Time to sit down and be counted...

If the Carlos Tevez affair is responsible for one thing, it's the slanging match which has since erupted between the fans of all those clubs involved.

Followers of Wigan Athletic, Sheffield United et al pointed the finger at West Ham claiming they'd cheated on the rest of the Premier League, and in return West Ham fans turned to Wigan with suggestions that they're a small club not fit for purpose in the top flight.

And what's the reasoning behind that particular argument? Well let's just say it appears to be a lack of support on the part of the Wigan fans. It doesn't take the most well-honed observation skills to notice that the JJB Stadium is somewhat underfilled on any given matchday, and perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by that.

Wigan has traditionally been a rugby town most notably fielding strong teams in the League code for the last hundred years or more. Wigan Athletic Football Club only became a fully-fledged League team in 1978, and by the time that happened, few seemed willing to devote themselves to a life following the round ball game. The trend for scarce supporting of the local football team was therefore set for many years to come.

Yet after nearly three decades floundering in the lower divisions of the English game, Wigan finally reached the top flight in 2005 and this was seen as the best chance ever to attract more supporters to the club. Sadly, attendance figures struggled to reach any ambitious targets that may have been set, despite the recently-built JJB Stadium being a modern and attractive home venue.

So just how did Wigan compare to other clubs when it came to filling up their stadium during the 2006/2007 Premier League season? As ever, we at Some People Are On The Pitch decided to crunch those all-important numbers to find out...*

First of all, let's consider stadia capacity in the Premier League. Old Trafford and the Emirates Stadium are at the top of the list and rather admirably they were over 99% full throughout last season. So if Man United and Arsenal were able to fill huge stadia with capacities of 60,000 to 80,000, surely it should be easy to do the same with a stadium containing around 20,000 seats, right?



Right - if you're Watford, Portsmouth, Fulham or Reading. Wrong, however, if you're Wigan. Their stadium is, capacity-wise, the fifth smallest in the Premier League at 25,138, yet over the whole of the last season it was only ever 72.2% full. Not particularly impressive, it has to be said.

Somewhat surprising is that Wigan's stadium wasn't the emptiest overall. That goes to Blackburn's Ewood Park which, despite having a capacity of 31,154, was only 68.2% full all season.



At the other end of the scale, a special mention should go to Sheffield United who, prior to relegation, kept their 30,000-seater stadium over 99.4% full this year. And that's really where we come back to our original point.

For some, a club that has a strong, loyal following can earn great respect regardless of how big it is. It can be forgiven the occasional grumble when things aren't going so well because you know the support and love of its fans will carry it through in the end.

Looking at the graph above, however, you're left with the feeling that out of Sheffield United and Wigan, perhaps the wrong team were relegated. They may have had Neil Warnock as manager, but at least Sheffield United could earn great respect from the devoted following of its huge army of fans.

* Source: Football365

Foreign Legions

How proud I felt recently as I drove to work, listening to the radio. Three English teams had qualified for the Champions League semi-finals with every chance of an all-English Final.

What a shame that the pride which was enveloping my whole body at a staggering rate came to a shuddering halt just as quickly. You see, it occurred to me that Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea weren't English teams in the true sense because the vast majority of their players were born elsewhere. English clubs, maybe, but not teams.

As anyone will tell you, the modern game is a truly international one, bursting at the seems with star talent from all four corners of the world. The debate about whether an abundance of foreign players in our leagues is a good thing continues relentlessly, but when you look at the facts it's quite startling just how insignificant English players are becoming in their own country - particularly in the Premiership.

Just over a year ago, Alan Pardew (then manager of West Ham) openly criticised Arsene Wenger for fielding an Arsenal side in the Champions League that featured no English players. Wenger replied by calling Pardew a racist, yet even as this season ended Arsenal could boast only seven Englishmen in their squad of thirty-six - the joint-lowest number for any team in the Premiership.

So does it work in Wenger's favour to have a squad where English is just one of eighteen nationalities represented (and in such small numbers)? Some People Are On The Pitch decided to find out...

The Premiership
In terms of trophies won, Arsenal have nothing to show for this season or the last, yet an appearance in last season's Champions League Final, a Premiership title back in 2004 and numerous runs to the latter stages of the FA Cup all suggest quality gets you somewhere.

The same can be said of Liverpool. Winners of the Champions League in 2005 and finalists this year, winners of the FA Cup in 2006 and always a certainty to finish in the top four of the Premiership, Englishmen account for just over three in every ten in their squad.

But gaining success through foreign purchases isn't necessarily the way forward. Fulham have fought hard to avoid relegation from the Premiership in recent seasons, yet English players make up less than 22% of their roster. This season they won just one of their nineteen away games and a little over a third of their games at home.

Fulham, however, may just be a bad example - a team that's bought the wrong foreign players. Buying (or at least developing) English players has brought about the wrong outcome for Sheffield United, Watford and West Ham. All three can claim at least 60% of their squad are English, and yet they've all shared a season-long effort to avoid being on the relegation trapdoor when it mattered.

During the 2006/07 season, the overall picture showed that out of 653 squad players in the Premiership, only 282 were English. That accounts for about 43% in total and whichever way you look at it, that's got to be to the detriment of the national side. Yes, many of the foreign players coming to England bring with them the skills, work ethic and commitment that can rub off on the home-grown talent that needs such influence, but when Steve McLaren tells his team to play 'the English way', how many will actually know what he means?

Perhaps it would help to know where all the foreign players in the Premiership are coming from. The answer: seventy different countries. That's more nationalities than are represented in the top leagues of Spain, France, Germany or Italy.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales aside, Ireland, France, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, USA and Portugal are all big providers of players for the English top flight. Look further afield and some countries that barely even registered on the football ten years ago also show strongly. Jamaica, Senegal, Iceland and Finland can currently claim to make a healthy contribution to many squads in a bigger way than they ever have before.

And if it's sheer novelty value that lights your candle, you'll be wanting to know where the most obscure homelands are for some of the Premiership's playing multitude. If that's the case, look no further than Oman, Grenada and Sierra Leone.

But how does the Premiership match up with La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A or the Bundesliga? How much do they rely on foreign players to bring success?



La Liga
Spain has been arguably the most successful country over the last few years in terms of providing the finalists for the Champions League and UEFA Cup, and yet it can claim over 63% of its players are from Spain itself - that's 20% more than the Premiership.

As for the number of nationalities represented in its teams' squads, well that's only 41 compared to 70 in the Premiership. Naturally enough, Spanish-speaking countries are among the biggest suppliers of players, although such novelties as Canada and Equatorial Guinea are also represented to a lesser extent.

Looking at the most successful teams of late, Barcelona have the lowest proportion of home-based players (just under 36%) and they're the 2006 La Liga champions. Seville follow a similar approach when it comes to foreign players. They've got lots of them, but it hasn't stopped them winning the UEFA Cup for the second year running or challenging Barca and Real Madrid for this year's league title.

The pattern matches England at the foot of the table, too. Two of the bottom three, Gimnastic and Real Sociedad, have a squad that's about three-quarters Spanish, but between them are Celta Vigo whose squad is about half Spanish, half foreign. That's more than twice as many as their equivalent, Fulham, in England.



Serie A
Milan have been at the forefront of Italian football over the last few years. They played Liverpool in the Champions League final of 2005 and will do so again in the 2007 Final. They've also done well to reach third place in Serie A with two games remaining although the 32 point gap between themselves and top-of-the-table Inter is, to be reasonable, one they'll struggle to close.

This season, Milan can claim the largest number of Italians playing in a top-division side, but then they have the largest squad too - a whopping forty-six players. It works out that their squad is about two-thirds home-grown, which happens to be on a par with Ascoli and Messina who are already relegated to Serie B.

Torino's squad is 95% Italian, yet they've been struggling to avoid relegation until recently. In addition, Reggina have dropped into the bottom three and their squad is almost 88% home-grown.

Of the nationalities accounted for in Serie A squads, South America provides its share with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile all prominent. France also appears high on the list with a number of central and eastern European nations, while at the other end of the scale, Siena can claim to have made the bold move of securing the services of someone from Liechtenstein. You won't be surprised to hear they could still be relegated too...



Bundesliga
Germany's success in European club competitions is no longer the formality it used to be and when it does come, it's difficult to tell who'll achieve it.

Of those teams that have recently reached the latter stages of the Champions League or the UEFA Cup (and indeed those near the top of the Bundesliga at present), their squads are more or less a fifty-fifty split between Germans and foreigners. A fair and even split, perhaps, but one which isn't bringing them much in the way of glory on the continent.

Of the three teams to be relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga this season, Alemania Aachen stands out as they have the highest proportion of German players in any squad - 72%. The other two teams going down - Borussia Mönchengladbach and Mainz both have a half-and-half split, more or less.

Back in the top division, the Bundesliga draws on 59 countries outside of Germany for its playing staff. Brazil is again a big provider, but no corner of Europe is seemingly left unsearched as it strives to unearth the stars of tomorrow. Why, there's even an Englishman on the list - one Owen Hargreaves of Bayern Munich... but for how much longer?



Ligue 1
Finally we come to France and here's where all logic seems to go out of the window where foreign players are concerned. At the top of the tree, as has been the case for some time now, are this season's champions Lyon. Their squad is about two-thirds French - slightly above average for the whole league - yet only seven nationalities are represented amongst them.

Those figures are almost exactly the same as for Sedan, yet they've just been relegated. In third place at the moment with one game remaining are Lens. Their squad is 55% French and have eleven nationalities on their roster - figures which almost exactly match Troyes, one of the other teams dropping down to Ligue 2 next season.

In French football, the concept of a 'foreign' player is perhaps less significant than anywhere else in Europe as even those that were born overseas generally come from French-speaking countries anyway. It's not uncommon to see squad members deriving from places like Algeria, Cameroon, Senegal and the Ivory Coast, so maybe that explains the middling success of those teams from Ligue 1 in Europe?



Summary
So what can we tell from all this statistical analysis? In short, the French are struggling because most of their best talent is playing abroad in places like England and Spain. English clubs are better off because of that and the influx of players from many other parts of the world, yet the national team aren't benefiting from it.

Spanish clubs are fiercely loyal towards developing talent from their own country and have worked it to their advantage, but once again the national team continue to struggle. The Germans, conversely, have a strong national team at the moment yet their clubs can't find a winning formula no matter how many foreign players they employ.

Then there are the Italians. World champions and providers of some of the best club sides in Europe such as Milan, they follow the same approach as Spain and yet have worked it to their advantage.

A model, therefore, for every discerning country in the world to follow, and they achieved all that as well as a considerable amount of fan violence and corruption at the highest level. You've got to admire the Italians...

(BONUS MATERIAL! For more graphs and stuff relating to this article, click here to download a PDF containing all the info you need.)

Premiership Predicitons 2006/07 - Result

Way back on August 15th 2006, SPAOTP ran an article where Smart and I attempted to predict the final table for the 2006/07 Premiership season. Our regular contributor, Kedge, joined in the fun by doing the same, and by way of a fourth contributor we used the prediction of FourFourTwo magazine too.

So now the season's over, how well did we all do? Well I think it's fair to say that we proved that making predictions of this sort is a treacherous business, but we were incredibly far-sighted in some ways.

If you look at the graphic below (click for an enlarged version), you'll see that myself, Smart and FourFourTwo all succeeded in correctly guessing three positions in the table while Kedge got one right.



Strangely enough, it was Tottenham that proved to be the easier of the teams to guess the fate of, and only then, presumably, by suggesting they'd finish in fifth place like they'd done the previous season.

As ever, it was a fairly safe bet to pick the weakest of the newly-promoted sides to finish bottom, and this season it was poor old Watford. No surprises there, but one has to note that Kedge picked a fairly adventurous set of predictions which featured Sheffield United at the bottom and Watford directly above them. Not so far from the truth there, then.

The enlightening bit, however, comes when you analyse our comments from that previous post back in August. I, in my wisdom, stated that "Aston Villa will improve on last season under Martin O'Neill but it's going to take some time to achieve" and that "two of the new boys will go straight back down with only Reading capable of really causing any flicker of an upset."

Someone hand me a lottery ticket...

Having seen Smart's predictions, I also commented "Portsmouth in ninth is an interesting choice. Why did you plump for that?" Strange I should single out his Portsmouth prediction specifically when it turned out to be one of the three correct ones he made!

In other ways we weren't so accurate. Smart suggested that "the further the [English UEFA Cup entrants] go, the lower down the league I think they will finish". Given that Tottenham reached the quarter finals and still finished fifth in the league, it's fair to say he was slightly wide of the mark with that... mind you, most of the other English teams didn't go that far in the UEFA Cup to give us an alternative comparison.

I was also guilty of suggesting that "Gareth Southgate will struggle badly in his first season as manager of Middlesbrough" where, in reality, they finished 12th. Who'd be a pundit, eh?

Overall, taking into consideration where we positioned each team in our predictions compared to the eventual table, Martin was the most accurate. On average, each team in his prediction was only 2.5 places away from where they should have been, which was pretty impressive.

Both FourFourTwo and I trailed in next with an average of about three positions difference between my line-up and the final table, and Kedge wasn't far behind with an average of just under 3.5.

All in all then, not a bad effort on all our parts. Congratulations to Smart on winning the contest and let's hope we all manage to do even better next season. (Just thirteen weeks left to get your predictions ready, by the way...)

Over for another year...

Well, that's it my friends. Another Premiership season has come to an end and although it may not have been exciting all the way through, it certainly had an exciting finish.

Manchester United were, for my money, worthy champions. They were the most consistent, had the best goalscorers and were able to get a result more often than everyone else while playing badly. Not that they finished with a good result yesterday, but then they didn't need to. All the damage had been done right from week one and no-one could match them for sheer quality week in, week out.

As has been mentioned before, one man stood out for them – Cristiano Ronaldo. He created chances and scored goals with great skill and competency, thereby justifying Sir Alex Ferguson's determination to buy him in the first place. Together with Wayne Rooney (who had a few 'quiet' spells this season) and old faces like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, United had all the weaponry they needed to run out as the number one team at season's end.

Chelsea matched United step for step at the start of the season and were all set to make it a genuine two-horse race, but my November the Blues had started to crack and by the end of December a six-point lead had opened up. Two months later it was a nine point gap, and the fight was as good as over.

Jose Mourinho's men just couldn't recapture the spark of the last two seasons. Lampard was regularly below par, John Terry and Joe Cole were often absent through injury and the likes of Ballack and Shevchenko frankly didn't live up to their inflated price tags. They managed to reduce Man United's lead towards the end of the season, but they'd left it too late. At least they'd won the League Cup back in February, though.

Arsenal were surprisingly below-par too, finishing fourth this year. They also foundered during November, picking up just four points - a run of form that transferred to their Champions League campaign (where they were knocked out in the second round) and the FA Cup (which they exited in round five).

Despite being fourth in the table for much of the year, they never ventured much higher, largely due to the absence of their outstanding striker Thierry Henry due to numerous injuries. Their only honour of note this season was as runners-up to Chelsea in the aforementioned League Cup final which they reached on the strength of their younger players performances in earlier rounds.

Liverpool claimed third spot in the league on goal difference from the Gunners and also reached the Champions League final where they'll once again meet AC Milan later this month. Rafa Benitez has once again mixed experience burgeoning young talent to create one of the best Liverpool sides seen for many years. Peter Crouch's England form last summer continued into the early part of the Premiership season while Steven Gerrard maintained his high standards with many a fine performance in the famous red shirt.

At the back, Jamie Carragher, Steve Finnan and John Arne Riise remained rock solid, giving Liverpool one of the best defensive records of anyone. In goal too, Jose Reina gave the team even more resilience, restricting Jerzy Dudek to a handful of appearances this season.

Martin Jol should be feeling very proud of himself. Not content with steering Tottenham into the UEFA Cup at the end of last season by finishing fifth in the Premiership, he did so all over again, equalling their highest league position since 1990.

The undoubted star of the show was Dimitar Berbatov, a close season signing from Bayer Leverkusen who scored, on average, one goal in every two games he played in all competitions. Berbatov showed a high level of skill and ingenuity in the games he played, but never in an overly fancy way. The Bulgarian's brilliance on the ball was born out of sheer technical efficiency, doing exactly what was necessary to score goals - no more, no less. It spearheaded Tottenham into another UEFA Cup campaign next season where you can expect them to at least match this season's run to the quarter finals.

Everton and Bolton both improved on last season's final positions and consequently earned a place in the UEFA Cup next season too. Rather worryingly for Bolton, however, is the recent departure of Sam Allardyce who undoubtedly gave them the sort of edge that Sammy Lee will find difficult to maintain.

Blackburn and Newcastle both failed to qualify for the UEFA Cup as they did last season, but all is not lost for Mark Hughes men as their tenth place finish gives them entry to the Intertoto Cup. An opponent from Lithuania, Wales or Poland will initially attempt to derail Blackburn's face-saving exercise in the summer.

Having saved Newcastle from relegation last year, Glenn Roeder can feel rightfully unimpressed at the way his contract came to a premature end recently, but with Sam Allardyce looking likely as his replacement, the fans may be right to expect more success for their club in 2007/08.

Without question the best of the promoted teams this season were Reading. Following in the footsteps of West Ham and Wigan the season before, Steve Coppell's men did exceptionally well to finish eighth, just missing out on qualification to the UEFA Cup by a single point.

Reading's strength came from the sheer range of players that could score goals for them. Though Leroy Lita and Kevin Doyle excelled with a combined total of 20 goals, others such as Hunt, Sidwell, Kitson and Ki-Hyeon were all on standby to put the ball in the net too on many occasions.

Both Portsmouth and Aston Villa can be well satisfied with a mid-table finish after escaping relegation last year. Martin O'Neill arrived amid much optimism that he could turn Villa's fortunes around and despite failing to finish in the top-half of the table, they weren't far off in the end.

Harry Redknapp has worked wonders for Pompey. In his inimitable fashion, he's taken the cast-offs from clubs like Arsenal and Tottenham and brought in overseas talent like Benjani Mwaruwari and Niko Kranjcar to make a far more potent team than that we saw last term.

Middlesbrough and Manchester City continued to tread water, fairing only slightly better than last year although both managed to reach the quarter finals of the FA Cup.

And then there was the bottom six, almost all flirting with relegation at some point of the season or another. Watford, predictably but no less unfortunately were the favourites to return to the Championship and were the first to confirm their departure. Above them, Charlton and West Ham remained stuck in the bottom three almost permanently with no way means of getting out.

That was until February when Charlton, now under the leadership of Alan Pardew, went on a run of form that saw them lose only once in eight games. Similarly at Upton Park, West Ham threw off their pre-Christmas takeover shackles to secure seven wins in their last nine games. It was this run which unquestionably set them up for a last-day rescue act they could not have foreseen a couple of months ago.

Sadly for Charlton, a return to their previous poor form came as they failed to win any of their last seven games. It means the Addicks will be absent from the top flight next season for the first time since 2000.

Joining them and Watford, somewhat surprisingly, are Sheffield United. Surprising because they'd looked to be playing well enough to stay in the Premiership all season, even if they weren't setting it on fire. A slow start was eventually improved upon and Neil Warnock's team were comfortably above the relegation places but once again the run-in to the end of the season proved critical.

A 3-0 win over West Ham was the only decent result they earned and though they were fifth from bottom going into yesterday's games, it wasn't good enough. Defeat to Wigan by two goals to one became their undoing.

While Fulham underachieved once again, flirting with relegation right up until the penultimate week of the season, Wigan were in much more trouble. Earning many plaudits for last season's feats on their Premiership debut, the Latics headed into turmoil during the middle of March. Seven matches without a win caused deep concern all round and entry into the bottom three came at the wrong time for Paul Jewel and his men.

On the last day of the season, Wigan had to get their first win in eight. They scored first through Paul Scharner, conceded an equaliser from Jon Stead and had Lee McCulloch sent off, but a David Unsworth penalty gave Wigan a 2-1 lead which was enough to earn them another season in the Premiership. It was all the more ironic given that Sheffield United had sold Unsworth to Wigan back in January.

And that was that. Chelsea gave way to Man United as champions, Wigan and West Ham grimly held onto their Premiership status and Liverpool reached the Champions League final. It was quite a season, and quite a finalé.

The SPAOTP Awards 2007 : Player of the Season

Time now for us to give you our verdict on who the best player in the Premiership has been during the 2006/07 season.

Once again, we'll give you the results in reverse order, thus maintaining a reasonable degree of excitement which admittedly could be undermined by a liberal use of the scroll bar...

3rd: Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
The 2007 African Footballer of the Year is currently top scorer in the Premiership with 19 goals and continues to pay back the £24 million that Chelsea paid out for him.

For a while this season we thought he'd sorted out that diving problem he once had, but recent weeks have seen him revert to his old ways. He still scores some cracking goals though, so it's 3rd place for the Chelsea number 11.

2nd: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)
A surprising choice to some, but Liverpool's vice-captain has been so diligent in his defensive duties that we feel he deserves great credit.

Carragher is part of a Liverpool defence which has conceded the second least number of goals (24) to Chelsea and which has let in just five goals at home all season.

Reliable and competent in what he does, we can at least be assured that there's one England player who'll give us hope for the future. The best defender in the country this season, bar none.

1st: Cristiano Ronaldo
Predictable perhaps, but with good reason. Starting out as a player whose repertoire of ball skills ran to just one - the much over-used stepover - Ronaldo has blossomed into a multi-faceted midfielder par excellence.

As we're probably all aware by now, he can raise the pulse of any spectator whenever he receives the ball. What he chooses to do with it is at the heart of the expectation that Ronaldo brings.

Swift runs, incisive passes, goal-bound free-kicks - hell, even a trick that's not a stepover, if you're lucky - it's always good to watch, even if a little painful should he be playing against your team.

That said, Ronaldo's not perfect. Like Drogba, he's capable of the odd unsavoury indiscretion like that first seen in the Euro 2004 incident with Wayne Rooney. Luckily, his good points outweigh the bad and this has been acknowledged by the Professional Footballers Association who recently honoured him with their Player of the Year award and Young Player of the Year Award for 2007.

We realise he's not everyone's cup of tea. You might think he's a show-off, a cheat, a narcissistic coathanger, whatever... at the heart of it all, he's a player who scores lots of goals, makes things happen and poses a threat to any team playing against him. That's why we've made him our Player of the Season.

Brainstorm #2

Time once again to get the old grey cells working as we attempt to solve one of the problems of modern-day football, and today's scenario is given to us by Chelsea manager José Mourinho.

Following his team's 0-0 draw with Newcastle United yesterday, 'The Special One' bemoaned the fact that Middlesbrough hadn't been awarded a penalty in the dying moments of their game against Manchester United on Saturday. It would have almost certainly won them the game causing United to lose all three points enabling Chelsea to close the gap in their race for the Premiership title with Sir Alex Ferguson's men.

Mourinho was quoted as saying: "It was a penalty at Old Trafford. It was a penalty to us. We are talking about points. It is not a conspiracy, it is fact. I speak facts. If you tell me it was not a penalty for Sheffield United, or a penalty for Middlesbrough, or for us against Newcastle, I must go to my optician."

So what are you to do if you feel your arch-enemies are being given preferential treatment by every referee in the country?

Mr. Mourinho, you're in luck as SPAOTP has the answer. We've been working through the night to come up with a solution and after much mental gymnastics, this is it:

Win more games, thereby avoiding the reliance on other teams being awarded occasional penalties.

It's a solution we like, and we hope you like it too.

Next time on Brainstorm: Neil Warnock asks why poor teams should even be allowed to play in the Premiership.

News Catch-up

A selection of recent news stories from the world of football that we'd love to have talked about earlier but frankly didn't have the time...

Neil Desperandum

How very sad. How incredibly ignorant and pathetic.

That was my reaction to the utterances of Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock last Friday as he was interviewed on the eve of their match against West Ham. Warnock was aggrieved by the fact that West Ham were likely to avoid relegation due to a goal scored by Hayden Mullins against the Blades in their previous encounter which should not have been given and another scored recently by Bobby Zamora against Blackburn where the ball never actually crossed the line.

Such things happen in football as we all know, but because Warnock's side are now slipping dangerously close to the relegation zone that West Ham may now scramble out of, he feels West Ham don't deserve to stay up. By his reckoning, West Ham have played poorly all season as reflected in the poor number of points they've accrued (which no-one can deny), but what an insult it would be if they avoided the drop on the back of those two 'non-goals'?

He even went on to say that “everyone else will be very bitter” if the Hammers were to stay in the Premiership (by a single point) too.

Well here's a reminder for Mr. Warnock: the Premiership is played over an entire season, and if at the end of that season West Ham somehow manage to gain just enough points to stay up while Sheffield United endure months without a win, he'll have no-one to blame but his miserable old self.

It's hard to be spiteful about an individual - especially one who this season has been less irascible and outspoken than in the past - but on the basis of his comments last week it has to be said that this emotionless man deserves to be banished back to the lower leagues he languished in for so long.

Chelsea v Man U x 3

So we appear to be heading for a triple showdown between Chelsea and Manchester United, but what are we to make of it all?

If the great fixture organiser in the sky has his way, we could be seeing a European Champions League Final, an FA Cup Final and a Premiership decider all featuring the top two teams in England. Such a mouthwatering prospect... or is it?

On paper, it could be a chance to see two teams that both think they're the best thing since sliced bread battling it out in a goal-packed and somewhat fractious series of games, but do we need to see the same thing played out in triplicate?

Yes, they're both great teams that at times play to a breathtakingly high standard, but the big games are an ideal opportunity to showcase the variety and talent of as many teams as possible and to that end it's a pity we may be denied the chance to see it.

And I know what you're going to say - it's not the fault of Chelsea or Man United that they've been successful enough to get where they are - but it's got to be a fear amongst many that follow the game that this may be the start of a trend that leads to only the biggest teams battling it out for glory.

In the meantime, let's keep our fingers crossed that we at least get to see one game between the two that shows the quality they have as a sign of the best that the Premiership has to offer.

Brazil to host the 2014 World Cup... maybe...

On the eve of UEFA's announcement on who's to host the 2012 European Championships, FIFA has given notification that Colombia have now dropped out of the race to host the 2014 World Cup. This leaves Brazil as the only contenders under FIFA's continental rotation policy that dictates that the World Cup after next should be held in South America.

But before you pack your yellow and green shirt and head off for your apartment overlooking Copacabana beach, be warned: things aren't as cut and dried as they look.

The problem is that Brazil lack the wherewithal to host the World Cup. Its stadia are in desperate need of an overhaul, its transport links are feeble and the money to improve both is practically non-existent. Even if the Brazilian government could somehow stump up the money to make such wide-ranging improvements, it would meet vehement opposition from the public who feel it would be better spent on education, crime and poverty.

And yet by taking on such a huge project, Brazil could make things better for themselves. The jobs created to improve the transport systems and build nearby hotels could invigorate the local and national economy. The notoriously low attendance figures for league football would undoubtedly be boosted and who knows - maybe tomorrow's young players would want to ply their trade in their home country rather than in Europe?

Deep down, I suspect many of us would love to see the World Cup return to Brazil for the first time since 1950. It represents the spiritual and emotional aspects of the competition and the game of football itself to millions all over the world, so it seems only right that Brazil should provide it with a temporary home in seven years time. Don't be surprised, though, if sheer practicality dictates that the World Cup doesn't on this occasion return to the birthplace of Jairzinho, Rivelino and Pélé.

Continuing the theme about penalties...

Guest writer: Kedge

It’s a Saturday night. There you are curled up on the sofa with the one you love (a can of lager?) watching 'Match of the Day'...

The post match interview: on comes one of the managers, usually French with a name that sounds like 'Whinger' and complains about the referee favouring the opposition.

So which teams get all the penalty decisions in their favour?

Based on the number of goals scored from the spot in the Premiership so far this season (because I didn’t have easy access to the actual number of penalties awarded), here's what I found:

8 goals
Arsenal

6 goals
Bolton
Everton
Aston Villa

5 goals
Tottenham

4 goals
Man Utd
Liverpool
Blackburn
Newcastle
Middlesbrough

3 goals
Chelsea
Fulham
Charlton

2 goals
Reading
Portsmouth
Man City
Wigan
Sheff Utd

1 goal
West Ham
Watford

Was that the result you expected?

Penalties to settle matches?

Guest writer: Kedge

Some daft beggar recently suggested that penalties should be used to decide the outcome of matches. Great if you’re the manager of France, Italy, Portugal, or even Nigeria. That’s because your players will get all the penalty practice they need. Apart from Lampoon and maybe one of the Charlton Bents, no other Englishman gets to take them, let alone finding a team with five English players.

So rather than changing the game, why not change the points system?

How about 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and a point per goal scored and minus 1 for a goal conceded?

On that basis the current table would look like this:



Then I thought, why not bring discipline into the equation? Yellow cards count as -1, red as -2.

So the new table looks like this:



Not a lot changes, but I think it confirms that West Ham are doomed and Blackburn need to do something about their disciplinary record or they’ll be in trouble as well.

Brainstorm: Football problems solved

In our new series, we at SPAOTP will attempt to take some of the bigger problems and issues of the modern game and solve them on behalf of those most affected.

It may take a lot of time and no small amount of 'thinking outside the box' to find the answer, but we think it’ll be worth it as we strive to make football a better game for everyone.

Today’s problem was highlighted by Mr Chris Coleman, manager of Premiership football club Fulham. He’s frustrated because his team have only played two games in the last four weeks and thinks the fixture list is a “nonsense”. He says:

"The fixtures amaze me because at the start of the season you play three games in the first week, then towards the end of the season when the players are fighting fit, you have a two-week break and we've got just two games in a month."

So let’s see: there’s only a couple of months left of the Premiership season, and Chris Coleman’s team are finding they’ve got a lot of time on their hands. Why would that be?

Well we at SPAOTP have sat down to brainstorm the situation, and we think we have the answer.

The clue is in the word ‘March’. You see back in September, Fulham played their first game of the 2006/07 League Cup against Wycombe Wanderers and lost 2-1, thereby eliminating them from the competition. Then just five weeks ago in February, Fulham crashed out in the fifth round of this season’s FA Cup after a 4-0 home defeat to Tottenham.

All of which means that Chris Coleman’s side now find themselves in March 2007 with only Premiership fixtures left to play, and even some of those are at risk of postponement as their more successful opponents are still involved in the FA Cup or European competition.

Our answer to the problem for Mr Coleman, is this then: Manage your team so they play better and reach the latter stages of cup competitions. This will in turn provide a steady supply of fixtures right the way through to the end of May.

Next time on Brainstorm: Glenn Roeder asks why his Newcastle United side have so many games to play at this time of the season. Until next time, goodbye…

As one window opens...

If it's the end of January, it must be the end of the second trading period for each of the Premiership clubs. After today, no more players can be purchased until the summer hiatus, so who's put their hands in their pockets since the start of the month and why?

Well West Ham have been most active - unsurprisingly and with some justification. With new owners willing to spend much of their hard-earned fortune and a team that's lacking quality and confidence, it wasn't exactly a bolt from the blue when new players started arriving through the gates of Upton Park.

Among those joining the payroll at West Ham were Luis Boa Morte from Fulham, Lucas Neill from Blackburn and just today, Matthew Upson from Birmingham. Boa Morte has already injected some much-needed pace to the team, but Neill is now injured and could be out of the side for a few weeks.

Aston Villa have made a couple of eye-opening acquisitions. John Carew is a regular scorer who's done well at Valencia in recent times and Ashley Young has left behind Watford to join Martin O'Neill's team that has slipped well into the bottom half of the table of late. He'll be hoping both will bring more in the way of goals than Milan Baros did - he's been sold to Lyon in exchange for Carew.

Blackburn have sought to bolster their defence with three new signings. Liverpool's Steven Warnock, Christopher Samba from Hertha Berlin and Basel's Bruno Berner all come in along with David Dunn for a second stint at Ewood Park to try and push Blackburn back into the top half of the table.

Suffering Charlton have brought in Zheng Zhi from China on loan - he's their international captain - and they've also punched their weight by bringing in Ben Thatcher from Manchester City for £500,000. Will it be enough to save them from relegation by the end of the season?

Neither Arsenal or Chelsea have seen the need to bring in anyone new to their squads but Arsenal have surprisingly offloaded Lauren to Portsmouth. The Cameroon international had slipped down the pecking order under Arsene Wenger but Harry Redknapp knows a bargain when he sees one and may yet give Lauren a chance to shine at Fratton Park.

Everton have cast their net abroad to pick up a couple of new midfielders. Their push for a UEFA Cup spot will no doubt benefit from the arrival of Anderson da Silva, the Brazilian who joins from Montevideo on loan and Portuguese international Manuel Fernandes who arrives on loan from Benfica.

Leaving Goodison is Simon Davies whose impact hasn't quite been as big as was hoped. He joins Fulham along with Clint Dempsey, American international, former Chelsea, Charlton and Portsmouth star Alexei Smertin and Italian veteran Vincenzo Montella, who's already started scoring goals for his new side. It might just be the winning combination Chris Coleman's been looking for as he tries to keep a foothold in the Premiership for another season.

One of the most notable signings has been Henrik Larsson's short-term move to Manchester United. He, too, has started paying back some of the money Sir Alex Ferguson splashed out and it'll cross his mind that an extension to his stay could be worth looking into come the end of the season.

Over at the Riverside, Middlesbrough have put the emphasis on removal rather than addition. Out goes a trio of recognisable names - Ray Parlour, Ugo Ehiogu and Massimo Maccarone. Tottenham have also released some high profile players in the form of Edgar Davids (who goes back to Holland and more specifically Ajax), Reto Ziegler and Calum Davenport - one of West Ham's other purchases.

But aside from all these purchases, one thing may have escaped your attention: an increasing trend for signing celebrity names. SPAOTP can confirm that Manchester City have signed Michael Ball in a move that will test every fan's resolve, and Reading have snapped up Alan Bennett which should also get numerous heads talking.

Oh and one more thing: don't tell the chairman of Blackburn Rovers about Everton's latest signing. It's Mark Hughes.

I didn't realise he was still playing...

Only as good as your last game?

Some say football's gone a bit stale, that it needs a bit of excitement injected into it. The same old teams winning, the usual suspects doing badly and ending up on the scrapheap.

What are we to do? Maybe we could wait and see what Michel Platini will introduce to the game as the new head of UEFA? Easier still, wait ten minutes to see what brainstorm Sepp Blatter comes up with - he's always good for a laugh.

No, it's no good. What we need is a radical new system to change the way the game's played in order to liven things up a bit, and I think I have the answer.

To be fair, it's not really a new idea as it's something I remember from my childhood, but it's certainly worth considering. (Well it is if you want a bit of fun.)

It's called the Ladder League system and here's how it works. Let's say on a hypothetical Saturday afternoon, there's a match between Newcastle (sitting in 10th place in the Premiership) and Fulham (in 16th). Joy of joys, Fulham end up winning the match, but instead of awarding them three points as is currently the case, you make them swap places in the league - Fulham taking 10th spot and Newcastle dropping to 16th. If it had been a draw, they'd stay where they are.

OK, so it's not the fairest system in the world, but let's take another look at it. Imagine if Man United - top of the league - were playing Watford - propping up the table at the bottom. In one fell swoop, Aidy Boothroyd could see his team top the league by putting in one incredible performance to beat Sir Alex Ferguson's lot. Watford would never have more motivation to play well and Man United would have no option but to play well for fear of ending up bottom of the table.

Of course it's not a complete win-win situation. For the team higher up in the table, they'd be purely playing to avoid defeat so they can stay in the same position after the match. Defensive performances could be commonplace, but imagine what it'd be like on the last day of the season. Your team could end up - almost by random - playing another in the bottom three. Your team could be relegated when everything seemed safe the week before. Conversely, your team could end up winning the title or qualifying for Europe when previously there was no such hope. The atmosphere at that final game would be unbelievable.

You see - it seemed like a churlish suggestion earlier, but you must be thinking it's an idea that's got some legs now, aren't you? And if you're wondering how the Premiership would be looking at the present time if such a system had been implemented this season, here's the answer:

1 Liverpool
2 Charlton
3 Chelsea
4 Middlesbrough
5 Bolton
6 Arsenal
7 Watford
8 Reading
9 Everton
10 Man City
11 Man United
12 Aston Villa
13 Wigan
14 Sheff United
15 Fulham
16 Newcastle
17 Portsmouth
18 Blackburn
19 Tottenham
20 West Ham

Obviously the season hasn't finished yet, but you can see that some of the positions are looking about right already. Chelsea are near the top, West Ham are near the bottom... not such a flight of fantasy, eh?

Right, that's that then. A system that guarantees excitment in spades, extreme highs and lows - everything a fan could want. Somebody get me Sepp Blatter's e-mail address, please...

Does your club hit the net on the Web?

The Web, it's been said, is a wonderful thing. How did the world ever cope prior to 1996 (or somewhere thereabouts) without so much information at its fingertips? We've all embraced this amazing resource to such an extent that it now forms a part of our daily lives. Many of us regularly find time to visit our favourite websites - be they search engines, online auctions or news sites, but what if you're into footy in a big way? What's out there for the keen fan of the round leather ball game?

Quite a bit, as you can imagine, but the chances are you will at some point wander by to check out the official website for the team you support and if that's the case, can you expect your visit to be enjoyable, educational or downright disappointing?

That's what we at SPAOTP wanted to find out. (Actually that's not entirely true: our regular contributor Kedge suggested we conduct such a survey way back in 2006 and as we had nothing better to do, we thought we'd take him up on his offer.)

Working it out
So if you visited the official website of a Premiership team, for instance, what sort of thing would you be likely to look for? Well we figured you might be interested in the young players coming through the ranks and which stars of the future were currently learning their trade in the 'Academy'. It's also possible that you'd be interested in your club's history and would like to know what, if anything, it might have won by way of honours.

Another big lure to visiting a club website is to buy tickets for an upcoming match. No more queuing up in the rain on a cold, wet, Monday morning at the stadium - you hope. And what if you're the conscientious type that wants to know all his Fantasy League players are fit for this weekend's games? You'll be wanting a decent News section to put your mind at rest, won't you?

But it's not all about features on a club website. Chances are your visit could easily be spoilt by having too many adverts dominating the screen or a poor navigation system that prevents you from getting to the info you want. Worse still, you might be asked to register your personal details just to get at the most basic of features.

These were the kind of things we wanted to take into consideration when judging each of the twenty Premiership club websites, so with that in mind we went ahead with our investigation, and this is what we found.

The Findings
The first thing you realise when you're looking at the sites of all the top clubs is how many look so similar to each other. There's a reason for this: half of the websites we looked at were designed by Premium TV which meant they shared the same look-and-feel, the same kind of navigation menus, plus a rather disturbing feature: the need to register before you accessed anything worth looking at.

This, frankly, is a joke. To have to sign your life away just so that your club can tell how many followers it's got or what pages they're viewing on the site is utterly unnecessary and uncalled for. Some of us reserve the right, quite justifiably, not to register on websites if we don't want to, and in this case there shouldn't even be a need to. Why, then, prevent us from seeing the News section - pretty standard fare, we think you'll agree - just because we won't sign up?

This is not a good thing, so if you support Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Reading, Sheffield United, Watford or Wigan, don't be surprised if your club scores badly. All the other clubs haven't got a problem in providing a totally accessible website, so your club has no excuse.

Some things, however, were pretty ubiquitous among those sites we viewed. Every club seems hugely keen on providing an online TV channel for us to subscribe to and watch, and every club has an online store from which to purchase replica shirts, mugs, car stickers and all manner of merchandised tat. Betting sections are also commonplace on each of the Premiership club websites, so we've pretty much disregarded each of these factors. We're just interested in the interesting stuff, so let's delve a bit further into the findings...

News
As mentioned before, the Premium TV mob want you to register with their sites before you see any club news, so they score badly on this category. All the other teams seemed quite happy to provide news stories that were informative, some even giving details of potential injury worries and team line-ups for imminent games.

History
This was one category where even the Premium TV sites scored highly - in fact it's about the only useful feature on their sites that you can access without having to register first. All teams showed a commitment to giving a detailed history of their team, but those scoring highest were Charlton, Everton, Tottenham, West Ham and Sheffield United.

The Future - Club Academies
Any club serious about nurturing young talent has their own 'academy' - a place where players can develop and hone their skills before being let loose with the big boys. It's where the stars of tomorrow lean on the experience of their mentors before reaching the first team, but if your club has the words 'Premium TV' in its URL, you'll never know who they are. You need to register...

Of the other teams, Chelsea, Charlton, Everton and Tottenham scored high marks for their coverage of Academy matters on their sites. On Charlton's site, it's even possible to apply for a trial with their academy, which we think is outstanding.

At the other end of the scale, West Ham who claim to be the 'Academy of Football' barely even mention their own Academy and consequently score very poorly. At least it gets a mention in the occasional news story, which is more than can be said for Wigan's site which considers their Academy non-existent. Poor scores for both, then.

Tickets
This should be an important part of every club's website and, if done well, should be dealt with in a transparent yet competent way so that any old Tom, Dick or Harry can buy a ticket for the match.

Unfortunately, most teams seem to insist on registering for this privilege if not for any other that they offer, so this means lower scores for them in our survey.

If you're looking for examples of how it should be done, look no further than Charlton, Chelsea and Fulham. If you want to buy any of their tickets that are on general sale, all you need to do is enter your credit card details and that's that. No fuss or bother, which is exactly what you'd expect. Many other clubs provide plenty of general ticket information such as seat plans, membership details and so on, but if you have to register first before buying a ticket, you may never need it.

Range of Information
Most clubs made a pretty good fist of this in spite of the fact that, if you think about it, there's not really all that much that you can provide information about. After the stuff we've already mentioned, you're likely to run into waffle about business partnerships, results and fixtures, kids' clubs and so on but that's about all. The thing is, those nice people at Premium TV block off most of their info anyway, so you're really restricted with what you can see if you follow one of their teams.

Of the better performing clubs, though, Chelsea came out best, a shade ahead of Charlton (again), Everton, Fulham and Arsenal with many others not far behind.

Navigation
Or to put it another way, 'How easy is it to get at the info you want?' This is about the only other area where the Premium TV gang score well. They may all look very similar, but at least their menu system, consisting of a list of sections and subsections down the left of the screen, is easy to follow.

Scoring highly in this category were Charlton, Everton, Liverpool and Sheffield United, while at the other end of the spectrum were West Ham who, frankly, confuse everyone with their horizontal, vertical, fly-out and randomly positioned menus. Yes, other teams do have links dotted all over the place too, but somehow they at least follow some logic. At whufc.com, it's bordering on the bewildering...

Advert intrusion
In this commercial day and age, it's perhaps not surprising that websites like those we've been looking at have adverts littered here there and everywhere, but yet again, it can be done in a non-intrusive way if the designers are worth their salt.

To that end, Chelsea and Charlton have kept images for company's and special offers down to a minimum and have spared us too many that are animated in that annoyingly eye-catching way too.

The Premium TV sites by their very nature tend to have a liberal dash of adverts all through them (or at least the bits you don't have to register for) and among the worst offenders were Blackburn, Bolton and Aston Villa. If you don't know who their sponsors are now, you soon will after a quick visit to their sites.

Look and feel
Finally, the cosmetic view - how easy the website is on the eye. All the sites looked pretty reasonable, but some were definitely more polished than others.

Man United's came out on top with an outstanding design combining excellent use of layout, graphics and typefaces to make your visit a pleasant one.

Chelsea and Spurs a very close second. Chelsea's site relied on Flash to make all the menus animated and slick-looking which, although not to everyone's taste, looked very nice indeed. Tottenham's website was your more typical fare, but used well-designed graphics and fonts to maximise impact there.

One additional note about Charlton's site, before we close. Although it may not look as pretty as some, it's very clear and easy to look at with the added bonus that it meets the minimum accessibility standards for people who are disabled or have sensory impairments. Well done to them for being the only club we could see that made accessibility one of their priorities when designing their site.

The Final Outcome
And so the time has come to tot up the scores and work out who are the champs and who are the chumps. Well let's not beat about the bush: in the end, it was a clear two-horse race between Chelsea and Charlton. The winners by a single point were Chelsea.

Both teams were very thorough in their approach to providing an educational, interactive, open and useful site for their fans and deserve great credit accordingly. While Chelsea's site appears to have had more money thrown at it with a very professional look and feel, Charlton's is just as good while being easier to use and simpler in it's design.

In third place were Everton whose only real let-down was the need to register before buying tickets online, while in fourth were Tottenham who edged Manchester United into fifth spot.

At the other end of the scale were Watford who could only offer a half-decent History section and a reasonable navigation system, and only slightly better than them were their Premium TV stablemates Newcastle, Reading and Wigan. Out of all the twenty Premiership teams, the bottom ten were all from that particular camp.

Summary
All of which goes to prove a number of points. Firstly, if you're designing a site for a football club, don't make them sign their name in blood just to access simple stuff like squad profiles and news. Secondly, fans want to be able to buy tickets online, so don't force them to register there either. Thirdly, fancy graphics and a professional look don't make a decent site on their own. It needs lots of content that's worth reading too. Finally, don't cram as many adverts onto your screen as you can either. Fans aren't interested in them even if you're sponsors are, so if you're going to show ads, do it discretely.

And that's that. Our congratulations go to Chelsea for producing a first-class website. Premium TV - take note.

You Bet! Week 7

My my, how time flies. It's Week 7 of 'You Bet' already!

Let's see if we can add a bit more than the 65p we won last week (grateful though we are for it) by assessing this week's parade of punts:

Bet A
Aston Villa v Bolton Wanderers: Draw
Potential winnings: £3.00

Bet B
Everton v Chelsea: Everton to win
Potential winnings: £5.50

Bet C
Charlton v Liverpool: Liverpool to win 3-0
Potential winnings: £12.00

Whichever of these three gets the most votes is the one we'll be putting our weekly Pound on. Any winnings we get go back into the kitty and at the end of the 10-week run, all the money accrued goes to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Time to cast your votes, then...

Voting on this event has now closed.

Striking while the Iron's hot

It’s always an interesting point in a club’s history when it changes its manager. The end of one era (more often than not a less than successful one), and the beginning of another fuelled with hope and optimism that the new man will bring glory to his team.

West Ham United now find themselves going through just such a period. Today, Alan Pardew was relieved of his duties by the man who became his new chairman just three weeks ago, and the debate has already begun as to whether Eggert Magnusson was right to dismiss him and who Pardew’s replacement will be.

To be blunt, the modern game with all its financial motives does not allow any manager to stay in charge of a club when it’s lost 11 games out of 17 and conceded four times more goals than it’s scored. Add to that the unceremonial ejection it received from the Carling Cup by Chesterfield (to say nothing of the rather more justifiable loss to Palermo in the UEFA Cup) and you have a team that’s staring relegation to the Championship squarely in the eyes, and that simply will not do.

For a team not to be a part of the Premiership these days is like a jailed criminal not being in possession of a reinforced chastity belt. Without it, you’re screwed.

It happened to West Ham in 2003. They slipped into the Championship forcing their last change of managerial personnel – Pardew replacing Glenn Roeder – and had to endure two near-suicidal seasons before they somehow scraped into the Play-Off Final and won a place back in the top-flight in 2005.

As if that wasn’t achievement enough for Alan Pardew, he last year surpassed himself by instilling a confidence in his side that allowed them to play entertaining, attacking football resulting in a ninth-place finish in the Premiership and a runners-up spot in the FA Cup.

Oh, and as a result of that, they also qualified for this season’s UEFA Cup.

Some people think that’s exactly the sort of reason why Alan Pardew should have been treated better by not being dismissed today, but by doing so they miss a valuable point.

To be considered a success these days, a manager must prove that his team can perform at the highest level on a continual basis, not just at some point in the past. If after a spell like the one West Ham have gone through there is no reason to feel that things will improve soon, the Board are left with only one option. He who hesitates is lost, as the old saying goes.

And you can say what you like about the Argentinean signings: what’s caused West Ham’s downfall in this first four months of the season is Pardew’s inability to drive his team on with imagination, inspiration and tactical diversity. That, too, is a signal for someone new to take over.

So who should that new person be? Sven-Goran Eriksson has already ruled himself out, which is a pity. With his track record at club level, it could have been an exciting prospect for West Ham. Alan Curbishley has been installed as the favourite, but as someone who managed to achieve only promotion to the Premiership for Charlton (after he’d got them relegated in the first place) and precisely nothing else, he’s perhaps not the man they’re looking for either. As for George Graham, Glenn Hoddle and Terry Venables, they’ve practically made a career out of appearing on lists like this whenever there’s a high-profile managerial casualty, so let’s not waste any more time considering them.

With lots of money waiting to be spent thanks to the recent investment made by the new Icelandic chairman, West Ham should be capable of attracting the attentions of a much better class of manager than any of those mentioned above, especially one that’s available on the continent. It seems too good an opportunity to miss with the club’s potential for success never being higher, so maybe Europe could provide the answer.

All that lies ahead for West Ham, but they will be looking for someone who can motivate the players, get them organised into a well-drilled unit and play a decent standard of football. If the new man can achieve that as Alan Pardew no longer could, West Ham will remain in the Premiership, thus achieving their immediate priority. Going one step further and achieving genuine glory seems a far-off dream at the moment, but with the right man put in place during the next few weeks, it might – just might – happen.