Born 61 years ago today, in 1950 was a City legend that may never have kicked a ball at City if not for the Leeds medical staff. Young Scottish player, Asa Hartford looked set to join Leeds United who were all set to dominate the 1970’s when it was discovered, much to both his and Leeds boss, Don Revies disspointment, that Asa had a hole in the heart. The deal collapsed and Hartford returned to West Brom.
It’s tipped to be the season of legends with Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton back in Australia to show the league why there are worshipped as Australia’s greatest Socceroos
When talking about the influx of foreigners into the Premier League it may surprise you that City actually had an Indian in their team in 1937! Ok so he was only ‘technically’ an Indian as he was born in Gunga Pur, India he was raised in Scotland as a Scot. I am, of course, talking about Les McDowall.
Arsenal’s smash and grabs victory over Marseille the other night in the Champions League prompted Arsene Wenger to say that the Gunners had reached a “turning point” in their season. But that’s what Wenger said after the 1-0 win over Swansea, then in typical fragile Arsenal fashion, the following week they blew it 4-3 at Blackburn.
Laurent Koscielny put in a man of the match performance against Marseille on Wednesday to help Arsenal leapfrog their French rivals to the top of the group. It was a performance of the highest quality from the Frenchman who is slowly but steadily endearing himself to the Arsenal faithful.
There is always a silver lining to every cloud, even Tottenham qualifying for the Europa League. The competition, as Harry Redknapp rightfully pointed out, is a ‘killer’ and it is no surprise the Spurs boss has been predominantly picking fringe players and youth as the games have dragged on, with, of course, the odd first-teamer there or thereabouts.
Unconvincing. Unimpressive. Shaky. Those have been some choice words used to describe Manchester United’s recent performances. Having seen evidence for it myself it would be very hard to disagree.