As with all walks of the food-chain approach to life, those who sit lower are always at disadvantage to those at the top. When a clownfish has something special to eat, the shark wants it or when the hawk thinks he has his dinner, the lynx is almost guaranteed to be out on the prowl to snatch it off him. In the football hierarchy, it is no different.
It is widely accepted that when the club is on the receiving end of a big money takeover, the expectations of the fans rise ten-fold. It happened with Chelsea, it happened with Manchester City and it happened with Paris St. Germain.
One could be excused for failing to notice the achievements of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in Germany during the summer of 2006.
After a great end to the 2010-11 season, Liverpool started the season with realistic hopes of regaining a top four finish, with Mark Bright incredibly even tipping them for the title. However a recent run of poor form has left them seventh in the table despite spending a net £44million since King Kenny’s Liverpool return.
Jimmy Smith’s close range finish ten minutes from time to seal a win for Leyton Orient away at Preston on Saturday was probably not the most significant goal in England throughout the weekend at face value, but it did mean that Graham Westley’s brand new era at Deepdale was to end in anti-climax after a week in which the young manager finally left Stevenage to become their 6th manager in 3 years.
Never really a dull moment at Leeds is there? It’s like if Steven Spielberg had directing duty for a football club, there is always a guarantee to be something happening in the darkest corners of Elland Road. It’s rather fun for the neutral, players in, players out, Ken Bates orchestrating it all against a backdrop of one of the biggest fan-bases in the country. Of course, I can imagine, it must equal hell for them.
With the African Cup of Nations now in full swing it’s time to take a look at one of the players set to shine in the Southern Hemisphere.
This time a couple of seasons ago, Lucas Leiva of Liverpool appeared to be the only Brazilian playing regularly in England.