Is It Time for Manchester to Celebrate?

Before I continue, I must remind you that Manchester supports only one club: the one dressed in blue, the one that was playing in the second tier of English football as recently as 10 years ago to this day.

And after a seminal victory at Newcastle at lunchtime on Sunday, it looks like Manchester will be celebrating a title win for the one, true club they follow.

Despite being held at half-time to a goalless score by a resolute and highly competent Newcastle side who had everything to play for too, i.e. a place in the lucrative Champions League next season, Manchester City never gave up and just kept coming and it was Yaya Toure who could have easily been PFA player of the season who scored the goals that sealed a win that probably seals City's first title since 1968.

It has been quite a remarkable transformation for Manchester City Football Club. Yes it was done with money greater than the GDP of several African nations, and yes it was done with a squad of players plucked from some of the biggest clubs in the world, but that really shouldn't detract from the fact that it has been one heck of a turnaround for the blue side of Manchester since the current owners took over the club in August 2008.

Paul Dickov: Joe average

You have to remember before the takeover, Manchester City was certainly a mid table team, capable of a bright start and good results against the top teams. The takeover of the club by Thaksin Sinawaarta promised plenty but delivered little and the club's future was placed in doubt when the former Thai PM was investigated for fraud and corruption.

Look at City before the takeover by Thaksin and compare that side which had the likes of Darius Vassell, Antoine Sibierski, Stephen Ireland and Richard Dunne, all competent players but unlikely to set the world alight, with this season's side with Nasri, Toure, Aguero, Tevez, de Jong and Hart.

Manchester City have gone a long way and it has been a highly romantic turnaround for one of the most popular clubs in English football that should be capped off with a superb win at home against relegation-threatened QPR - expect a party of parties as I think QPR should stave off relegation even if they lose given that Bolton must travel to Stoke and win to stay up, tough ask that.

So well done City fans, who have suffered so much in their history up till the last 3 years.

Roberto di Matteo For Permanent Chelsea Manager?

It is hardly a secret that Chelsea go through their managers like someone down with a bout of diarrhea and lots of toilet paper. Since Mourinho left, Chelsea have gone through 5 managers in 5 years. Bar Ancelotti, the club have been highly unstable and haven't been able to emulate the glory days under Mourinho.

However, under Roberto di Matteo, Chelsea are experiencing a bit of a rennaisance including a superb 1-0 win at home against Champions League favourites, Barcelona. That result must surely mean that di Matteo is odds on to get the job especially with many of the potential candidates like Guus Hiddink not available.

Not only that, di Matteo has managed to unite a highly fragmented dressing room, something his predecessor and former boss, Andres Villas-Boas apparently failed to do.

Di Matteo's arrival at Chelsea this year has had an effect on the club not dissimilar to that of Kenny Dalglish's at Liverpool last year. Both are of course past players and legends at their respective clubs and have a lot of respect amongst fans and players there.

Furthermore, di Matteo was considered one of football's up and coming managers when he took West Brom to the Premier League 2 seasons ago and they played some terrific football. He was surprisingly sacked as the Baggies teetered over the relegation zone but thankfully, he was sacked because a more qualified and experienced manager in Roy Hodgson was available.

However, now that di Matteo doesn't have the pressure of fighting relegation given the money at his disposal and the players that he has, maybe he could be the right man to take Chelsea to the holy grail that Roman Abramovich so desires - winning the Champions League.

If Chelsea had sense now, di Matteo would be announced as permanent manager of the club shortly even if they miss out on the Champions League Final. But then again this is Chelsea under Roman Abramovich we're talking about. 

Can Reading Become an Established Premier League Side?

It took a while to come but when it did, it was worth it. Leigertwood's goal against Nottingham Forest won Reading the game 1-0 and was enough to secure the Royals' return to the Premier League for the first time since that heart-breaking spring day in May 2008 when despite thumping Derby 4-0, they were relegated from the Premier League.

It has somewhat surprised me how long Reading have taken to bounce back up to the top flight. They were quite unfortunate to drop out of the Premier League when they did - only relegated because they scored 3 less goals than Fulham who finished 17th and stayed up. While they had shipped 7 goals against Pompey and 6 against Tottenham in two weeks that season, they still looked like they would stay up that season. But a horror run from spring meant they fell into a relegation scrap which they lost - effectively going down by default.

Reading lurched from one playoff drama to another over the next 4 years and seemed to be the next Ipswich Town; Ipswich of course were relegated in 2002, the season after they almost made the Champions League in their first season back up, and haven't really recovered since.

So can the Royals under Brian McDermott make it a longer stay in England's top flight this time? Like Swansea, Norwich and Wigan before them, the Royals look like a side who will play attractive football to stay up and given the calibre of players currently at the club along with potential signings in the summer, Reading look prepared to stay up for at least one season.

What ultimately brought them down though was their second season and if McDermott can master that in the 2014-15 season if they stay up, then Reading could be set for a long spell in the Premier League. The trouble is, if McDermott impresses enough in his first season in the Premier League, will he become easy prey for the bigger and more established clubs in the league?

But for now, Royals fans can finally celebrate a promotion that has been long coming.

Are Wigan Athletic the Ultimate Houdini Club?

It's happening again. Wigan Athletic are hitting form just as everyone wrote them off and gave them no chance of staying up in the Premier League going into spring.

Once again, Roberto Martinez has got his highly unfancied side into form just when the foot was down and they needed results to stay up. Big wins against Manchester United and Arsenal have given them the edge in the race to stay up.

Wigan must surely be the least fashionable club in the Premier League. Their fanbase is easily the smallest in the Premier League and Wigan is hardly a must-see destination in England. In fact, the town halfway between Crewe and Liverpool has always been more well-known as a rugby league town rather than a football town.


However, when they were promoted back in 2006, Wigan were the first of a new breed of Premier League clubs that includes the likes of Stoke City, Norwich, Swansea, West Brom and most likely, Reading next season - they don't spend beyond their means to stay up but they invest in building a squad that has very good team spirit and plays a positive type of football. If they get relegated, it's not necessarily the end of the world. But at least they're going to play football in the right spirit.

Roberto Martinez's already-glowing reputation will surely be advanced further should Wigan pull off yet another remarkable escape from the drop. I quite like Martinez and am glad he is enjoying the success he has had in the Premier League. I'm sure he will end up at a bigger club in the future but for now, he is enjoying guiding the likes of Gary Caldwell, James McArthy, Conor Sammon, Victor Moses and el-Habsi to another unlikely survival.

Wigan's more illustrious team, Wigan Warriors RLFC

Perhaps next season, Wigan could finally establish themselves as a mid-table club under Martinez a bit like what Fulham have done in recent years. It would certainly enhance football's standing in this rugby league hub of the world if Martinez's men can build a heritage that future Wigan followers could talk about especially with bigger and more illustrious fellow Lancashire rivals, Bolton and Blackburn, set to fall out of the Premier League this season.

Why Celtic and Rangers Should Be In The Premier League

Always plenty of tackles in every Old Firm derby.

They are two of the most famous football clubs in the world. Many north of Hadrian's Wall would say their rivalry is the greatest in the world, better than the El Clasico between Barca and Real Madrid in Spain or the Superclasico between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Argentina.

Rangers won 3-0 at Lyon in Champions League, 2007.

But with Scottish football not what it was before the fall of Communism, the fortunes of Celtic and Rangers Football Clubs have also declined. While the Glaswegian giants continue to dominate Scottish football and look set to until the end of time, their fortunes in Europe have shown a noticeable decline since Rangers made the UEFA Cup Final in 2008. They have struggled against teams from the "non big-4" ranked leagues in Europe, i.e. French, Dutch, Belgian, Portuguese, Swiss, Russian & Romanian leagues.

Braga send Celtic out of 2011 Champions League

They are no longer guaranteed a spot in the Champions League - both Celtic and Rangers were eliminated in the qualifying and play-off rounds earlier this season. They are even struggling to even stay in the running in the second tier Europa League - Celtic only just made it to the round robin stage because Sion were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player, Rangers aren't even competing.



The lack of European football means less revenue for Scottish football and less money to spend on players. Scottish football is already handicapped by the fact that the quality of football is far weaker than elsewhere in the continent - if you had David Silva's talent, who would you rather play week in/week out? St Johnstone or Liverpool? It's a no-brainer. 

2nd div Birmingham City matching Celtic in Europe, 2011

Dare I say it but a top Championship side like Southampton or West Ham would easily beat a Scottish Premier League side simply because they have more money and can afford better players - look at Birmingham City's performance in the Europa League this season too.

Dalglish - undoubtedly Scotland's greatest footballer ever

The topic of whether Scottish clubs should play in England's Premier League has been around since the advent of the Premier League in 1992. Traditionalists have always said that it would not be on having Celtic and Rangers play in another country's top flight.

But for the first time, I'm going to say that Scotland's two biggest clubs should be plying their trade in their southern neighbour and here's why.

Bertos - Phoenix/All Whites star

I have seen firsthand how having the Wellington Phoenix in the higher-grade A-League has definitely boosted New Zealand football tremendously. It allowed Ricki Herbert to hone his managerial and coaching skills in the rigours of weekly club football and take those lessons on board for the All Whites' heroic 2010 World Cup campaign. It also meant the likes of Ben Sigmund, Mark Paston, Tim Brown, Shane Smeltz, Leo Bertos could play together like they would for the All Whites.

How many All Whites were selected from New Zealand's own NZ Football Championship? James Dunn's lookalike Aaron Clapham? Clapham didn't start at the World Cup and doesn't have a full-time playing contract at the moment.  

Vancouver Whitecaps v Seattle Sounders, MLS 2011

The MLS in the USA has also been allowing Canadian clubs into its competition in the last few seasons. Toronto FC was the first and last season, the Vancouver Whitecaps entered the competition - both clubs did compete in Canada's own football competition but realised that the MLS was of a much higher standard and sent through their entry forms to USA Soccer.

In time, football in Canada will surely improve although its prospects of World Cup qualification are harder given it is in a much tougher confederation than New Zealand.

Wales' Ashley Williams has benefited from Swansea being in EP

Closer to Scotland, the likes of Wrexham, Swansea and Cardiff all compete in English competitions for the same reason the Phoenix, Toronto and the Whitecaps are based in leagues outside their home countries - the football is just damn better there.

My point is, how will the likes of Kris Commons, James Forrest, Steven Whitaker, Steven Naismith ever improve as footballers if they're stuck playing very average competition each weekend? How can they stand a chance of competing against the Bayern Munichs and Udineses of this world? It's a minor miracle that Scottish clubs can actually compete with the best of Europe given the dearth of quality in their leagues.

Charlie Adam pre-Liverpool/Blackpool days at Rangers

No wonder the likes of Charlie Adam, Barry Ferguson, Craig Mikhail-Smith & Darren Fletcher all ply their trade in England. There's a limit to how long you can stay motivated to play crap football each weekend. At the same time though, isn't it sad that Scotsmen aren't able to play for their country's most famous clubs just because they're big fish in a small pond?

Wouldn't the EPL like to play at Ibrox?

Finally, no disrespect to the likes of Wigan Athletic but Celtic and Rangers have far greater support bases and potential to expand support bases which is what a Premier League club needs. Celtic and Rangers definitely attract the greatest TV audience in Scotland for any domestic Scottish side. The Premier League would be delusional not to look to try and grab that audience for Celtic v Manchester United or Rangers v Everton.

30 Gloucester Pl, London - EPL HQ

Now, the question is how would they get in? Would they have to go through the English football pyramid like all the other clubs? They could but I see no neccesity in having to go through that.

The Premier League is actually run separately from the rest of the football pyramid, i.e. the Football League. Remember in 1992, the top flight clubs split from the rest of the Football League to form the Premier League. Celtic and Rangers could apply to join the Premier League corporation which oversees the league and not have to go through promotion through the English football tiers. And they shouldn't need to.

Sepp Blatter: old fart, like most footballing bosses.

I'm craving to see the day the Scots are a competitive force in most sports. Surely, it's time to blow away tradition that has stopped working and to come up with some radical if initially unpopular thinking to bring them back up. After all, it's the radical which has always helped the likes of Spain, Germany, France and the Netherlands be football powers in Europe.


Trouble is the SFA like FIFA and most footballing bodies of some age are really old farts who hate to break with tradition. That's why we still don't have goalline technology and video replays unlike most other sports.