The ‘best league in the world’ is back but a pastiche of a pundit alongside a variety of other annoyances means that may not necessarily be a good thingA Premier League season is upon us, which means it’s time for hope and joy. But I’m not feeling it, partly because I’m very grumpy and partly because I genuinely think English football is in a bad place right now. So, in that spirit, here are 15 reasons why I’m especially annoyed about the new campaign. Note – some of these are presented with tongue firmly in cheek, so please don’t write in to complain. Continue reading...
Despite all its depressing ills, this silly game can still help you forget all your banal worries – even if it’s only for a few secondsAnd so we put ourselves through this all again. Where exactly does the hope come from? Why have I put a – responsibly small – wager on Cambridge United to win the League One play-offs, when they only stayed up on the final day a couple of months ago? I look at our fixtures and cannot see us dropping a point in August. One game in and I’ve already checked the table every day since the weekend. Still fifth.How much of my, albeit very limited, journalistic integrity have I lost by placing Spurs second this...
Luton’s return to the top flight, a return of Everton’s anxieties and a big showdown at Stamford BridgeVincent Kompany’s old club provide a litmus test for his current one for the second time in six months. Burnley were storming towards the Championship title and unbeaten in 18 matches when pitted away at Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals in March. Club officials, as the new Mission to Burnley documentary reveals, viewed the tie as a gauge of Burnley’s Premier League credentials while Kompany fired up his players with talk of Wembley. They were swatted aside 6-0. There is no shame in a sound beating at the home of soon-to-be treble winners but Kompany will expect a more competitive display...
Saudi Pro League’s moves for ageing stars echo other leagues – but there is no reason why stars at their peak should not followFootball is far from perfect but it is a thing we love. It has existed in its present form for more than a century and a half. It has its rituals and its routines. It has taken on a cultural significance way beyond what is reasonable. It is a way for parents to commune with children, for exiles to maintain their links to home, a source of pride and identity for areas otherwise left behind. It lubricates the cogs of social interaction. It is everywhere: on televisions, on radios, on phones, in background conversations in offices and...
Everton have relegation battle in their own hands, Aston Villa fans face a dilemma and there will be emotional farewells galoreFor the third time in 29 years, Everton’s Premier League status is on the line on the final day at Goodison Park although, unlike against Wimbledon in 1994 or Coventry in 1998, survival is in their own hands. The task sounds straightforward enough: beat a Bournemouth team with nothing to play for and a 70th consecutive season in the top flight is guaranteed. Everton, though, have an aversion to the straightforward. Sean Dyche does not have a decent striker available with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has been integral to the team’s recent improvement, hamstrung again. Unless Vitaliy Mykolenko recovers from a...