Clichés become clichés for a very good reason; the fact that they have a solid grounding in reality and truth. Usually anyway.
Thus, the cliché that the Championship (no marketing here) is the most hotly contested and difficult league to predict has an element of truth to it. However, certain patterns can be deduced.
The club versus country row that has rumbled on for most of this century looks set to take on a whole new level of bitterness.
One of the failings of sport journalism, it has often been said, is its unwillingness to call to account the powers in football. This is for a number of reasons not relevant right here right now. Which is why investigations into sport (from sport journalists or otherwise) are so important as it presents concrete evidence of wrongdoing. This is what Channel 4’s Dispatches programme set out to do on Monday night.
June to August; the time of the year where the words “exclusive”, “a source” and “the breaking news yellow ticker bar thing” (seriously, what is the name for that source of misinformation?) are used as liberally as fake tan at an Only Way is Essex convention. Yes folks, its transfer rumour silly season.
The common consensus of the people is difficult to ascertain. It is the job which the mass media are assigned though often they shape rather than reflect this consensus. With this in mind, let us delve into the reaction to the cutting of Premier League funding to the Supporters Direct organisation.
If I could have back the hours I have spent trawling through the free transfer market on various ‘Football/Championship Manager’ type games, I would have enough time to read the works of Tolstoy, build a shed AND post regularly on this website.
Way back in August 2010, when Ryan Giggs was doing what he does in the privacy of not his own bed, Osama Bin Laden wasn’t hanging out with Spongebob Squarepants and Adam Johnson was the saviour of the England team, something depressingly predictable happened; Reading sold their star player.
Survival Sunday ™; five teams battling to avoid two relegation places. Ninety minutes that will decide where who from Blackburn, Wolves, Birmingham, Blackpool and Wigan will be joining West Ham in the Championship next season. Cue crying fans, broken heaps of players, managers putting a brave face on things and owners frantically phoning up the accountants.