Back of the Net!

“The club would like to place on record its thanks for the loyal service given to Leeds United by Gary since joining the club as manager in January 2008, and wish him every success in the future.”

Just 7 years ago Leeds United were in the top five of the English Premier League and contested a Champions League semi-final - they looked to be on the cusp of greatness.  Yet irresponsible financial management (loans taken against TV revenue, insane transfer fees for overrated players, etc) saw them fall spectacularly from grace and now they languish in League One - the 3rd Division of old. Continue Reading »

Chelsea’s dominance of Champions League Group A was further eroded  yesterday evening as Luis Felipe “Big Phil” Scolari watched bemused from the sidelines. 

A far cry from their appearances under both Avram Grant and Jose Mourinho, the capitulation in Rome was quick snap back to reality for both fans and team. 

Coming just weeks after their defeat against Liverpool similarly weakened their position in the English Premier League it seems as though the most expensive team in Britain is threatening to seriously under-achieve this season.

No doubt missing key players, Chelsea will not have felt any better seeing this season’s team to beat Liverpool faring better with a last minute 1-1 draw against Athletico Madrid, leaving both teams neck and neck at the top of Group D.

It’s the type of performance that Liverpool put in at Anfield last night that wins trophies, however - being crushed 1-3 by Roma smacks of a team of players not paying attention to their World Cup winning manager…

That’s the simplest way of describing the difference in English and Scottish league soccer.

Manchester United quite simply took Celtic apart in their Champions League tie on Tuesday evening, and with a few injuries to their name, Celtic look unlikely to emerge from the group stages of the competition following Villareal’s mammoth 6-3 win over Aalborg.

Celtic have never been afraid to spend a bob or two whenever needed.  They might not be Man U or Real Madrid, but they’ve often signed the players they wanted.  Yet even now, 16 years after the formation of the English Premier League, the Scots appear so far behind. Continue Reading »

Another week of emphatic wins in the Champions League by British teams puts Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United in strong positions, while Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with Romanian champions CFR Cluj nevertheless leaves them top of their group.

The real surprise however is Liverpool, who with the help of Robbie Keane’s first goal since his £20 million move from now-struggling Tottenham Hotspur guided them to a 3-1 win over the slick Dutch team PSV Eindhoven.  This puts them top of Group D, a position they share with Atletico Madrid, each carrying 6 points while Marseille and PSV look unlikely to progress having failed to earn any points to date. Continue Reading »

The UEFA Champions League takes an interesting turn this week as Manchester United travel a small Danish town to take on AaB Aalborg.  Their previous journey to Denmark in the competition saw an injury-ravaged side beaten by FC Copenhagen in 2006.

This time, attention is on former Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Bolton manager Bruce Rioch, the man behind Aalborg’s current run of fortune.

It’s a far cry from the glamour of playing teams in Spain, Portugal and Italy, but nevertheless Berbatov, Rooney and Ronaldo are all expected to make appearances.

“Aalborg were lucky to get a draw at Celtic but they will be at home and my old mate Bruce Rioch will have them fired up,” said Sir Alex Ferguson.

“They are playing Manchester United, they will have a sell-out crowd and the whole town will be up for it. Danish clubs are always battlers.”

Looks set to be a fascinating clash; armchair viewers from three key areas of the UK (Teesside, North Lancashire and North London) will all no doubt be getting behind their one-time hero Rioch’s team, while the old “anyone but them” brigade will take pleasure in backing a British manager against Ferguson too.

Kick-off is 19.45 BST on Tuesday September 30th

There’s no getting away from it - the Champions League is pushing on in earnest this week with a selection of juicy ties.

Liverpool’s emphatic win over Marseille on Tuesday was just the first of a set of resounding victories for the English Premier League teams who look set to echo their 2007/2008 dominance.

With Chelsea disassembling the opposition 4-0, and Arsenal drawing 1-1 with Dinamo Kiev in Ukraine and Manchester United also drawing against strong opposition there’s nothing to stop another all-English Premier League final this season.

Yet of those teams, which can be judged to genuinely represent England?

A smattering of Englishmen and a single British manager between them, the so-called Big Four are more cosmopolitan than a Hollywood film premier.

A passing fad and symptomatic of the vast sums of money in the game today perhaps… but where exactly will it all end?