3 Big Reasons Manager José Mourinho Has Plummeting Value

Has José Mourinho gone too far?

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With Champions-elect Chelsea due to visit Old Trafford this weekend, we consider whether former manager José Mourinho still has the value as a manager that he used to have.

3 Reasons Manager José Mourinho Has Plummeting Value

His press conference performances are increasingly disjointed

After Thursday’s disappointing 1-1 draw in the Europa League quarter final first leg away in Anderlecht, Mourinho blamed his side’s “sloppy” attackers, saying “If I was a Manchester United defender, I would be very upset with the attacking players”. This just 2 weeks after he tried to humiliate…

You can read the rest of this article here:
LWOS – 3 Big Reasons Jose Mourinho Has Plummeting Value

Jose and Pep are setting the tone for failure

This weekend saw another memorable round of Premier League fixtures including the Merseyside derby in which Liverpool ran out deserved winners and City versus Arsenal – an enthralling 2-2 encounter. The result of the weekend in the top flight was undoubtedly Palace beating Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. But funnily enough no-one seems to be talking about any of these games. We’re all debating (once again) the post-match interview performance of Jose Mourinho after his side’s failure to win at home to West Brom. The game ended 0-0 and a frustrated Mourinho was in a prickly mood when giving his interview to the BBC’s Conor McNamara immediately after the game.

If you have not seen the interview it is a MUST watch and can be found on the BBC Sport website. After an admittedly one-sided game BBC interviewer and commentator Conor McNamara proceeded to ask Mourinho whether he felt the two teams “cancelled each other out today”. To which a bemused Mourinho immediately went on the defensive saying “You think that game was even? Really?” He went on to say “I think this is a silly question”. The interview, which lasts just over 3 minutes, continues in this vein with Mourinho aggressively explaining his views on the match. Mourinho has previous when it comes to giving spiky interviews. We’ve seen him walk out on Ray Stubbs before an Everton fixture in 2015. He also walked out on an interviewer 2 months later after losing to Stoke City in the League Cup.

A number of pundits and reporters have since come out and said that Mourinho was disrespectful to the reporter who was only doing his job. It is argued that the fans have a right to hear the manager’s points of view and it is the reporters’ job to deliver this. This argument holds a lot of truth (even though in this instance McNamara could have given more thought to his opening question). Mourinho has a duty to give his thoughts on the game and the way in which he does so reflects upon the club he manages – he is the manager after all. So what could Mourinho possibly gain from acting in this way and setting such a negative tone at Manchester United? It could be argued that Mourinho is simply deflecting attention away from his side’s inability to win at home to West Brom, a tactic employed my numerous managers over the years, not least Mourinho’s benchmark – Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Mourinho incident follows the strangely agitated post-match interview recently given by Pep Guardiola after Manchester City beat Burnley 2-1 in January in which Pep gave very brief staccato answers to the BBC’s Damian Johnson.  In both instances the managers showed a lack of class in dealing with the press. At every football club in the country the manager’s influence can be seen from the training ground, to the tactics, to the way the supporters behave, to what tea bags are used in the canteen (okay, I made that last one up). But whilst these ‘top’ managers continue to undermine the post-match interview process and behave in strangely unsporting behaviour it is the club that ultimately suffers.

In stark contrast a smiling, positive, complimentary tone can usually be heard at Anfield from a manager who is under just as much pressure as his aforementioned counterparts. Jurgen Klopp gives off positive vibes that reverberate around the city of Liverpool on a weekly basis. This can only be a good thing for the club going forward and it must also have a positive impact on the changing room.

 

We should not be talking about football managers (who are grown men by the way) being sulky and moody. We should be talking about the beautiful game itself. Football managers should be respectful of the clubs they manage. They should show class, act in a responsible manner and show humility. I’m certainly not going to get my violin out for the reporters because we all know that manager’s quotes have been taken out of context in the past and ‘mis-reported’ but equally I don’t feel an ounce of sympathy for the managers whose job it is to deal with each question with integrity, honesty and a positive attitude – for the club’s sake – for the supporter’s sake. And make no mistake, they are handsomely rewarded for this responsibility. Surely by setting this negative tone at both City and United Mourinho and Pep are setting the tone for failure.

 

 

Written by Tom Tyler. Follow me on twitter @gameof2football for all my latest updates: https://twitter.com/gameof2football

The image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.The author is Aleksandr Osipov.

FA Cup Semi-Finals Should NOT Be at Wembley

 

This argument’s been going on for ages. I can’t remember the amount of times I’ve heard someone say that the cup semis shouldn’t be held at Wembley. So why write a blog about it? Well, it just occurred to me this weekend that I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone in favour of it. Not one.

Whenever the argument is put to an FA representative they talk about Wembley being the perfect venue for such an event. They bleat on about how many more fans get to see their side play because of the increased capacity compared with the alternative (presumably the tried and tested neutral grounds of Villa Park, Anfield, St James Park, etc.). They talk about Wembley’s ability to hold such big events, the surrounding transport links and infrastructure, etc. The FA representative rebuffs the argument quickly and efficiently with these answers and then the problem goes away again for another year.

The thing is, I think every football fan with half a brain knows the real reason. Money. The FA are still trying desperately to recoup the money spent on building England’s new home of football. The truth is they cannot afford for the FA Cup semi-finals not to be at Wembley. But, the trouble is I think they’re doing this at a price. Yes, they’re getting their money back, but aren’t they losing the magic of the cup in the process?

Put yourself in a Sheffield United fan’s shoes. This opportunity doesn’t come around every day. They’ll have a great day out, one to remember for ever. But what if they win? What if they get to the final? What then? Well, they get to go to Wembley… again. Won’t their semi-final experiences take the shine off the final? And what about your average working class family from Sheffield? Approximately based on last season’s prices (and let’s be honest, these are likely to increase) 2 adults and 2 children in the cheapest possible seats (£150) + a matchday program (£10) + food and drink (£40) + train tickets (£70) = £270 minimum for the day. Times that by 2 if they get to the final = £540. I bet these fans could get season tickets for the same price!

I think it’s a shame that the FA is willing to sacrifice what little magic the cup still has and it’s wrong that they are allowed to make this decision against every football fan’s wishes just to fulfil Wembley’s budget requirements. 

Pardew should be sacked – no ifs, no butts.

When Saturday comes around I always look forward to what arguments the weekend’s football might inspire. Leading up to the weekend I have no idea what I’m going to write about but football being football it always throws something up. Maybe there would be a controversial red card or a brilliant nine-goal thriller. But in the 72^nd minute of the Hull vs Newcastle game Alan Pardew gave me a gift of a blog. Cheers Alan!

I’d like to start by saying: what a plonker! Pardew has been around the block a bit. It’s difficult to tell exactly how old he is – he’s a bit like the Philip Schofield of the football world – but he’s old enough to know better. I was ashamed for him. It looked like Pardew came out to the post-match interviews very quickly, possibly even without conversing with the Magpies’ press officer. He still made excuses (even with the benefit of hindsight), trying to make out it wasn’t a head-butt, “I tried to push him away with my head.” Yeah, course you did Alan. That’s as laughable as Luis Suarez’s excuse after the infamous ‘bite-gate’ scandal with Ivanovic:

Interviewer: Luis, it looks like you bit Ivanovic today. Anything to say for yourself?

Suarez: It wasn’t really a bite. I was just trying to smell Ivanovic’s new aftershave and it got up my nose a bit… so I uh… I… I was just wiping my nose on him.

Interviewer: You just wiped your nose on him?

Suarez: Yes.

Interviewer: It wasn’t a bite?

Suarez: A bite? What do you think I am, an animal? No. He just has nice perfume.

Liverpool Press Officer: Luis. Can I have a quick word?

(Liverpool Press Officer whispers inaudibly in Suarez’s ear)

Liverpool Press Officer: Can you ask the question again please?

Interviewer: Luis, it looks like you bit Ivanovic today. Anything to say for yourself?

Suarez: I’m sorry for my actions.

I think that’s how it went, anyway.

Newcastle didn’t hang around long, issuing Pardew with a £100,000 fine before the FA even had the time to run round to Greg Dyke’s nursing home and wake him up from his afternoon nap – apparently they found him dribbling on a crossword in front of Pointless Celebrities. So, yet again the FA find themselves on the back foot. But, it was a great move by Newcastle. If Ashley wanted Pardew out he had just been handed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sack him at £0 cost. On the other hand if Newcastle had waited for the FA to react they may have been forced into a dismissal. Ashley had a quick decision to make and based on football alone I think he made the right one. Based on being a role model, taking the club forward, setting an example to the younger supporters of Newcastle (and football as a whole) as well as disciplining his own players in the future, I think it was a terrible decision.

Pardew has got Newcastle back to where they should be (top 8 of the premier League is about right for a selling club the size of the Magpies). They play decent football (sometimes) and he has to constantly deal with selling his top players (basically because they’re fed up of living in the North East… no comment). So, fair play, good job Alan. But I’m afraid I agree with Robbie Savage on this one (God, that was painful). Savage said “I thought his position as manager was untenable… Pardew shouldn’t be allowed in the ground for the last 10 games… How can you manage a group of players when you have done that to one of their fellow professionals?”

As a leader of such an important sports team in this country Pardew should be displaced. Newcastle haven’t done it so now it’s up to the FA. They have the power and they need to act now. Pardew’s actions were nothing short of hooliganism. What punishment do hooligans receive for such actions? They are banned from football. This is a professional sport wherein athletes compete for trophies. I can’t remember ever seeing Sir Steve Redgrave bash the opposition rower over the head with his oar because he splashed him. I can’t remember seeing Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor aim his dart at Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams because he coughed before taking a shot. But I can remember a lot of unsavoury images from the past few years in the Premier League.

Pardew has now been charged with ‘improper conduct’ by the FA and he has until the 6^th of March to contest that charge. If I was him, I’d take whatever punishment is dished out and thank my lucky stars I’m still allowed to be involved in the beautiful game. What I wouldn’t do is use the following quote as a character reference:

“Don’t let a couple of stupid incidents detract from the job he’s done at Newcastle. Especially with what goes on behind the scenes there” – Joey Barton, Twitter, Saturday 1^st March 2014.

The Platini Way or the Highway

This week we’ve written a guest blog for the Football Blogging Awards website. Follow this link:
http://www.footballbloggingawards.co.uk/blog/football-blog-platini-way-highway.php

The greatest cup competition in the world?

This week saw the return of the F.A. Cup which gave the ‘big’ teams another chance to devalue football’s greatest competition. Half empty stadiums greeted half-empty teams, contributing to half-empty effort. Of course, I’m talking about Sunderland and Southampton. Just over 16,000 fans watched the game on Sauturday – the capacity at the Stadium of Light is 49, 000 – in what can only be described as a disgusting effort from both clubs. I back the fans on this one. I wouldn’t have bothered turning up either. Over the last ten years fans have come to expect weaker teams in F.A. Cup matches, they’ve learned not to waste their time going to watch their team’s reserves play for the same price as the first team. And why should they? All my life I have been told the F.A. Cup is the greatest cup competition in the world. Yet it seems to me that the majority of modern-day coaches and players couldn’t care less about it and if it goes on much longer we are in serious danger of losing this historic competition to an entire generation.

In one dugout we had Gus Poyet who decided to make nine changes to his starting eleven. He was quoted as saying:

“Apparently to be more famous, it’s better to win the cup. I don’t want any more people knowing me. I think they know me enough, so I would prefer to stay in the Premier League. It’s a personal feeling. I can’t answer for anybody else, it’s me. I would be devastated if we go down, so it’s me”.

Gus, Gus, Gus… you fool. You’ve got it all wrong. This isn’t about fame. This is a competition, which you enter (presumably) to win. You get a medal and a trophy at the end – the same as the Premier League or the Champions League – and you go down in history. You allow your long-suffering supporters a day out at Wembley and they will line the streets as you parade the trophy in your open-top bus. You give them bragging rights and a season to remember. You give back to the people who give so much for your club. This is called ‘football’.

For me, this is a complete lack of ambition (as well as a lack of respect for the competition, the club and the fans). In fact, I’ve never heard of anything so gutless! He’s so scared of ruining his reputation (IF Sunderland get relegated) that he doesn’t have the guts to field a full-strength side in the cup. Why not just forfeit then? He obviously doesn’t want to be there. When that final whistle went on Saturday he must have been gutted with that result – they’ve got to do it all over again now in the quarter finals!

Then, in the opposite dugout we had Mr Pochettino. Just when you think it can’t get any worse we have a team in Southampton who are sitting pretty in mid-table, completely safe from the drop with no impending game in mid-week and they make six changes to their starting eleven! At least Poyet had the relegation battle excuse which although it doesn’t wash with me, it at least appeases some of the fans and the board. The Saints fans have had a rough ride in the last ten years and they deserve more from a young manager who promises so much.

Has the game really lost that last trickle of romance it was hanging on to? Because, let’s be honest, when it comes down to it the answer is money. The F.A. Cup isn’t worth a thing to the big boys in the board room. The winners of the F.A. Cup can pick up in the region of £3 million in prize money on the road to the final. Compare that with the £700 million which is shared between the 32 clubs who take part in the Champions League and the average £60 million for each Premier League side in TV revenue and merit money (without even starting on individual sponsorship deals) you can start to see what pressure these managers are under. But that’s not good enough. As a football supporter I demand more. The lower league sides rely on the romance of this competition to keep them afloat. The money generated in the early rounds of the competition for the smaller clubs is unrivalled. The continual devaluation of the competition by the big clubs will eventually ruin it for the little clubs. The F.A. is always talking about looking after the ‘grass roots’ yet it is allowing this to happen. The F.A. needs to act. They seriously need to look into re-branding this great competition or increasing the prize fund significantly. There has even been talk in the past about giving the winner the fourth Champions League spot. I’m not so sure about the last one but I am sure that if nothing gets done and the competition is left to rot for another couple of years, we might never regain what was once the greatest cup competition in the world.

The Special Horse

Jose’s back. “Everything I say is mind games, everything I do is mind games”. And you know what, Jose? We love you for it. His mind games are almost as entertaining as the action on the pitch. The press lap up his every word at each press conference he performs at. And it is a performance. He takes his seat like a master conductor at a Viennese Opera House. He flicks his coat-tails with a wry smile before beginning his latest assassination of a rival manager. “City are lucky… they have everything in their favour, but it’s just a coincidence”. 

But history is repeating itself. Won’t these rival managers learn? With a third of the season remaining his mind games are now in full flow and it looks like Manuel Pellegrini will make the same mistake as countless managers before him. Retaliation. Pellegrini recently responded by claiming Chelsea or “the little horse” is “very rich”. Come on Manuel, that’s like Steve Claridge calling Michael Owen boring or Craig Bellamy calling Robbie Savage an annoying, Welsh p****.

In their most recent dual Mourinho challenges Pellegrini’s numbers claiming he needs a calculator. He is also demanding Yaya Toure be banned for his recent kick on Norwich’s Ricky Van Wolfswinkel. Mourinho is a predator ad once he’s got his claws in you there’s no escape. It may seem like he’s picking on City and only City but it’s more than that. After City’s defeat to Chelsea followed by their failing to find the back of the net at Carrow Road on Saturday Jose can smell blood. And he’s after more. No matter what you say, Mourinho always comes out on top. And actually, they are top. Chelsea have stealthily maintained in touch with the top three throughout the season. The “little horse” has been coming up on the outside and it’s just starting to get its nose in front. If I were Pellegrini I would take Mourinho’s recent flirtations as a compliment. Perhaps all this focus on City means Mourinho only sees them as genuine title challengers. City need to remember what they’re good at. They’re good at beating teams 6-0. They’re not good at playing dirty. Mourinho is. And he’s luring them in.

For the neutral the next few weeks will be very interesting. It’s that time of the season where momentum can win you the league. Games will start coming thick and fast with the Champions League returning and the mentality of the players and managers will be tested to its limits.

Who will win? Pellegrini or Mourinho? I know who I’d rather have conducting my team. And as Jose says “The only thing that’s not mind games is the results”. 

The Special Horse

Fit and Proper Italian?

This week: Tony Soprano buys Leeds, Mourinho gives us all a 19^th century history lesson and Chico Flores gets shot, oh no wait, it was just Andy Carroll’s elbow, oh no wait, it was the wind…

 

Another week in football brings us three more scandalous topics to chew on. Let’s get started with that massive club Leeds. Massimo Cellino, the King of Corn, the ageing rocker, the Italian Stallion has this week bought 75% of the Yorkshire outfit pending a decision by the Football League as to whether he is a ‘fit and proper person’. Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s more than likely that he’s not a ‘fit and proper person’. But since when has that stopped the Football League looking the other way? I mean, yes okay, he’s currently facing court action and yes, okay, he was arrested 11 months ago in his own country for attempted embezzlement and false representation regarding the purchase of a new stadium for his long-term project Cagliari but the guy seems nice doesn’t he? He used to have a pony tail and he wears a leather jacket, he’ll be right at home in Leeds. He could even perform at the festival in his band (I’m not even joking, he plays the guitar and drums!).

Here’s how I imagine the telephone call went when Leeds’ number one fan found out the great news:

 

Number one fan – “Hello?”

Number two fan – “Eh up mate, you heard t’news?”

Number one fan – “No, what?”

Number two fan – “A multi-millionaire has just bought Leeds!”

Number one fan – “Get in! Finally! Who is he? Where’s he from? Saudi Arabia?”

Number two fan – “No.”

Number one fan – “Have we got a Russian?”

Number two fan – “No.”

Number one fan – “Bahrain? Dubai?”

Number two fan – “He’s Italian.”

Number one fan – “He’s what?”

Number two fan – “Italian.”

Number one fan – “Did you just say Italian?”

Number two fan – “Yes.”

Number one fan – “Is this a wind up?”

 

I feel sorry for Leeds fans. Let’s be honest they are a big club. That doesn’t give them a divine right to be in the top flight but just look at their gate at the weekend. Over 30,000 people were in attendance for the Huddersfield game. That is superb. A lot of teams find as they drop through the divisions that their support drops too but not Leeds. But, as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. This fiasco is going to affect thousands of working class families. If Leeds find themselves in financial ruin a few years down the line, it’s these fans who will have to pick up the pieces while Tony Soprano flies back to his pad in Miami. Can’t the Football League learn? We don’t want another Portsmouth.

 

Let’s move on to the cheat that is Chico Flores. I don’t blame Howard Webb for sending Andy Carroll off. Why? Because Flores’ reaction was that convincing that Howard Webb had no choice. Why can’t the FA, when reviewing footage like this, reverse the red card and give it to Flores? He won’t do it again then, will he? I’d love to hear what Swansea fans think but I know I’d be embarrassed to have him representing my club. Laudrup’s accountable too. He should take action to stop this cheating. I have to say Bradley Johnson needs to take a long, hard look at himself for the Remy incident too.

 

Finally, Mourinho accused Big Sam of playing 19^th Century football last week. Does that mean he’s going to play 21^st century football tonight? I doubt it.

Football Focus ruined my weekend

Right, I set out this week to write a blog as I do every week. The only trouble is it normally turns into more of a rant than a blog so I’m going to try my hardest not to rant. No ranting at all. Ranting is banned. Rant over.

This week’s edition includes the egomaniacal Paolo Di Canio, the half empty stadiums (again), a snide comment about Man Utd (standard) and Mark Lawrenson describing Di Canio’s management style as akin to Attila the Hun, which he elaborated would be better suited to managing in the lower leagues… must… not… rant…

So, on Saturday I was sat on my sofa, feeling at peace with the world, sipping a cup of tea, nibbling on a bourbon biscuit, watching Football Focus – I know, a beautiful vision isn’t it? – truly believing that I would find something positive to write about in the world of football this weekend.  The next 5 minutes ruined it all. Step forward Paolo Di Canio and Mark Lawrenson.

Di Canio said “There are sometimes managers that are not good enough for some groups of players, but there are also some groups of players that are not good enough for a manager. In this case it’s the second”. Of course, Di Canio is talking about his ill-fated 13 games in charge at Sunderland. Wow, how much of an egomaniac do you have to be to believe that an entire squad of players is wrong and you are right? Firstly, I think Di Canio was ill-advised to appear on the show and give this interview. If anything he’s made things worse for himself which is some feat considering most people who know anything about football see him as a laughing stock. He is deluded to believe he will manage in the Premier League again and any football league club who take him on should do so at their peril. He was a fantastic player but as we know that does not always translate to football management. He won League Two with Swindon Town. “Now, that’s pretty impressive” I hear you say. Cue the Family Fortunes “i-errr” sound effect.  The Vital Swindon website (in which Di Canio is listed at the top of their ‘Hall of Shame’) explains how he “spent stupid amounts of money to buy success”. The January after promotion Swindon found themselves in serious financial difficulties despite high-profile money-spinning cup ties and Di Canio jumped from the sinking ship leaving the Swindon fans to pick up the pieces.

So he bought, sorry ‘won’, the League Two title in his first managerial job which meant that ‘the powers that be’ at Sunderland (you know the ones, the experts on football who run your club from the board room) decided he would be a brilliant choice as their manager because… well, because he’d won something hadn’t he? So, he must be good, right? He’s a what? He’s a fascist? Oh. Do you think anyone will notice? No? Brilliant. Hire him. We’ll be in the Champions League this time next year. Pass me the box of Cigars.

So once the Di Canio interview was over and the steam coming out of my ears had subsided Mark Lawrenson came on my screen. This is my fourth blog and to be honest I think I should get some sort of prize for not ranting about Lawrenson sooner. I’ve got a good idea, I’ll start by saying something positive about him because I’m not going to rant today, am I? Um… his upper lip is looking better these days…

Lawrenson went on to talk about Di Canio’s management style saying, “I think you can get away with managing like Attila the Hun lower down but in the Premier League, no”. Just so we’re clear, I am determined not to rant today but as I’m typing this my face has gone a slight shade of purple and is… well, the only way to describe it is to say that my face right now is pretty similar to my constipation face. But I’m not ranting so it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s FINE.

The lower leagues are not inferior, Mark. They deserve respect, Mark. They are still professional athletes, Mark. He basically insinuated that League Two is a 3^rd world country that should be happy to receive the Premier League’s recycled trash. You know when you go to the bottle bank at your local supermarket and you can choose to put your old clothes in the Samaritans bank or the Red Cross one? Well, in Mark Lawrenson’s world he’s offering up rubbish managers in the belief that we’ll be grateful because once they scored a volley in the Premier League! It’s the same when a referee performs badly in the Premier League. They get called in to the referees office and are told “sorry mate, you’ve made one too many mistakes now, you’re going to have to… (dramatic pause) referee a football league game. If there was anything else I could do, I would but my hands are tied. I’m so sorry”.

In other news Sheffield United have misplaced 16,000 fans. They had a gate of 16,324 at their F.A. Cup match against Premier League outfit Fulham. Not bad for a League One side but still only half full (their capacity is 32,702). Or half empty as I prefer to say at the moment (I blame Mark Lawrenson for my sudden negative attitude towards life – my cup of tea and bourbon biscuit seem a far off dream now). To put this into perspective United had a crowd of 18,545 for their home league match against Port Vale in October. Why is the F.A. Cup no longer valued by fans? United’s wasn’t the only half empty stadium this weekend. There were loads! Everyone keeps harping on about romance but how can there be romance in a half empty stadium. How can the next generation of fans get excited about this historic competition if they don’t experience an authentic F.A. Cup atmosphere? Thankfully, the draw for the 5^th round hasn’t disappointed. Shame Man Utd aren’t in it though…

The Premier League: sport or soap opera?

And in this week’s top stories… (cue the dramatic Newsnight music)…  Manchester City win at home.   Manchester United lose… And in the main talking point of the day… Luis Suarez dives to win a penalty… or does he?

 

Entertaining but predictable?

 

Has the Premier League become too predictable? I’m not being funny but I never win a bet. Never. My SkyBet account takes £50 of my money every season and I don’t get so much as a thank you. But… oh, yes SkyBet, the tides are turning now. The Premier League has become so predictable I make William Hill look like an amateur! I took one look at this weekend’s fixtures and I knew that the top 6 wouldn’t lose. There would be no upsets. (If Everton lose tonight I’ll look like a right numpty… and I’ll lose my bet… but that’s beside the point).

I mean, it’s great that football fans now have a money tree (which we can use to contribute towards the forever-escalating ticket prices), but are we actually paying a much bigger price? Is predictable entertaining? The answer is: I’m not sure.

I’m confused. There’s only so many times I can watch Man City walk the ball into the opposition’s goal before I start to wonder if this is even fair any more. This season is a lot more entertaining than last – FACT. But, is that just because we’re in a World Cup year so everyone’s trying that bit harder to impress? Is it because there isn’t a runaway leader this year? Is it because any one of eleven teams could get relegated? Is it because Man Utd keep losing? What worries me is the obvious gulf between the top 6 and ‘the rest’. We have 7 or 8 genuinely good sides who play exciting, attacking football. Then there’s Man Utd. Then there’s ‘the rest’. Will this gap continue to widen? I hope not, but fear it will.

I mean, I’m sure it’s just fine if you’re a fan of one of these elite clubs but if you’re not, if you’re a neutral, if (God forbid) you support a team outside the Premier League, when will this predictability start becoming just plain dull? It’s a tough call. I love watching the world’s top talent on our pitches and I feel proud that they would want to play in our country but there’s a line, isn’t there?

BUT, as I was saying there are a few other divisions below the Premier League-  I know! I couldn’t believe it when I heard that either! The Championship. What a season – again! It’s almost like the top flight of old. All of the British players in this division, who can’t get a game in the Premier League because of the foreign imports, would have been playing for the top clubs twenty years ago. So now, if you want to see the beautiful English game as it was ‘back in the day’ you have to drop down a division. And why not, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper too. Although, I must warn you there are no prawn sandwiches on offer.

Then there’s League One and League Two. Now we’re getting closer to home. Proper football. Between 1996 and 2002 I witnessed one of the greatest times in Cheltenham Town’s history. We went from the Dr Martin’s League to the football league in three seasons via a Wembley FA Trophy Final victory. Now as much as I’d love to get into the finer points of this period of my team’s history, the point I’m trying to make is this. It felt amazing. It felt deserved. We were a non-league club with no money. We had no divine right to win games, yet we did. By 2002 we found ourselves in League One playing recent Champions League semi-finalists Leeds Utd! And guess what? We deserved it! What a feeling!

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that the feeling my fellow supporters and I had when my team won the league (on sheer team spirit and hard work) must be better than the feeling other fans get when their team wins a league or a cup because they spent £200 million the previous summer. It must be. And I sort of feel sorry for them. Football, for the majority of the elite teams’ fans now relies upon attracting a big-name with lots of money and then you’ve got to hope to God that he stays motivated long enough to win you something. I would feel disillusioned with this sort of existence as a football fan. So, although I may not be blown away every week by the sheer talent on show, when we do get a decent group of lads together and start winning games it feels good. There’s a lot to be said for supporting your ‘local’ lower league side and getting back to my original point it’s anything but predictable.

So we’ve got a money obsessed league full of cheating, diving, spitting, biting, racism, billionaires, WAGs, models, corrupt agents etc. Versus football at a very basic level, where it’s still a fair competition. It’s still a sport, not a soap opera. I know which one I prefer, but the truth is I’ve still got my Sky Sports subscription and I’ll still be tuning into Match of the Day this weekend. The Premier League is addictive and for the moment at least, I think I’ll stay tuned.