The Old Firm

The discussion at work today was centred around the prospect of Celtic and Rangers joining the English league, Celtic Cheif Executive Peter Lawell has said Celtic would be happy to start at the bottom of English football with the future outcome being part of the Premiership.

I think the initial reaction of all Celtic fans, would be..NO WAY!!!!


After some more thinking I am really for the idea, I have always thought that Celtic and Rangers leaving the SPL would benefit everyone, from the SPL's point of view, it would instantly turn into and open league, with any of 4-6 teams winning it, thus giving 1 or 2 teams a chance in the Champions League, leading to bigger name players going to the league and those teams could become stronger over time, creating hopefully a better league, the trouble would come from the TV station not being as interested in striking a deal, I'm sure they could still acheive some kind of deal.

And Celtic and Rangers could realistically achieve promotion to the Premiership in at least 6 years, of course it would be very tough it first, what players would stay and who would jump ship, the big name europeans would leave, and probably the impressive British players would move on to Premiership/Championship teams.

They would have enough clot to bring in the best players from the SPL and League 1 etc, to advance up the leagues, Once they made it up to the Championship they would both have more money than they ever have had in the SPL, taking away Champions League income which I think would be offset by the owners who do have money behind them, but don't invest as much into the teams at the moment, as it's not an investment, but with the prospect of Premiership football on the horizon it would be worthwhile.

Dermot Desmond one of the Celtic board members is one of the richest men in Britain, and could quite easily help the backing of the team, Rangers are part owned by EINC who are also involved with Spurs, although the FA may have an issue with this, they could bankroll Rangers rise.
The question is always asked to me,


"How well do you think Celtic would do in the Premiership?"


I'd love it if there was a simple answer, but there's not, right now Celtic live of money from fans and european football, only receiving £2m for winning the SPL, so with that kind money, to be able to compete in the Champions League and Europa Cup, is an achievement, and with the team right now, we could compete in the Premiership, we would not be of the top 6 level, but I woudl think we would come between 11th and 16th, I don't think we would go down, or Rangers for that matter.

However once inducted into the English league after 4-5 years even be it, 2 years in the Championship and 3 years in the Premiership we would be up there challenging the European places.

With over £30m to spend each year, the Old Firm could attract players of a high standard, Glasgow is an attractive place to play, the Stadia and fan base is already in place, and both teams would prosper so much.

Another road block, is of course how they would enter the league, no matter where you put them, someone is not going to be happy, If they go straight in the EPL, every football league club would be furious, and if they entered at League 2, every non league club would let their feeling known.

Personally I think there will be a restructure of the EPL and Championship, and Celtic and Rangers would be involved, starting on the Championship plateau, ready and waiting to move up to the big boys.

Leeds United v Liverpool - 22nd September

This was requested by my friend and Leeds fan Matt.

Leeds: Higgs - Crowe, Kisnobo, Michalik, Hughes - Snodgrass, Howson, Doyle, Johnson - Becchio, Beckford
Liverpool: Cavalieri - Degen, Carragher, Krygiakos, Dossens - Spearing, Mascherano, Babel, Riera, Auerlio - N'gog

2 of the countries biggest teams met in the 3rd round of the English League Cup, 6 years ago this would have been an even bigger game, but Leeds are now in the third tier of English football, Rafa Benitez has already said he wants to win the Cup so a strong Liverpool team was expected, and for Leeds a chance to battle again with the big teams and recreate the glory days.

Living in Leeds myself you would expect I see alot of Simon Grayson's team, but I have only made my way to Elland Road once in 5 years, a mixture of the over priced tickets, and that my girlfriend is a Sheffield United way, big rivals of Leeds, so I was looking forward to seeing what sort of football Leeds could play, I have only watched them in the past years in the League Playoffs and time after time, they disappointed.

However they redeemed themselves in this match, playing some lovely flowing football, the midfield 4 were superb, some great 1-2, passing and moving, Doyle was a great force going forward, and the Man of the Match was Scotlands Richard Snodgrass was performance earning him a call up to the Scotland team to the upcoming friendly in Japan.

In defence Jason Kisnorbo was fantastic, the ex Hearts and Leicester centre dealt very well all night with David N'gog very rarely did Liverpool get past him.

It was Leeds front pair that disappointed, Luciano Becchio usually so impressive failed to get into the game, he ran hard but created little, the one moment he was involved in was a controversial one, Michalik got his head to the ball in the Liverpool box, it has flicked past Cavalieri, and Becchio made sure it went in, the Leeds fans went crazy but the Linesman lifted his flag and ruled both Becchio and Beckford offside, after numerous TV replays it was very very close, and in my opinion the goal should have stood, and with Leeds confidence high they could have went on to win.

The most disappointing player for me in the Leeds side was Jermaine Beckford, 27 league goals last season and 7 this season, if anyone was going to be Leeds catalyst it should have been Jermaine, but he failed to live up to the massive expectation on his shoulders, the 25yr forward was expected to move away from the Yorkshire club this summer but has stayed to again try and get Leeds promoted, as I have said I don't want Leeds every week, but in now 7 games I've seen Beckford play, only in 1 league game were he scored 2 goals was I impressed, in 4 playoff semi-finals and 1 playoff final in my eyes he disappeared, for the bigger teams watching him, I'm sure they've seen this too, and that would explain the lack of big money offers.

Beckford has the best of Leeds chances, an overhead kick went very close, and over the top pass found him through on goal and he couldn't finish.

Liverpool survived Leeds attacks and finally took the lead, Mascherano who was lucky to be on the field after an elbow to the back of Beckfords head was deemed an accident, lashed out to volley the ball, the wayward shot was controlled by N'gog he turned and finished calmly to put his team in the lead.

Until the goal, Liverpool never ever looked like scoring, although not their strongest team, and was in no way a full 2nd choice team, Carragher, Dossena, Mascherano, Riera all 1st team players, and the respect shown to Leeds increased when both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard both came on to see out the match.

It was Liverpool that got the victory and move on the next round, but I'm very sure both sets of fans would have left with their heads held high.
Liverpool fans got a chance to see N'gog step up, the young Jay Spearing had a good match in the midfield and long time Injury victim Philip Degen had a good match.
Leeds showed they can play with the big teams and impress, there are no excuses for them not achieving promotion this season, no points deduction no managerial unrest, It's about time Leeds got back up to the higher tiers of English football.

Match Rating - 7/10

M.O.M - Richard Snodgrass - Leeds

Genoa v Napoli - September 13th

Second game of my Serie A Double Bill



Genoa: Amelia - Moretti, Biava, Criscito, Sokratis - Zapater, M.Rossi, Milanetto, Mesto - Sculli, Floccari

Napoli: De Sanctis - Campagnaro, Contini, P.Cannavaro - Aronica, Maggio, Pazienza, Cigarini, - Hamsik - Quagliarella, Lavezzi



Without doubt one of the best matches I've watched this season, the first time I've watched Napoli or Genoa since the 1990's, 5 goals 3 sending offs, really high quality football and introduced myself to some good players.

The Serie A fans I speak to have all said I need to watch Genoa and Napoli as they play some of the best football in Italy if not Europe, so when I saw on the schedule that ESPN were showing Genoa v Napoli Live, and although I couldn't watch it live, and recorded it and finally got round to watching the match.

The first half saw Genoa go down to 10 men, after Criscito was sent off for what I think was descent, then Napoli's Campagnaro was booked for his knee making contact with Amelia's head, a bit harsh I thought, just after this a lovely move for Napoli, Hamsik with a lovely 1-2 then a superb finish past Amelia, and Napoli looked in charge, that was until the 5th minute of injury time, a long ball over the top Floccari running onto it, Campagnaro was on him, he fell, not sure how much contact he made with the striker, Floccari went down and the referee had no doubt, pointed to the spot and showed Campagnaro a straight red, Floccari calmly stepped up and levelled the game, it was a shocking decision for me, Campagnaro did not bring him down, a case of the referee evening up the game.

The second half Genoa came out all guns blazing, and 10 mins in they took the lead, Mesto picked up the ball came in from the left and blasted a right foot shot into the top corner, tremendous goal, Palacio later raced away from the Napoli defence and set up Hernan Crespo for his first goal for Genoa, with 2 minutes to go Napoli went down to 9 men, ball was played into the box and Palacio dived for the header, the referee stopped the play pointed again to the spot, judging Aronica had pushed Palacio although no camera angle showed a push, Moroccan midfielder Kharja took the ball and finished the game.

Both team at some point played some great football, the players that stood up for me, for Genoa: Papastrathopoulos, Milanetto and Mesto, and for Napoli: Cannavaro and Hamsik.

The Genoa midfield impressed alot, Milanetto looked very solid, very calm on the ball showed leadership, good passing, always looking for the ball, a player I had never seen before but he looked quality, his teammate Papastrathopoulos otherwise known as Sokratis, it seems he started the game in defence but with Criscito being sent off, the team was shuffled round and he made his way into the midfield and he done very well, not only playing defensively but picking up the ball and moving forward and linking the play very well, seems a very versatile player, not quite sure myself what his natural position is. Mesto did very well for me on the left, looks naturally right football, superb goal, gave great width, got forward and tracked back. before I thought he was a LB, but showed he is very comfortable getting forward.

For Napoli Fabio's brother Paolo Cannavaro was solid in defence not helped by the sending off of Campagnaro and the at times very shaky Contini, not the biggest but was powerful in the air, good positioning a very strong leader of the team, Hamsik was Napoli's stand out player, I had heard about his ability and potential and he didn't disappoint, superb goal, but overall looked very dangerous, not content to stay in one position he was often found on the left or right and down the middle, hard to track, speed, touch, great skill, impressed in his first showing.

I will be trying to watch these 2 teams more, I think Napoli have more to show, but that win took Genoa joint top of the league so that shows their quality.




M.O.M - Omar Milanetto - Genoa

Match Rating 8.5/10

Lazio v Juventus - September 12th

Another catch-up game, finally finished watching this game this morning.

LAZIO v JUVENTUS

Lazio: Muslera - Siviglia, Diakite, Kolarov, Lichtsteiner - Baronio, Mauri, Dabo, Matuzalem - Foggia, Cruz
Juventus: Buffon - Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Grosso, Caceres - Melo, Marchisio, Camoranesi, Diego - Amauri, Trezeguet

If any game deserved the classic game of two halves line, it was this one, first half I thought it was a really good game, attacking and defending with quality from both sides, for the home side Kolarov was very impressive, bombing down the left hand side more like a winger than a left back, Foggia and Cruz didn't link up very well at all, Cruz looking very much like a lone striker.

For Juve, Amauri and Trezeguet played well in the first half, Amauri running the channels, David the predator, Diego had a very quiet first half, and disaster struck before halftime when he had to be stretchered off, with young talent Giovinco replacing him.


In the second half, the match kinda flipped, Kolarov failed to get up the left as much, but it was Lichtsteiner on the right who was the most forward of the full backs, Amauri and Trezeguet disappeared, but Foggia came to life trying to get his team back in the game, and young Giovinco was superb replacing Diego always eager to take men on and attack.

Players that really impressed me were Mobido Diakite in the heart of the Lazio defence, although he looks clumsy, he was first to nearly everything, great in the air, showed some skill on the ground, I think Lazio have found a gem here, only young has the strength already, and a great place to learn his trade in Serie A.

After all the criticism I have read about the Felipe Melo transfer to Juve, I though he was excellent, great at breaking up Lazio's play, also so great passing ability was shown, played very well the whole match and looked the part for me in the anchor position of the midfield.

Chiellini and Legrottaglie were very dominant in Juve's defence, snubbing every Lazio attack, I have always thought of Chellini as a liablity, but he changed my mind in this match he looked every part a leader.

One player that disappointed was Grosso, I thought the quality of his crossing was terrible, I struggle now to remember any cross that beat the frist man, or any dangerous cross at all, quite disappointing from the World Cup winner.

Juve opened the scoring on the 72nd minute, Marchisio's cross was blocked and Caceres hit a perfect volley, Muslera had no chance, nice way for Caceres to make his debut.

The second was a lovely break away move from Juve between Giovinco and Amauri, The big brazilians volley was saved and Trezeguet was there to finish.

Some great football was played by both teams, 2-0 in a way flattered Juve, Lazio deserved soemthing for their defensive and midfield play, they didn't do enough upfront for me.
Depending on how long Diego is out for could effect Juve, but that is now 27 games consecutive that they have scored in Serie A, and Giovinco is a adequate replacement and could be his time to shine.

LAZIO 0 JUVENTUS 2

M.O.M - Felipe Melo - Juventus

Espanyol v Real Madrid - September 12th

Sorry for the lack of posts, got some catching up to do, had alot of things going on.

Starting with this game that I watched last week.

ESPANYOL 0 REAL MADRID 3

ESPANYOL: Kameni, Forlin, Pareja, D.Garcia, Chica, Verdu, Hurtado, Nakamura, L.Garcia, Tamudo, Ivan Alonso
REAL MADRID: Casillas, Metzelder, Albiol, Marcelo, Arbeloa, Guti, Alonso, Benzema, Granero, Kaka, Higuain

Really enjoyed the game, thought Espanyol were hard done by to lose 3-0 the scoreline doesn't do them justice, it was also a very emotional game, a tribute for defender Dani Jarque was held before the game, and also on the 21st minute and Jarque chant went round the ground to commenerate his number.

Both full backs Chica and David Garcia were great at getting forward, I thought Luis Garcia was quiet on the left, Naka was decent on the right, the forward line could have done alot more.

Real dropped all 3 goalscorers from the first week, Lass, Ronaldo and Raul on the bench, for me there is still alot of work that needs doing to this Real team, Marcelo is not a left back I would choose, his defending leaves alot to be desired, and Metzelder is looking like a liability in the middle of the defence, the midfield trio of Guti, Alonso and Granero impressed me, only Alonso is guareteed his place in the team, but Guti came in and did a great job bossing the midfield spreading the play, and Granero was superb in his box to box work, and great link up with Alonso for the first goal.

Espanyol stepped up a gear in the 2nd half, Nakamura and Ivan Alonso came off and Coro and De la Pena came on, Coro giving more width on the left and the "Little Buddha" becoming the focus of the Espanyol's attacks, he changed the game for Espanyol, they looked far more dangerous, and could has easily pulled a goal back and made it much more interesting.

The Catalan's play was enjoyable once De la Pena was on the field, Coro was also impressive down the left wing, showed good pace and skill, and it was good to see he started the next match against Deportivo.

Overall the 3-0 result flattered Madrid which could have been alot closer, Espanyol should do well this season, I look forward to watching them again.


M.O.M - Guti - For me he played a great game, showing he still has the ability to be in the new galacticos, and with a long season ahead, he will get alot of games.

Match Rating 7/10

Champions League Predictions

Ok in recongnition of the group stage starting tonight, here is how i think the groups will finish after Matchday 6

GROUP A
1.Juventus
2.Bayern Munich
3.Bordeaux
4.Maccabi Haifa

Seemed easy to predict, until I thought more about it, Bayern had struggled until Ribery came back, Bordeaux have the potential but have failed to perform in the CL in the past.
I think Bordeaux will be happy to finish 3rd.


GROUP B
1.Manchester United
2.Wolfsburg
3.CSKA Moscow
4.Besiktas

Man U will win the group comfortably, Wolfsburg will jump up to 2nd, CSKA and Besiktas will battle for third


GROUP C
1.Real Madrid
2.Marseille
3.AC Milan
4.FC Zurich

First upset, I think Marseille will pip Milan to the 2nd spot, Milan have a thin squad and I can see this hindering them.


GROUP D
1.Chelsea
2.Atletico
3.Porto
4.APOEL

Atletico will impress in the group but not enough to beat Chelsea, Porto will be happy to come 3rd.


GROUP E
1.Liverpool
2.Lyon
3.Fiorentina
4.Debrecen

No surprises here, Liverpool will win the group, with Lyon fighting and in the end being too strong for Fioretina.


GROUP F
1.Barcelona
2.Inter
3.Dynamo Kyiv
4.Rubin Kazan

Again no surprises, Barca will impress with Zlatan as will Inter with Eto’o and the group winner will come from these too, I’m predicting Barca to overcome Mourinho


GROUP G
1.Sevilla
2.Stuttgart
3.Rangers
4.Unirea Urziceni

Trying not to be bias here, I think Rangers have a big chance to come second but in the end will come 3rd.


GROUP H
1.Arsenal
2.Olympiacos
3.AZ Alkmaar
4.Standard Liege

Arsenal will cruise this group, Olympiakos will emerge in 2nd place, AZ will make the the Europa League.

Youth - The Chelsea Ban!!

Hey guys

Sorry for the lack of coverage recently, I was on family duties over the weekend, didn't get watch much football, managed to record the Hibs v Celtic game and also watched the first half of Inter v Milan, hoping the catch the highlights of the other leagues this week.

Not sure if anyone saw the Celtic game, after a week of non stop talk of Eduardo's dive and simulation, Aiden McGeady got sent off for a second bookable offence, even though the linesman who was the closed offcial to the action, called for a Celtic free-kick ,the referee thought he saw better and booked Aiden and off he went, now would this have happened if nothing had happed to Eduardo, I very much doubt it, the best thing was, later in the 2nd half Chris Killen, jumped over a Hibs players leg, then went down with an awful attempt at a dive, what did the referee do....nothing, play on. Just shows there is no consistency at all, will be interesting to see if anyone gets sent off during the World Cup qualifiers this weekend.

The main reason I wanted to post something today was after the news that Chelsea will be banned for 3 transfer windows from bringing in any players, now I am sure that whatever appeal Chelsea lodge will work, and either it will be reduced, or completly disregarded, I really hope the powers in be have the strength to stand up to a rich club and make them suffer, I don't think in anyway Chelsea are the only team that conduct these methods of player buying, why not go around the teams with the best youth academies, snapping up all the talented youth and hopefully you'll produce the next Leo Messi.

Just look at Arsenal's captain Cesc Fabergas, the ex-Barca trainee was signed by Arsenal when he was 16 and by 17 he was an Arsenal regular, but for every Fabergas there is someone like Arturo Lupoli, Lupoli broke all kind of records playing for Parma's u17 team, his contract ended Arsenal snapped him up, and although he scored goals in the reserve team and a few in the Carling Cup, he never really made it to the full team, after a loan spell at Derby County, he signed for Fiorentina, he never made an appearance for the Viola, then after loan spells at Norwich, Sheffield United and Treviso he now plies his trade at former Serie A club Ascoli.

Now where would Lupoli be if he had stayed in Italy till he was 20/21 learning his trade in his native country, noone will ever know.

When I look through the squads in Englands top teams it's interesting:

Arsenal have Wojciech Szczęsny 19yr old Polish goalkeeper, Gilles Sunu 18yr old French defender, Chelsea have in their youth team players from Turkey, Austria, Slovakia, Sweden and Italy, then in the reserves the player the ban has come from 18 yr old Gael Kakuta, who spent 6 years at RC Lens youth academy, at the time Lens received nothing for the player, now where do teams like Lens go that plough millions into the youth academies to have real talented players removed from them for nominal fees, and who knows will Gael ever break into the Chelsea First team, or will he be loaned out to numerous clubs and then eventually sold to a lower level team for peanuts, where if he he stayed at Lens he could have become a first team player for a team 40 miles from where he was born and then move on and make the club millions of pounds and all the hard by the academy seem worthwhile and all the players looking up at the first team thinking "That could be us."

I think UEFA and FIFA will take action, It is not just English teams that do this, Barcelona signed up Messi when he was 13, and Real and Barca's B teams now have mostly Spanish players but the odd South American or African, so don't think I'm pointing the finger just at the English teams.

If I was in charge I would propose that players must play in the country of their birth until they reached 20, only then could they move to another country to play football, now this will never happen because every big team would go to court and complain that this prevents some kind of workers rights, or some 19 year old Brazilian wonder kid would sue FIFA for not letting him sign for Barcelona, and it would fall to pieces.

However just think about how good it would be for the game, Argentinian and Brazilian clubs would know any hot prospect would most likely stay with them, or only move within the same league until they were 20 and then you would see them move for probably more substantial fees than they do now, and also in Europe it would do wonders for each league, if Italian or Spanish stars could not make it into the squads of the big teams, they would have to move to other teams in the league be it on loan or permanently, so the so called smaller teams would improve, Countries like France and Holland could put more money into the academies knowing players wouldn't be spied on and tapped up by the money clubs, and could benefit themselves from the talent they have nurtured.

Of course as I've said this will never happen, as teams and players are greedy and want the best player/deal they can get, so I can only dream on, however I would like to hear other people thoughts on this or what they would like to see come in.