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BLOGS
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Suzi Williams
:Has Paralympic Sport Become the Mainstream?
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Jody Thompson
:Polo: It's Not Just for the Posh, and It's a Chukka to Play
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Tim Goodchild
:Monaco: An Exceptional Location of Glamour and Prestige
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Eric Ehrmann
:Will Dortmund Spoil Heynckes' Last Hurrah?
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Nicolas Atkin
:Final Flourish Can't Mask Benitez's Failings at Chelsea
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
From what seemed to be a crisis (according to the negative fans and media) - quite frankly doesn't seem like one anymore (if it was one in the first place.) If anything, the season is well and truly bright and hopefully 2013 sees us get something more than a top four finish.
While the bookies strongly favour Bayern, Arsenal have every chance of surprising the Germans - especially in Europe where the form book is thrown out of the window and against a notably similar side.
How can the nation which virtually invented the game in the 19th century - and certainly discovered the arts of passing, heading and crossing - now be languishing in 70th place in the current FIFA rankings, sandwiched between Uzbekistan and Guinea?
MOTD is a programme with no unique selling point. The biggest issues generally boil down to how bad and overpaid the presenters are or Lawro's hideous choice of shirt. MOTD does little more than lull me into sleep - and that's a terrible failing by the BBC.
Who knows what butterfly effect would have occurred had Koscielny and Szczesny not had that last minute moment to forget? Wenger will definitely have nightmares thinking about that as the 2010/2011 season was Arsenal's best chance of ending their trophy drought.
Footballers are terrible role models. Whether they are swearing at the referee, racially abusing each other or hiring OAP prostitutes in between burning their houses down with fireworks, it's not exactly how we'd want our children to lead their lives yet they are still referred to as role models.
It says a lot about the duopoly in Spanish football that the three point gap between Barcelona and Atlético is rarely mentioned, but that might change if Simeone ends the derby curse and Atleti finally beat Real Madrid. Now, for once, they have a chance of doing so.
I'm becoming increasingly aware of the similarities between a good ref and a successful business professional.
Bebe never should have found himself at Man United, maybe not even a Premier League team let alone one of the world's biggest and best sides. You
David Beckham has announced that the upcoming MLS final on December 1 will be his last game for LA Galaxy, as he seeks one last challenge. With a career that has seen him enjoy spells at Manchester United, Real Madrid, Milan and - er - Preston North End, where will be next for the former England captain?
Whilst wishing for six points over the Christmas period may be a forlorn hope for most, with a selection of these reads stuffed in your stocking the read on the bus, train or car home may at least spread some of that fabled seasonal comfort and joy.
English football is still light-years from a state of good health, exemplified by exploitative ticketing. Unless concrete action is taken to challenge this, admonitions like Mr Farron's will, with any luck, become more frequent and more radical until something is done.
Footballers, step up for sloppy defending; for this is exactly what the paying public wants.
It pains me to say that a bit of me will likely enjoy the unfathomable awkwardness that the whole case represents for the FA and the football press. I will, I am sorry to say, enjoy seeing how they manage to reconcile their recent history with their growing realisation that fate has dealt them a cruel, almost perfect and mouth-wateringly delicious blow.
Signs of improvement are evident at White Hart Lane and the promise of an Andre Villas-Boas revolution is still alluring but there are just a couple of infuriatingly obvious errors of judgement which need to be ironed out.
Racism is of course not solely a football problem. It's a societal problem of which football is its most public symptom. This is why it is so crucial that when it emerges in the game it is dealt with seriously and without any attempt at equivocation or sympathy towards those guilty of propagating or normalising it.
