The Great Escapists: Part Two

Could the Midlands be deprived of a Premiership club by season's end, and is Garry Monk the right man to fix a fractured Swansea City?

Swansea City

 

The background

Garry Monk heads into the new campaign with a fresh mandate following the alarming slide in form under Michael Laudrup, which saw the club flirting with relegation whilst providing a backdrop for some decidedly soap-opera goings-on. Farces such as punch-ups between players is unlikely to be tolerated by a player who's captained the side at every level but is arguably yet to find his feet at the highest level.

 

Why are they candidates?

Nothing beats experience when it comes to high-pressure jobs, and a promotion from within is usually a tacit admission of interested candidates lacking quality. Monk has some admirable qualities but some of the numbers aren't pretty; Swansea lost by one goal more times than any other side last season (12) and they went without a win in nine, only arrested with three wins from the final four games. Quality players in Vorm and Davies have left for Spurs and Michu has pitched up at Champions League chasers Napoli.



Why will they stay up?

Monk has talked about re-integrating his players into the club's much-admired conduct on and off the pitch and reasserting what he no doubt sees as the greater cause. You'd expect no less from a man who made more starts for Swansea than the rest of his six clubs put together, and Tony Pulis has shown how far attitude can determine capability on a football pitch.

 

More tangible solace comes in the form of Bafetimbi Gomis, who has finally entered the Premier League after dozens of column inches in transfer gossip, signed on a free from Lyon. Monk is keen on a more directive style of play and Gomis and Bony should provide that in buckets. 

 

Who will they rely on?

The aforementioned Ivorian will be essential to Swansea carrying on as a Premier League club, and the return of Sigurdsson and Ki will add dynamism a side that occasionally thought a little too laterally last season.

 

Potential abounds in Shelvey and Fabianski, both arrived from clubs where pressure is the day job  An England side in transition may particularly benefit from the range of distribution Shelvey can offer. But the

 

Aston Villa

 

The background

It feels ridiculous to be writing about Aston Villa - average home attendance last season 36,080 - as relegation candidates, but there is nothing ceremonial about top-tier football when it comes to the drop, as Leeds, Newcastle and Man City will all attest.

 

The club appears riddled with a few ailments that did for that trio - a lack of spending after the gold rush saw nothing but Thursday nights in Russia and a 7-0 battering from Chelsea, a depleted playing squad, and a manager who has lost the faith of his followers following another deeply underwhelming season and the now-obligatory cup humiliation. It doesn't look good for Paul Lambert.

 

Why are they candidates?

The statistics are enough to make Lambert managerial casualty number one in very short order. Under his stewardship Villa have conceded 130 goals in two years. No player scored more than ten league goals last season - and that was Christian Benteke, who didn't play after April. And forget David Moyes and crossing - under Lambert Villa played 1292 long balls last season, by far and away the most in the league.

 

And that's before looking at whether the squad's equipped for another fight. Thanks mainly to Lerner's wish to sell up and move on, the squad has all the depth of a child's paddling pool. Alan Hutton and Darren Bent have been reintroduced to the squad after being marginalised by Lambert. And Kieran Richardson, Philippe Senderos, Joe Cole and Aly Cissokho appear to the equivalent of the sticky, unwrapped sweets that stick to the hand after rummaging around an empty tin.

 

Why will they stay up?

Why indeed? But if they do stay up, it's likely to have something to do with the spine of his team. In Guzan, Vlaar, Delph and Benteke Villa have a strong spine to the team, and in Vlaar one of the players of the World Cup (albeit in a 5-3-2 formation). There is creativity in the form of Andreas Weimann, and the return of Libor Kozak will be like a new signing after his disastrous introduction last year.

 

Villa also possess one of the better records against the top four. In eight games last year Villa collected 10 out of a possible 24 points - absolutely crucial considering they averaged less than a point per match in their other thirty.

 

Villa fans will hope to see more goals from Christian Benteke

Who will they rely on?

Vlaar and Benteke have undoubtedly been Lambert's stellar signings and on them Villa's best hopes hang. The Belgian is one of the stronger finishers in the league with 29 goals from 56 appearances for Villa, and if Lambert can find a way of utilising Vlaar in the sweeper capacity Van Gaal did during the World Cup, they stand a chance of significantly improving their position, especially with the consistently excellent Guzan in goal.

 

West Brom

 

The background

Whilst it's debatable anyone from outside the West Midlands knows what links the phrase 'boing boing' with the Baggies, it's not their recent league status. But West Brom begin their sixth consecutive Premier League season as candidates for the drop following a quiet summer. The focus on Alan Irvine's appointment feels premonitory and West Brom cannot afford to get another appointment wrong following a ropy campaign under Pepe Mel.

 

Why are they candidates?

Whilst the club have invested significant sums in players and management last season, few of their decisions worked out. Anichebe and Sessegnon both represented gambles and the dismissal of Pepe Mel after the dismissal of Steve Clarke earlier in the season did nothing for the team's confidence.

The statistics were similarly undistinguished. The side shared the lowest number of games won - 7 - with relegated Cardiff last year, and conceded nearly 60% of all their goals in the first half. They also lost 5 points from goals scored after the 90th minute. - a trifling sum over the course of the season perhaps, but with those extra 5 pints they would have finished 13th.

Why will they stay up?

For West Brom, the case for the defence is a rather more literal term. It's no exaggeration to say their three most impotant players this years will all be expressed charged with stopping the opposition scoring. Ben Foster signing a new deal for the season is a huge fillip for the club, having averaged a saves-to-shots ratio of 65%.

Claudio Yacob was one of the league's best tacklers last year

The signing of Joleon Lescott is a coup for sporting director Richard Garlick, under pressure from fans after some underwhelming signings in January, and in Claudio Yacob the team retain an intelligent footballer who was ranked one of the division's best defensive midfielders by Opta last season, averaging an amazing 82.35% of tackles won (from 22 games admittedly) and completing 87% of his passes. West Brom must hang on to him and keep him fit after various injuries last year.

Who will they rely on?

Richard Garlick's probably the only man in the Midlands, if not England, who felt that Victor Anichebe was worth £6million, but that sort of outlay demands a return and Anichebe will really need to deliver better than the sort of form he managed at Everton, where he scored 18 goals in 131 matches over eight years. On previous form however, it's likely the side will see better results from Saido Berahino who, having made more starts from the bench than any other player last year, had a debut campaign to remember.

Otherwise all are likely to be on how the aforementioned trio of Foster, Yacob and Lescott get on. Although the centre half made a couple of errors that are best described as easily avoided last season at Manchester City, there's no doubting his capability against the sides West Brom simply must get points off to stay up - particularly those fighting relegation prospects.

Pics thanks to the BBC, Mirror.co.uk and Wales Online

The Great Escapists: Part One

QPR, Burnley, Leicester and Palace will all be candidates for relegation, but which side is most likely to beat the drop?

 

Relegated football teams share a small space with those teams that win the championship, or perhaps reach Europe or a cup final for the first time in their history.

 

For all clubs, it's the start of something big. But when you finish in the bottom three or four, you don't usually see that in the write-up. Probably with good reason.

The number of clubs that the Premier League chews up and spits out, mangled often beyond repair, grows and grows. Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford City, Coventry City, Southampton, Bolton Wanderers and QPR have all reported serious cashflow problems since their relegations.

Steve Bruce famously claimed that 'in the Premiership you've got 12 clubs shit-scared of relegation' when in charge of Birmingham City. There's no reason to think that's not still the case. So who should be most concerned about going down?

 

Queens Park Rangers

The background

The bloated squads and tales of farce from seasons yore recede into a serene sunset. QPR appear to have got the happy ending they aimed for when appointing Harry Redknapp in 2012, having reached the promised land, jettisoned 14 players from their ranks, and signed a clutch of experienced Premiership players.

Why are they candidates?

Loic Remy's goals could be crucial to QPR's survival

By their nature, promoted clubs tend to struggle, and QPR will be no different to begin with. Although the ship's steered by old hands in Redknapp and new first mate Glenn Hoddle, they need to plug gaps to avoid sinking fast. Clint Hill has previously struggled at this level, and Rio Ferdinand's underwhelming performances under David Moyes probably weren't motivation-based. And a strikeforce relying on Loic Remy, who has already tried to leave, doesn't bode well.

Why will they stay up?

The presence of Harry Redknapp and his mythical contacts book often turns the most prudent of spenders into fantasy football fans, but in Tony Fernandes he's found an owner who can probably earn it quicker than he can spend it, even if the Malaysian businessman did lose $250m at F1.

Juventus loanee Mauricio Isla is potentially one of the signings of the season and if QPR do play the rumoured 3-5-2 (that Hoddle knows well) they have a tailor made one in the Chilean. Defensively they look fairly solid as long as both Caulker or Onuoha aren't injured at once.

Who will they rely on?

Loic Remy's form up front alongside Charlie Austin, who got 18 goals last term, will be crucial. Jordan Mutch looks a shrewd signing from Cardiff, but the form of Rob Green in goal, Ferdinand and Caulker will be essential to QPR's survival. Expect goals at both ends.
 

Burnley

 

The background

Burnley are most peoples' favourites to go down and their board seem to have clocked on - their scheme of raising season tickets by 50% whilst the going's good smacks of cynicism, but depressingly will probably be construed as good financial sense in May.

 

Why are they candidates?

Fans are philosophical about their chances of staying up, but they arguably have a stronger side this time out. Still, a lack of investment in proven experience is a gamble on Sean Dyche's behalf. The side will need to improve on their lack of possession in the Championship - 48% - to keep the ball away from more dangerous opposition, and an injury to Vokes means Burnley will need to find his goals from somewhere else - which could be a tough ask.

Why will they stay up?

Danny Ings scored 21 goals for Burnley last season

Despite best laid plans by managers, there'll still be an element of surprise to Burnley's squad. They have goals in the team - they won nearly a quarter of all their games by two or more last year thanks mainly to a lethal combination of Danny Ings (right) and Sam Vokes, who got nearly 60% of them.

Their full backs will also help to create plenty, if last season's anything to go by. Ex Manchester City trainee Kieran Trippier got 14 assists last year from right back, and coach Sean Dyche has said that Burnley will look to use their full backs' pace to create chances.

Who will they rely on?

The full backs will be useful to Burnley's survival - Trippier and whichever of signing Matt Taylor and Ben Mee at left back to kick on in possession. England U-21 Michael Kightly's relegation scrap experience with Wolves could prove very valuable to the side, but the focus will undoubtedly be on the strikers.

 

Leicester City

 

The background

Four years after buying the club, a coaching merry-go-round, the return of Nigel Pearson and a slew of new players, Thai businessman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha saw Leicester re-enter the Premier League with 102 points - a record for the club who have won the division a joint-record seven times. Recruitment's been prudent and a large portion of the 2013-14 squad remain in place for the new campaign.

Danny Drinkwater will need to keep scoring from midfield

Why are they candidates?

Leicester also haven't made many moves in the market, and their signing of Brighton's Leonardo Ulloa is pretty leftfield. Matthew Upson is probably past his best at this level, and a lot will depend on players like Schmeichel and Danny Drinkwater (right) at the spine of the team.

A lack of proven quality in the final third may be their undoing, with ex-Everton striker David Nugent their highest scorer last term with 20.

Why will they stay up?

Leicester's main threat is likely to be their relative youth in midfield - an average age of 23 means they're likely to push tiring sides hard, which had a very positive effect  on the numbers of goals scored in the second half of last season. New signing Marc Albrighton's also gives them an extra dimension from set pieces - an area they struggled with last term at both ends of the field.

Leicester do at least possess the resources to spend big if necessary as Ulloa's signing showed, which could be crucial to survival chances in January if they're floundering.

Who will they rely on?
Like Burnley, Leicester have gone with what they know. A vote of confidence must be taken as such by the Leicester midfield. Matty James, whose 'incisive' break-up play earned him four yellows and a red last year, needs to keep doing the dirty work for Lloyd Dyer and Drinkwater, who contributed 14 league goals between them last year and will need to do so again this year. But Ulloa is undoubtedly the marquee signing, and performances will quickly need to reflect that status to secure safety.
 

Crystal Palace

The background

Following Tony Pulis's shock resignation from Crystal Palace on Thursday it's fair, but sad, to say they ought to be considered. Pulis's sheer knack for organisation got a huge amount out of a ragged side cut adrift last season, and his replacement will have a tough job to emulate his man-management skills there.

Mile Jedinak has signed a new contract after an excellent season with Palace

Why are they candidates?

Precisely because of the things Pulis walked over. Palace have lacked big name signings to kick on, missing out on Sigurdsson and Caulker thanks to wage demands. Asking Mile Jedinak (left) to match last year's miraculous feat of not missing a game is surely too tall a hurdle, even for the Australian.

Why will they stay up?

Jason Puncheon and Yannick Bolasie offer what every counterattacking side needs - pace, direction and a talent for the unpredictable. Captain Jedinak's tackle and interception rate were amongst the best in the league last year. In goal, Wayne Hennessey offers strong competition to Speroni, and Brede Hangeland is ideal material for teams involved in tight matches. Signed on a free, he could be crucial.

Who will they rely on?

Puncheon and Bolasie will need to continue to make Palace's possession stats - average 37% last season - work for them. Dwight Gayle was a decisive sub towards the end of last season with seven goals, and with Palace averaging nearly 40% of all goals scores in the last ten minutes, his presence will be useful. 

But it's likely to be players like Jedinak, Dann and Hangeland who keep Palace in the game. They average 1.21 goals conceded per match last season - one of the best records in the division.

Next: West Brom, Aston Villa and Swansea City

Pics thanks to Reddit, Football365, The Daily Mirror and The Times
 

Premier League 2014-15 Season Preview: Part 1

It's back. And nobody was watching that golf nonsense anyway.

At last. Welcome back, football. Like dust,  football just never goes away. It always looks like the same stuff, but it's always a bit different. And with that in mind, it seems a nice moment to think about what's going to happen this season. First up:
 

Who will win the league?

 

Mourinho's horse metaphor was an apt assessment of last season. Though his 'little horse' comment was mischievous, the smokescreen it established meant a new perspective on Chelsea's less glamorous results - precisely what the Portuguese wanted.

To borrow the metaphor, thoroughbreds always win championships, and in Manchester City there was only one of those last season. Now there are two. Mourinho's raid on his Champions League nemeses, Atletico, has added the requisite grit at the back and bombast up front. Fabregas returns to London from Catalonia a changed man, able to play a forward's role as well as his more familiar central midfield position, and his role in Mourinho's attacking midfield - where he is known to favour pace and physique above agility (if he can't have both) - will intrigue.

 

Costa and Terry argue. That's one problem sorted then.

Inevitably for a Mourinho team, it's likely to come down to the GA column in the table.  Chelsea's united front of Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill and Azpilicueta now has Filipe Luis in it and Thibault Courtois behind it. With Kalas and Zouma in the wings, you get the feeling only an assault of the elemental kind would dissuade resolve. Aspiring Premier League chairmen should see what Roland Emmerich or perhaps Alejandro Jodorowsky have up their sleeves.

In what may be a blessing in disguise for Chelsea and their po-faced arsonist/ coach, Louis Van Gaal's arrival undoubtedly means United are once again the club to watch this season. A relatively comfortable start could see them challenging the early leaders before Liverpool come to town on December 13th to resume hostilities.

 

It's hard to assess which of these clubs will be the superior by that point, with both in need of some rebuilding to some extent. Of the two, Brendan Rodgers' need to replace the explosive results of Luis Suarez appear the more challenging, on the face of it.

Van Gaal, maybe thinking deep thoughts. Maybe not.

 

But Van Gaal (right) and United should start behind their neighbours in more than the alphabetical sense. Rodgers' rebuilding project has taken in a few dead ends, with some deals - Iago Aspas stands out - more bemusing than bewitching, but he's two years ahead of United, where a paradox of having more net income than every other club in the league, but a lack of quality options to choose from, is proving a tricky hurdle. 

 

Herrera has finally arrived and provides ballast for Carrick, but their proposed 5-3-2 shape demands at least one additional centre half, as well as a potential upgrade at right wing back based on current options. Encouragingly Robin van Persie doesn't appear to be an international that suffers tournament hangovers - in his last two major tournaments he has scored more goals than the previous season. Question marks over a considerable portion of a squad Ferguson won a 20th title with are still a big reason for more modest aims this year.

 

United's goals are clear and distinct; rebuild, aim for Europe, maybe a trophy. For Liverpool, their success may blur priorities. They arguably blew their best ever chance to claim the Premier League and Europe may offer irresistible opportunities to a side that were deadly in individual matches last season, despite conceding 50 goals.

 

Dejan Lovren, presumably just out of the gym in that vest

Anfield may be in redevelopment in more than the bricks and mortar sense, but Rodgers' newest recruits from the south coast, and their title-chasing colleagues, will receive spinetingling confirmation of their manager's relentless dedication to putting Liverpool back on their f'ing perch come midweek, midseason.

Even the less boisterous Liverpool fan riles at the suggestion Europe does not miss their contribution. And they make a good point, and should the squad still be visiting John Lennon airport in March next year, expect their league title to falter - and the temperature to rise a bit on Merseyside.

 

Whilst Arsenal have markedly upped their spending this summer, there remains little supplementary firepower for Giroud, although Alexis will undoubtedly add menace to an already scintillating forward line.

 

Arsenal seem committed to a certain kind of football, stockpiling aesthetic brilliance as if a football Cold War were about to descend, and their need for a holding midfielder to support Flamini, and a replacement for Vermaelen remain issues.

We've won something! Can everyone stop going on now?

 

They have kept pace with those directly around them, but they need to start throwing a few elbows at their rivals mid-race if they want to be out in front near the finish. Key games at the usual haunts  - Liverpool, Chelsea and the Manchester clubs - await. For a team that thrives on confidence, their need for positive outcomes is crucial to success.

And so to last season's champions and this year's other big favourites. Three titles in four years, and consecutive championships, would put City in the company of just Chelsea and their illustrious Stretford neighbours. Statements made, markers laid, etc etc.

 

And if everything goes to plan, this season should be a straight fight between Chelsea and City for the title. That plans are being made and adhered to is still a source of miraculous joy for most City fans, but there you go.

 

Van Persie and Mangala will play as derby rivals this season

Mangala and Sagna's arrival removed City's weaknesses in defence at a stroke and Fernando's arrival asks an awkward question of Javi Garcia and potentially the unfortunate James Milner. Joe Hart meanwhile faces the unenviable task of improving on his outstanding form in 2014 with the arrival of Willy Caballero, sub in nothing but name having played seven more matches than the England international for Malaga last season.

 

FFP has meant City's movements have been prudent this summer, and there's little doubt Mangala will close the door after him following his signing. Yet Sunday's loss to Arsenal demonstrated the disjointed movements of a spineless team, and it will again fall to Kompany, Toure, Silva and Aguero to provide the nitrous power that rocketed City to 102 goals and the top position in May.

As has been said elsewhere, when Mourinho has to win - at Chelsea the first time, and at Real in his second season - he does. And there's plenty to suggest City will work very hard to improve on last season's second round exit from Europe, with a deeper squad to play deep into two draining competitions.

 

So bearing in mind all of the above, and taking into account personal bias, here's my top four for May 2015:

1st: Man City

2nd: Chelsea

3rd: Man United

4th: Arsenal (sorry, Arsenal fans)

 

Next: Who's going down? Who's the worst signing? Who's the best? Plus: why tracksuits should be banned from touchlines, new rules for referees and the relationship between bad managers and 'banter' finally investigated.

 

Pics thanks to the BBC, the Mail, Bleacher Report, CNN and Zimbio

Daniel In The Lion's Den

Pochettino will suffer if Spurs fail again, but Levy's decisions over managers and transfer policy should now be given the same scrutiny

The Napoleonic travails of Daniel Levy go on. Ensconced in the Spurs chairman's seat in 2001, he was just nine years older than the great French general when he overthrew the French government aged thirty.

In the twenty years following, Bonaparte galloped across Europe, Asia and parts of North Africa, with aims of conquering large parts of civilisation, only to come unstuck just over the border in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now postal code 1410, with the sign for the crossroads present at the time of battle still planted firmly in the middle of town.

Levy's perplexing criss-crossing all over the Premier League, Europe and further afield in search of domination - or a regular Champions League spot - has long been a point of debate for football fans, journalists and perhaps the growing list of managers he has sacked. It's prompted journalists to ask what Levy wants to see from Spurs and how he intends to achieve it.

Bids this week for Southampton's Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin, both rebuffed by the club's chairman, have also highlighted the carousel-like nature of Spurs' squad in the summer months. This year is no different to any of Spur's previous four.

In 2010 they signed eight first team players. Seven went back out on loan to other, mainly Football League clubs. In 2011 they signed six and let four go. In 2012 Spurs bought eight players and released or sold nine, and last season Spurs bought and sold or released seven players.

Their league position throughout the same dates has ranged from fourth to sixth. There is a spread of just ten points between their best and worst season performances in that time - 62 being the worst and 72 being the best. Even their goals scored and against are remarkably similar, with 55, 66, 66 and 55 for from 2010-2014 and 46, 41, 46, 51 against for the same period. A spread of 11 for and ten against respectively.

Contrast those spreads with Arsenal, their longstanding nefarious rivals, and the picture becomes clearer. Arsenal have improved each season in points gained, with 68, 70, 73 and 79 in consecutive seasons. That isn't the case with Spurs. Their goals for spread is just four, and their lowest goals scored is two more than Spurs' highest at 68.

Their goals against spread is 11 - the same as Spurs - but the 2013-14 season is a case in point: for 31 matches, Arsenal allowed 14 goals. That's less than 0.5 of a goal per game. Spurs by comparison offered 1.34 over the same period.

The lesson from the numbers seems fairly stark - Spurs have hit a plateau in chasing the last Champions League spot. Levy seems to have his French counterpart's quote about lucky generals on the brain - this summer Levy went with the almost unproven Mauricio Pochettino after a fairly decent season over at Southampton to make it four managers in four years. It's probably fair to say that decision owes partly to the wave of talented English youngsters at Pochettino's disposal upon his arrival from Espanyol.

Those Belgian crossroads might be symbolic of Spurs and more particularly Levy. This appears a very definite moment when Levy has, to use the parlance of the businessman, 'gone with his gut' with Pochettino. Because there's no other reason, other than a middling marketplace for management, to have gone with the Argentine over anyone else.

It seems unlikely that, even with a squad full of decent players, Spurs will be favourites for a Champions League spot, as they now have Van Gaal's United, the revitalised Liverpool and a strengthened Arsenal to deal with. But what will Levy's reaction be if they don't reach the Champions League? And what of Levy's apparently ever-changing whims on choice of manager and playing squad?

The emperor that launched increasingly improbable campaigns to reassert his goals and philosophy was eventually cast adrift in the Atlantic, a victim of an ego-driven misadventure. A recognisable fate hangs heavily over Pochettino, but the watching eyes from the terraces should look a little higher.

Picture thanks to the Guardian

Loose Fixtures

Clubs that choose their own fixtures could improve player fitness, reduce injuries and make the Premier League more entertaining

Somewhere, in an office in a quiet suburban backwater, a printer smoothly deposits a sheaf of A4, around a quarter of an inch in depth, into the hand of a man wearing a slightly creased shirt. He has his top button undone.

The man sits back in his chair for a moment, fishing for his cigarettes in his breast pocket with forefinger and thumb, perusing the first page with a slight squint. He is getting older, and this is the nineteenth year he has done this job. A coffee in a coffee-coloured plastic vending cup cools on his cluttered desk. He frowns, exhales loudly and flicks through pages.

Then his eyes stop. He stares, and then checks his watch. Then his diary. There is a small cross and 'LS' is marked next to the date. He checks the sheet again. He checks his diary again. He drops his cigarettes on the desk and turns back to his computer, and opens his email.

Someone has beaten him to it. There is one new unread email in his inbox, and it reads:

'El Clasico - Luis is back!!!'

The man balls a fist and swears jubilantly. Outside, nothing has changed.

That's what you'll get when you leave the idea of the random fixture generator to an overactive imagination, anyway. In truth, whilst it's probably not without its share of quirks, there's probably less smoking and less swearing. And a paperless environment, in modern climes.

So many unfortunate pictures of Luis Suarez to chew over.

But sometimes there's a fixture so good, at just the right moment, that you want to raise an eyebrow at the sheer improbability of it all. It's a fair bet this season's has already happened. In Spain, the first clasico falls on the first day Luis Suarez (above) is allowed to train with his new club after that ban for what's been amusingly dubbed the most expensive Italian he'll probably ever eat.

Irrespective of emotional reactions here, the return of Suarez could probably not be better timed. He may not play as he is not supposed to even train during his ban - but you can bet Barcelona will try to find a way around that particular predicament, even if it involves him training in private, away from the club and staff. Will he get 15 minutes? If he's even halfway fit, and it's a tight contest...

No doubt that it is a coincidence - but is there some merit in considering the unthinkable and letting clubs choose when some of their games are played?

There are plenty of good sporting ones - for one, many European trams, and particularly English ones, are breathing hard as they reach the final sprint of a long season, and fatigue undoubtedly plays a part in deciding outcomes in tight games where previously a draw may have beckoned.

That makes the game interesting. But what about the various flights clubs have to make when making up European games? Teams in the Champions League have to fly to and from countries in the space of 48 hours before weekend matches. The matches aren't going to go away - but what about giving each team, say, three matches they can definitely move once the fixtures are announced?

Each team's decision would be binding - i.e the opposing team would not be able to overrule - and this would be communicated to interested parties in advance (e.g the ubiquitous television networks involved in European football's fixture list sequencing).

This could be particularly useful for those clubs on the accursed Thursday-Sunday routine when midweek European trips to far-flung Greek/ Ukrainian/ Russian clubs mean longer returns and recoveries, especially in midwinter. Teams such as Spurs, who have been on the brink of regular Champions League qualification for the last decade, could utilise the policy to trade in some of their trickier away games for easier matches or even a bye weekend, should the fixture list allow it.

For teams struggling to meet the demands of the Premier League or those facing up to relegation, a canny perusal of the fixtures before the start of the seasons could establish which games to move to give players a break, or breaking a chain of difficult matches to prevent fatigue and low morale setting in after a series of poor results.

 

There could also be a benefit to reducing the number of injuries in teams. Several clubs may benefit from moving games out of the hectic Christmas period, when congestion is common and players carry injuries over into the new year as European competitions start again. Clubs given the opportunity to move these could see players return from injury quicker and pick up less 'niggly' injuries - which seriously hindered Arsenal's prospects last season, for example.

From an entertainment perspective, very little in practice would actually change - in fact it might be arguable that the league may actually get more competitive as all teams would be able to manipulate their performance to some extent, which could produce some interesting results come May. Although Spurs would still probably come fifth.

Picture thanks to Sky Sports

Tangerine Nightmare

 

TEAM: Trialist, Waddington, Trialist, Perkins, McMahon (C), Dunne, Zenjov, Trialist, Trialist, Grant, Trialist.
— Blackpool FC (@BlackpoolFC) July 19, 2014

Blackpool's trials continue courtesy of club owner who took £11m after relegation

The silly season is in swing over at Bloomfield Road. Unfortunately a few of the staff seem to be taking it a little too literally. The club's state lurched from perilous to farcical on Saturday when during a trip to Penrith they were forced to play five trialists.

The are currently eight professional players on Blackpool's books, with the rest of the squad having left due to loan or contract expiry earlier in the summer. A squad with talent and verve during their single Premier League season back in 2010 are now touted as relegation dead certs from the Championship. The villain of the riches-to-rags piece appears to be the man who once saved them from their uppers.

Owen Oyston made headlines for all the wrong reasons when in 2011 he became the highest paid director ever in world football. From Blackpool's Premier League season, when they were relegated at Manchester United, Oyston - the club's owner since May 1988 - pocketed £11 million.



Blackpool's 'squad' warm up for a pre-season at Penrith FC

Oyston paid significant sums to Blackpool when it appeared they might be on the way out of the Football League. When the club's dreams were realised in 2010 and they were promoted to the Premier League, it's alleged they gained the best part of £80 million from the league. That 'they' is deliberately vague, for it's never been really clear who the money belonged to - Blackpool FC or Owen Oyston.

Therein lies the rub for all Blackpool fans, who are furious at the conduct displayed by the club. Or Oyston. It's difficult to tell which is which - and there are numerous goings-on in the background that muddy the waters further. Oyston allegedly uses the money earned from Blackpool to boost his other business interests. He, like many others before him, sees no difference in managing the club like any other business, regardless of how much destruction he wreaks.

Blackpool appear to be the latest instalment in a book on football club owners gone wrong. The title could be Deja Vu: The Sequel, and with a lack of legal efficacy and code of moral conduct around ownership, it's unlikely to be the last chapter in a cruel saga. All around the country men behave badly, and the game's authorities wonder what they can do about it all.

Coventry City now play their home games in Northampton thanks to their London hedge fund owners trying to bounce the council out of the Ricoh Arena by refusing to pay the rent. Consequently they've forfeited income from ticket sales, pushing the club close to administration. 

March saw ex-Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung jailed for money laundering. It remains unclear how much money Yeung really had, and upon describing his testimony, the trial judge accused the businessman of 'making it up as he went along'. Finally, not even a prior conviction for fraud could stop Italian Massimo Cellino from passing a fit and proper test by the Football League before his takeover of Leeds United.

The club's current plight is so bad that the manager, Jose Riga, has cancelled a pre-season tour to La Manga to concentrate on getting some players through the door. He'd identified three. The snag? He and the chairman can't agree over them, and Riga won't sign any more until he gets them.

With three weeks to go until the new season, this hardly seems the best time to play who-blinks-first between manager and chairman. There isn't much left to lose for the club in both the literal and metaphorical sense - and that's mainly down to just one man.

Pictures thanks to Twitter and The Independent

The Premier League: A Trans Europa Success

English football does not simply need less foreign footballers - it needs more, and it needs the best, to improve at international level

One hundred and ten! proudly tooted the Premier League at the start of the World Cup. Can you guess what the number relates to? No, not the average percentage of debt to profit ratio for each Premier League club, although good call. It's actually the number of Premier League players involved in Brazil.

 

One hundred and ten. Like a lot of numbers, it feels significant. Assuming each Premier league squad boasts an average 23 players, as per this World Cup, that infers that nearly a quarter of all the players we watch week in, week out on Match of the Day et al are international players capable of playing in the world's biggest and best football tournament.

 

Rubbish, grouches the football traditionalist who's no doubt sick of seeing England getting knocked out early again, and perhaps mutters to himself that the English would do a lot better without these foreign international players clogging up their youth teams.



None of the 2014 Ballon D'or winners play in England

Would they? Nationalism is a funny thing and it has not infected sport in the same way as it has politics and culture in Britain. In England, we love watching Silva, Hazard, Oscar, Aguero, Kompany, Van Persie and Ozil. Football fans in this country are not overtly racist and it would be an interesting exercise to see who the average terrace fan voted for at the last European elections.

It's certainly true to say England has a problem with foreign footballers, but what it really has a problem with, as usual, is ownership and strategy. Of the last eight nations left in the World Cup, 37 players play in the Premier League. That's around 20% of the eight squads - and that figure's significantly heightened by ten French players and 11 Belgians. If you strip those two away, the figure becomes less than 10%. Compare that to the Bundesliga, on 38%, and La Liga, on 33%. Still the best league in the world?

 

Of course, you think, it's natural that if you speak Spanish or Portuguese - as Argentina, Brazil and Colombia do - you'll want to be around people like you. Spaniards, for example. Except that's also not true. Nine leagues are represented in the Brazil and Colombia squads, and seven in the Argentina squad. In England, Spain and Italy, the squads are represented by two, four and two respectively.

 

Travel really does seem to broaden the mind and it appears, superficially at least, there's little doubt that the English are simply too insular when it comes to their football. But the economics, unlike South American leagues, make it hard to resist playing in one league when it could set the player up financially for life.

 

The exception of course is Germany, who have 20 of their players based in the Bundesliga. But there is room to develop youth there, without risk of clubs going through the blender should relegation occur. The '50+1' shareholder model is characteristic of a philosophy which ensures financial fair play is pretty much already in place. In both Italy and Spain there are serious long term debt issues for various clubs - much like the Premier League. This year's Spanish champions, Atletico, are over £100 million in debt over unpaid taxes.

English football is simply a smudge on a broader canvas that reflects the way Britain has relied upon skilled immigration to add value to its most lucrative industries - for example, financial services. For the Premier League, see any building housed in Canary Wharf after close of business, when British citizens can be seen scrubbing at the City's skyscraping artifices.

The difference in football, unfortunately, is that the hired help is often better than the in-house. That has nothing to do with money - that, as can be seen in Colombia's squad make-up, is much more about determination and a strong sense of self-worth. The things an Englishman cannot buy.

Britain needs top foreign talent to improve still further, and a greater focus on buying top-bracket foreign players at cheaper players' expense would still mean great entertainment. But would the inevitable culture change mean a move back to traditional, outmoded English tactics? Moreover, would a change in the number of nationalities reduce the likelihood of Brazilians playing in England? There are many more, but questions like this are important.

 

No one can doubt that the English has improved immeasurably in the wake of David Luiz, Sergio Aguero, Fernando Torres, Nemanja Vidic et al arriving. All have given huge amounts. But if we've learned nothing and simply watched the circus as it passed through town, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Picture thanks to World Soccer

The English Patient

Far from lacking direction, English football wants to go in too many, with the consequences of a lack of strategy glaringly obvious

Navel-gazing time. England are out - again - and it's time to reflect on why. I can think of three or four events that really illustrate a lack of joined-up thinking behind not just English football, but sport in general.

1. The death of American Malcolm Glazer, who, along with his family, have imposed the contemporary American tactic of leveraged buyouts onto one of English football's greatest institutions, keeping it afloat financially through increasingly bemusing forays into untapped commercial markets. Official jacket potato partner anyone?
2. Greg Dyke's suggestion of what was effectively League Three - consisting of Premier League B teams - to bridge the financial and competitive gap between the Premier and Football League. Roundly condemned by all sides, it quickly appeared to be dead in the water.
3. A report by Ofsted on the standard of sporting excellence in state and public schools. Reported by the Guardian's David Conn, it highlighted the growing chasm of achievement between the two sectors, with 41% of all Olympic winning athletes coming from privately educated backgrounds - a freakishly large number when considering the number of state to public schools. It made no apparent reference as to why that was the case.
4. An interesting point made by former U-21 coach Stuart Pearce following England's elimination by Uruguay, who noted the Under 17 team had performed outstandingly at five consecutive tournaments - but then disappeared between the ages of 18-21. Why was that, he wondered.

The bigger picture here is somewhat blurry - and with good reason. English football, to put it simply, does not know what it wants to be. If it were to be analysed as a business, it undoubtedly underperforms - but the main reason for this is due to its deliberately fractured nature. The Premier League, English football's best performing 'product', generated £1.8 billion for its clubs last year but, as it is not affiliated with the FA, will keep all of that unless contractually obliged not to.

In England, as German journalist Raf Honigstein succinctly put it, football follows the money, not the other way around, as in the Bundesliga. That's resulted in clubs being bought by the planet's billionaires, with the inevitable smattering of financial disasters. Portsmouth nearly disappeared. It's no exaggeration to say Bobby Zamora saved QPR from financial meltdown in the playoff final.

If that doesn't highlight the Premier League's bubble status, consider Pearce's remarks. Uruguay happened, he suggested, because clubs pulled their best players out of the youth set up due to a lack of depth, weakening the national youth setup as a consequence. The Premier League bubble exacerbates the problem, as clubs throw eye-watering sums at players over spending a fraction developing its own resources for fear of relegation and the end of the gravy train. When the consequence could be liquidation,  you want all your resources available, all the time.

Go back to the country's production lines and see what chance British boys and girls have of making a career in football. In Belgium, clubs like Anderlecht join up with schools to ensure talented children have access to excellent facilities whilst getting an education. In the UK Ofsted suggests that 'commitment' from state school teachers is more important than the facilities privately educated children pay for.

Going back to Belgium again, who have come from nowhere to be considered one of the strongest sides in this year's World Cup, everywhere you look there is consistency. Every Belgium youth team plays 4-3-3, in the same mold as Ajax and Barcelona. That does not exist yet in England - and Belgium began their project 16 years ago. Greg Dyke thinks England should be targeting the 2022 World Cup - is that reasonable?

At each stage in the process of creating competitive sport in the UK, a hurdle must be jumped. That's fine - the British Olympic committee challenges its athletes to prove they have used resources wisely, or they will be cut from the picture next time around. It's worked tremendously well - but it's come at a significant price, as Ofsted's article indicates. 

No one is suggesting that responsibility should be shared between remote, distant bodies of arbitration either. But what's missing is precisely what's happened in Belgium - a sustained strategy, involving clubs, players, coaches, and more broadly, schools, municipal councils. A clear, overriding sense of direction.

There's simply no substitute for money here - but 'culture' is our currency, and it's the classic British term for mend-and-make-do. It's what governments turn to in times like these. Culture does not build buildings or improve pitches. It does not fund extracurricular activities. It does not encourage parents to spend money on trips around the country, or abroad, for their kids to play in competitions.

It does provide a sense of direction, but in the highest echelons of the national game, it's no replacement for sustained investment. British attitudes - that have-a-go, ne'er say die approach - have never been questioned. But British attitudes to money are slowly being uncovered, and the picture is not pretty. In sport, it penalises those who need it the most. 

In the end, the man who is now the chairman of the Football Association probably presents the greatest embodiment of the current state of the game. Dyke played a significant part in creating the modern-day Premier League, including driving a wedge between it and the FA in a deliberately orchestrated campaign of what he no doubt saw as liberation from a cumbersome body. The irony of Dyke's return, and what it says about not only English football, but its culture, should escape nobody.

Pic thanks to the Daily Telegraph