If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
So what's the cause of this sudden groundswell of exciting Belgian talent? Nowadays on this small island, of course, you can't fall through a turnstile or click on a television set without catching sight of one of their gifted number; a ubiquitous phenomenon exclusive to no region.
So this is it: the final furlong, the last hurdle, squeaky bum time. The question is 'Can Gareth Bale haul the flaccid, deadweight of his Tottenham Hotspur team across the Champions League finishing line'? Wednesday's clash with Chelsea will most likely provide the answer.
It was late October in 1863 when Ebenezer Cobb Morley and his contemporaries gathered together in London's Freemason's Tavern, near to where Holborn tube station is today, to establish a code of rules for the regulation of football. Fast forward to today and the modern game is unrecognisable from those humble beginnings. Its global audience has never been bigger with interest in the English game growing year-on-year. With this comes huge expectation, from fans, players, managers and the media...
This is not a one-year or two-year project at QPR. This is a lifelong commitment. We need a new training ground, a new stadium and a more successful academy. The path in front of us is exciting. With a little bit of luck along the way, I am confident we can fulfil the dreams of the R's supporters over the coming weeks, months and years.
The popularity of the women's game has grown remarkably over the past 10 years, demonstrating a change in attitude and culture around the female version of the game. This is backed up by findings revealed this month that shows the number of registered girls' football teams has grown in the past decade by 15% in England.
Sam Allardyce's teams purport a type of football that may not be as pleasing to the eye as that of Barcelona or Arsenal, but it has consistently proven successful, and for the fans of his teams, that's by far the most important thing (how many Arsenal fans wouldn't sacrifice a bit of their trademark passing game in exchange for bringing the title to the Emirates?).
Today, Chelsea sit fourth in the league and in all likelihood will cling onto that place or better for the remainder of the season. It's mathematically possible for them to be champions still but a gap of 19 points to United with 10 games to go would require miracles of Red Sea proportions to make that happen.
There's only one man who's been making the headlines at White Hart Lane recently, but Sunday's performance against Arsenal showed that Tottenham Hotspur have much more about them than just Gareth Bale.
This was the match everyone was eager to see and it didn't disappoint. Enthralling in the first half thanks to Real Madrid's endeavour, intensity and quality with the ball, it became a more intriguing tactical battle after the break, and although Manchester United will be delighted with the result and an away goal, there were more than enough promising signs from the Spaniards to fill them with confidence ahead of the return leg.
A prevailing topic is the suppositional death of the 'old fashioned full-blooded tackle', yet the one thing football discussion hasn't tackled itself is the continuing existence of one of football's other old-time traditions: doping.
The public excitement around the England team will take something really special in the difficult conditions of Brazil to restore it to anything like its previous scale. Still, if we finish the year having beaten Scotland at Wembley, plenty will be happy enough. Maybe actually the FA's 150th anniversary fixture list is inspired after all, by the management of low expectations?
This week, there was promising progress in the ongoing battle for football fans to get their voices heard. After mammoth efforts from organisations such as Supporters' Direct and the Football Supporters' Federation, as well as individual fans, the Culture, Media and Sport select committee have recommended what is surely obvious - that supporters' opinions deserve to be heard.
There's something reassuringly old-fashioned about Scott Parker as a footballer; the unflappable side-parting, the perma-grass-stained knees, the affection for bone-shuddering challenges.
While there's no denying that the R's are peppering precariously around the relegation trapdoor, there are some rock-solid reasons QPR can escape the dreaded drop.
The stats are impressive but much of the transfer hype is based around a striker who is able to do a lot more than just score goals. He is excellent at holding the ball up, linking with other players and positioning himself during counter-attacks.
Many have an allegiance due to family or school connections (like I do), where stopping going simply isn't a viable option. This makes the current situation even sadder though, as fans are being held to ransom by clubs (and ultimately a system) caught up in a downward spiral of debt and short-term goals.
