As the sun sets on another Championship season, the promotion parties have died down and attention turns to the transfer window. With some clubs looking to gain an immediate return to the Premier League and others fighting for their lives at the bottom, everyone must act fast to snap up the best deals in this year’s market.
Here we go again! Its summertime, clubs around the world draw up their list of transfer targets and the press silly season begins once again. However, as stories emerge of football’s elite looking to strengthen their squads to take themselves to new heights, many reports would have you believe they are merely looking to replicate the past. As Chelsea look close to securing the signature of Anderlecht striker, Romelo Lukaku, dubbed “The new Didier Drogba”, here are a few examples of past signings, that haven’t quite lived up to their previous comparisons.
Not to discredit Denmark, the 12th best country in Europe to play the sport of football, according to FIFA, however not many would expect to find the next hot prospect in Southern Scandinavia, furthermore in the month of June, when the Danish ‘Superliga’ season has finished. Although, any club with initiative and the transfer money to spend, would have their best scouts sent to Aarhus, Aalborg, Herning and Viborg, for 15 days, starting Saturday as the 1992 European Championship winners hold the Under-21 version of the tournament.
As the news broke of Aston Villa’s interest in Darren Bent, supporters of Sunderland were aghast at the sudden thought of losing their most potent attacker.
Following on from my piece ‘ Summertime and the Living Is…Well, Boring’, about missing football during the summer, true to my word I am bored already. It’s been just over a week since the final whistle blew at the Championship Play-Off Final (well done Swansea) and already I’m kicking around the house, looking for things to do, finding things to do, and then not doing them.
The international friendly…managers despise them, fans frown upon them, the very mention of them is enough to turn the air blue.
So here it is, the day when any hope of a slightly competitive league structure in England takes a step beyond that of Spain into the realms of predictability. Sure enough the Spanish only have two teams who can feasibly challenge for the league ala Scotland, but at least they can put the blame due to their rather terrifying television money discrepancies. What’s our excuse?
Rarely has a team relegated from the Premier League been praised unanimously from all corners. Seldom has a manager been touted as a serious candidate for manager of the season despite seeing his side slip into the second tier of English football. However, bizarrely, this is a situation Blackpool and their manager Ian Holloway have just experienced.