure at Manchester City, having signed Robinho and several other expensive players, their best player so far this season has been Stephen Ireland who cost nothing, coming through the junior ranks. City currently languish only 3 points above the relegation zone, in spite of all the money they have and are likely to spend in January. Will Mark Hughes be the one spending it is the pertinent question. Tony Adams has had a mixed bunch of results, a poor start but recently improved results, however Adams last management job (before becoming Harry Redknapp’s number 2) ended in failure at lowly Wycombe Wanderers and Portsmouth owner Sacha Gaymadek also has the club up for sale. New owners may not be as positive about Adams and Portsmouth have a lot to live up to, having finished 8th and winning the FA Cup under Harry Redknapp’s stewardship last season. Gareth SOuthgate is a confident and well spoken manager, who is liked by his chairman and fans at Middlesbrough, who don’t have too much ambition in terms of qualifying for Europe or winning trophies, and Southgate has encouraged a lot of good young players to do well in the first team and play them, having come through the ranks, such as Stuart Downing, David Wheater and Ross Turnbull.  However, Middlesbrough always have a flirtation with relegation sometime during the season and are a team that is capable of going 7 or 8 games unbeaten but also capable of losing 7 or 8 on the spin. Southgate is not totally cemented in that position, in spite of good backing from chairman Steve Gibson and the general backing of the fans.

Harry Redknapp muses his tactics

Veteran manager Harry Redknapp has faced a few challenges in his life. Maybe going to take over the hot potatoe which is managing Tottenham Hotspur could be his biggest yet. Other challenges ‘arry has had to face include overcoming a serious car accident which almost killed him and did kill four people associated with Bournemouth (he was manager at the time), including the managing director. in 2006, He was accused of taking bungs and tapping up players and arrested at his home, on a BBC investigation special (along with several other top names) and police raided his house in 2007 over these allegations, although they have not pressed charges and Redknapp is considering legal action against the police who are alleged to have conducted an illegal search. ‘arry considers this a factor in not being interviewed for the vacant England manager’s job, which went to Fabio Capello. And leading Southampton out of the Premiership and resigning while they were struggling in the Championship, only to quickly rejoin arch rivals Portsmouth.

Now I like ‘arry. He stands up for his players (as shown in his words and actions over abuse his portsmouth player Sol Campbell took including racist comments from sections of the Spurs away fans). He likes to buy British and does things the old fashioned way. He seems quite modest about most of his achievements.

However – ‘arry is not some innocent naive guy. And while he might be generally honest, the guy has shown he can be a bit tricky in one or two situations. The latest being his insistence that Portsmouth are really benefitting from his resignation and appointment at Spurs because ‘About 5 million pounds or so for a gaffer is unbelievable and the club really need the cash’. Well, first of all, there might well be an element of truth in this, but to me it’s more Harry trickery. The guy WANTED the move to Spurs. He clearly believed he had taken Portsmouth as far as he could and given that Alexander Gaymadek’s spending power seems to have dried up, fancied his chances at Spurs, a club who spent 137 million pounds in the summer. Also, with the club being in such a desperate position, if he gets them out of trouble, (which he ought to be able to do given his experience and the quality of many of the players already at the club) then he’s an instant hero. If he fails, then he blames it on newly sacked Juande Ramos, Damien Comolli and the board.

‘arry showed some loyalty to Portsmouth by not walking out on them earlier in the year, although it must be said that he did talk to the Newcastle board before deciding he was better off out of that cauldron of problems. But ‘arry has a bit of a rep for walking out on clubs. He left West Ham (by mutual consent, or sacked depending on what you believe, but he had lost the enthusiasm for the job too), he walked out on Portsmouth once before after clashing with the chairman, moved to arch rivals Southampton, where he failed to save them from relegation and walked again back into the arms of Portsmouth with comments like ‘this is my heart always was’ and ‘this will probably be my last club’ (how these comments must sound hollow to Pompey fans now after walking out on them a second time).

So ‘arry. Nice spin on your departure, deflecting it onto Portsmouth making their ‘unbelievable money’ for his loss. However, I don’t blame Peter Storrie defending the club and saying that they didn’t want ‘arry to leave and that money was not a motivation at all. The bottom line is, Redknapp wanted to move back to London to manage a club with massive resources and potential and if he can turn them around have a better long term chance at success and honours. This happens in sports all the time, it just seems to happen to ‘arry quite a bit more than he likes to portray