What a great sporting year - has it ever been better?

This year there have been so many great sporting achievments, that it is easy to forget some of these events. For example Rory Mcilroy has had a fantastic year, in any other year he would have won sports personality award but this year he came tenth. 

Every sport seems to have conjured up some great moments, in particular the Olympics, some of these memories will last long in my mind. The Olympics being held in London not only inspired the athletes but brought the country together. This is another felling that I will never forget. For those weeks of the Olympics every person was proud to be British. The athletes did not disappoint either, one after the other bringing home gold. Super Saturday was probably the greatest day in Olympic history, what made it better was that Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah were household names, but the crowd support also pushed through Greg Rutherford to win gold. He is also a household name now. 

Team GB excelled in many sports, especially cycling, rowing and boxing. The effect of these sports are that more people are taking them up. The Para-Olympics for me was remarkable. Seeing some of the athletes compete was inspiring and on many occasions I would forget that they were actually disabled. These people are all hero's, for me the star of the Para-Olympics was David Weir.   

Cycling in particular has had the best year of all the sports. Bradley Wiggins, winning the Tour de France and Olympic gold was amazing. If I was asked a question of naming two cyclist four years ago I could probably only name Chris Hoy or Victoria Pendelton. Now I can real off many cyclist's at a drop of a hat. The only blot on cycling this year is Lance Armstrong, the less this is mentioned the better. 

Up until the last two months English cricket probably felt as if they had missed the party, having a rather disapointing year by their standards. This all changed with the remarkable series win over India right at the last part of the year. It seems that English cricket is in safe hands with Alistair Cook, especially going into the Ashes next year. 

Another sport that has been pretty disappointing is football, the England team did the usual loss on penalties. The real drama came from Chelsea and Manchester City. The way in which the league was won, and between two great rivals can never repeated. Didier Drogba also stepped up for Chelsea winning the champions league rather dramatically. 

If I had to pick one person to win sports personality of the year, I would have picked Andy Murray. He has had an incredible year, reaching the final of Wimbledon, winning Olympic gold and silver and also his first major. I think his achievements should rank very high as he has to compete against three of the best tennis players the world has ever seen. 

Golf has been another sport packed with drama, Rory Mcilroy has pulled him self clear as the number one player in the world. He was also part of a successful Ryder Cup team. This was an amazing win considering that the USA had such a big lead. Ian Poulter led the comeback for Europe, many golf fans will remember this years Ryder Cup as one of the best ever.  

It has also been a good year for rugby, with Wales winning the six nations. The biggest highlight has to be England comprehensibly beating New Zealand towards the end of the year. Snooker seems to be getting back to popularity, with younger players like Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson coming through. The British guys in Formula One could have had a better year, but that is mainly down to their cars as well as Sebastian Vettle being so good. 

All in all I cant remember a time where British sport has been so strong. It seems at the moment that it will be impossible to top this year of sport. I hope that we can have even half the drama we had this year, if so we will have another hard choice as to who should be the sports personality next year. 

Why Bundesliga should be considered the best league in Europe

Over the last ten years many have considered either the Premiership or La Liga to be the two best leagues in Europe. Although fans of both these leagues can argue that their league is the best, in my eyes the Bundesliga really deserves this title. I will not be talking about Serie A, as I think that the league has gone backwards over the last twenty years. Saying this I think the league is back on the rise, but very slowly.

The rise of German football has been highlighted by the fact that in the last two seasons they have had more teams making it out of the group stage than the premiership. Bayern Munich will count themselves very unlucky not to be called champions of Europe this season. 

Once again this season only two English teams have made it past the group stages, which is a worry for fans of English football. The main draw of the premiership for fans is the fast game, the fact that any team can beat another on any given day. This also applies to the Bundesliga, the games are very similar to what you would see in the premiership, if not with more technical players. 

It seems that German football is doing something very right at the moment, producing many many technical players. The difference between the premiership is that young players are getting a chance at an earlier stage. Players such as Ozil, Reus, Gotez, Sahin, Muller and Kagawa were given chances at a young age. The top teams in England do not dare put in a young player from their youth team. Lets compare Tom Cleverly, who has pretty much only broken into Manchester United's midfield last season. He at 23 would have played many many games for a team like Bayern Munich or Dortmund. Another example is Josh Meckran who is a good player but will never get a chance at Chelsea. The problem effects the English national team in that the young players do not a chance to develop their game for their clubs from a young age.

Premiership clubs spend alot of money on players, but so do many German teams, the only difference is that they have a good system of financial control for the Bundesliga, something that the premiership could look at. 

Compare the German league to La Liga and it is evident that apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona every other team may struggle against German opposition. Athletico Madrid are on good form, but this will probably end when they sell their best player Falcao. In my opinion the best teams in Europe at the moment are Barcelona, Real Madrid, Dortmund and Bayern Munich. 

Summer manager merry go round?

It is quite clear that the summer will be big for football, especially the managers. There will be big jobs available and it seems that big managers may also be on the move. 

Let me start with the current Manchester City boss manager Roberto Mancini is under great pressure. This is despite being their best manger of recent times, delivering them champions league football, a premiership title as well as the FA cup. The pressure comes from the poor showing in the Champions League two seasons running. It has been stated that if they do not win the league this year then he could be off. If I was a betting man id say he wont be out of a job for long. He has been linked to Monaco in the past, I think he can still get a bigger job than that. Would Inter take him back? possible PSG?

Pep Guardiola is currently on a break from management, when he decides to return to football in the summer he could almost choose any job in the world. The only issue with him is that he is untested outside Barcelona, this is something which he would like to change, he is currently living in New York and learning English. It is common knowledge that Chelsea want him, employing a temporary manager after another waiting for him. It is very likely he will replace Rafa in the summer. The only other club I could see him at is Manchester City who have recently employed two people he worked with at Barcelona (watch this space). I think if Fergie decides to call it a day, he may be also interested in the red side of Manchester.

In my eyes Jose Mourinho is currently the best manager in world football, all the clubs would love to have the success he brings. He has won the title in four of the top leagues as well as two champions leagues. I don't doubt he will win it again with either Real Madrid or another team. By all reports it seems that he is unhappy once again, and has decided to leave Madrid. If he does he also has alot of options as to his next move. If there is a job at Man City or Man Utd he will be the top candidate to fill this role. Do not rule out a move back to Chelsea or PSG, as he loves London and teams with money (Paris is not far from London). 

Arsene Wenger may have had his reputation a little tarnished in England over the last few years, but in Europe he is regarded as one of the best managers still. His achievements with Arsenal is absolutely phenomenal  qualifying for the champions league year in year out. This may be tested this season, as a result he could step down from Arsenal, especially given the fan pressure currently. If he was to leave he would want one final challenge, this could be from PSG, who is very close to. Other options available to him could be Inter Milan, Monaco and believe it or not Real Madrid, who have courted him for the last ten years.   

At PSG the expectations are very high, they have spent alot of money on the team and appointed one of the best managers in world football. Carlo Ancelotti is that man, the reason he may be replaced is that PSG sit fourth in the French league. They are doing the opposite of Manchester City, as they have been very good in the Champions League but shown poor league form. Like the managers named above he will not struggle to get a job. I think a good fit for him would be Arsenal, as he will have a good squad to work with, he is good at developing squads, but he will also be courted by Inter and Real Madrid. 

The last man on the list is the great Sir Alex Ferguson, the greatest British manager. He will not be sacked and may even stay on if Manchester United fail to win a big trophy. If they do how ever win the league or champions league he may decide to end on a high. Just last week I heard Graham Hunter on the radio stating that Fergie was going to call it a day, before Barcelona dismantled Manchester United in Rome. Most Manchester United fans are torn between Moyes or Mourinho at the moment to replace Ferguson. I would suggest that Mourinho will be the best man for the job. 

Other managers to mention are Rafa Benitez who is just keeping the seat warm at Chelsea. If he does a good job he will get back into a top job, his name is always linked to Real Madrid. Roberto Di'Matteo is a champions league winner and could be in the running for Inter Milan, this would be a good fit for him. 

The summer should be pretty interesting, it will shape the clubs fortunes for years to come. 

A fans view of Wenger & Board

I said last time that I am reluctant to write about Arsenal, but I had to write this piece as it has been on my mind for a while now. 

Watching Arsenal these days is a challenge because it seems there are flaws in the team, deficiencies in management and problems at board level resulting in the top players leaving every year.

Let me first start on Wenger, for me he has been the best manager Arsenal have had, obviously people may say Herbert Chapman but he is way before my time. It has been an absolute pleasure watching Wenger's teams over the last 15 years, especially the invincibles. This surely is a feat that probably wont be repeated in the premiership again.

When talking about Wenger it has to be kept in mind that he has done many great things, both for the good of Arsenal and English football. For example his training methods and revolutionary ideas regarding diets have now been adopted by virtually all English clubs. He also has to be admired for his love of good football, he has always kept to his principles. Him being a man of principles has often been a brush to tar him, this is something which I believe is very unfair. 

A good question to be asked is that if Wenger had not revolutionised Arsenal in such a way, would the quality in the premiership be more equal to that of the French or Dutch leagues instead of being one of the best leagues in the world. In my opinion the league would not have developed as well, as it has without him. Even the great Sir Alex Ferguson had to adapt to Wenger's new style.

Where he could be criticised over the last 7 years is that he has lost sight of the current problems. I can put up with the comments saying that getting fourth place is more important than the FA and Capital One cups as we need the income to be a top club. It is also a way to show and promote the club across the world to new fans and players. On this front Wenger has worked miracles over the last few years. My gripe about this is that we don't win the so called lesser cups, and also apart from one final do not challenge for the Champions league. 

The statement is a cover up for Arsenal's failing not winning any trophies, the board also probably like the extra income instead of the glory. It can be said Arsenal have been pretty close to winning things in the last 7 years, but the same problems which every fan, pundit or ex player can see always end up costing us. For example Wenger allowed the defence and goal keeper situation to continue for this trophy less period. Most notably costing us in the champions league final and Carling Cup final v Birmingham. 

If I had asked fans about Wenger six/seven years ago then there would be a unilateral backing. But now it seems that the tied is slowly turning, and now many people are changing their minds almost on a game by game basis. There seems to be something lost, the same drive doesn't seem to be there. It could be that he has had to fight so many battles for his players that he now cant see their flaws. 

My biggest problem was the use of Santos in the last few games. It was clear for all to see that Santos against Schalke at home was terrible. Infact he was so bad that in the player ratings in one paper I saw he was given a 4, this was pretty generous and only awarded to him for playing.  Most managers would have taken the player out the firing line for the next few games, but Wenger did not take him out the team. He played against QPR, and Man Utd  big games where he was slightly better but still pretty poor. 

Against Man Utd I blame Wenger for Jack Wilshere getting the red card. Sir Alex took off Cleverly when he was given his last warning, Wenger instead took off Ramsey. Leaving on a player who has been out for so long and had just been warned about a second yellow card. 

The next game against Schalke started all great, Arsenal took a normal two goal lead. But as the last few weeks have shown, two goals are not enough for Arsenal. This switching off that seems to happen is a direct result of the manager and coaches. The motivation of the players is non existent  so it is the managers job to either play more motivated players or motivate them to continue playing. The slowness of making substitutions is also evident now, making the first sub of the game in the 92nd minute against Schalke.  

When Man Utd have a bad game, you can guarantee they will be a lot better the next game, as Sir Alex will make sure of this. When Arsenal play badly it is clear the next game will be worse. Another thing to take note is that when players come to Arsenal they have a good reputation, pretty much most of these players leave with this ruined. It has happened all to much now to be down to individual players motivation, there seems to be something clearly wrong.

For me Wenger SHOULD NOT BE SACKED, but should be given to the end of the season to change things around. if he cant change things around then the phrase every dynasty has its day will come to mind. Then a young and fresh manager should be given a chance to make his own legacy.

It is not all Wenger's fault, infact he may only be acting the way his done because of the shocking board Arsenal have. Peter Hill Wood has passed his sell by date, demonstrated by his hatred of the fans. Ivan Gazidas is a man that speaks well, but the things that come out his mouth is utter garbage. Our policy in theory of being able to challenge in the next few years seems to something that could work in theory, but Chelsea's latest yearly profit makes our plans seem a little flawed. They spend a lot on players, haven't really sold any players for big money, yet made a profit, this means that they spend on squad and make money. We sell our top players, have the most expensive seats and pay off our debts on the stadium to make a profit. OK we need to pay off the stadium but what happens to the excess profit? Silent Stan turned out to say a little lie in the last board meeting. I have never trusted the guy, and that pretty much proved it.

For me things need to change quickly. Hopefully a new board next year, but this is very unlikely. A little suggestion to the board is that if they cant afford to pay some players what the going rate is, then they could try taking this out from the wages of the best paid manager in the league. 

Why Arsenal should not miss out on Huntelaar for a 3rd time

I usually refrain from writing about Arsenal, as I am no great expert but just a fan. So I would like to state that this is purely my opinion of the transfer dealings, in particular why we should not let Huntelaar out of our grasp for a third time. 

It is clear to me that he will be leaving Schalke 04 either in January or for a free transfer in the summer. He is a player that Arsenal desperately need, this is to fill the void of RVP his fellow Dutchman. It will also take the pressure off Giroud who will be good but is still adapting to the premiership. So for me its a no brainier, also the fact that if we don't get him, he will most likely end up at either Spurs or Liverpool directly strengthening our rivals.

Give him a chance and he is likely to score, here is his record since 2006:

Year	Club	Appearances	Goals
2004-2006	Heerenveen	46	33
2006-2009	Ajax	92	76
2009	Real Madrid	20	8
2009-2010	Milan	25	7
2010-current	Schalke 04	62	40
(Total)		(245)	(164)

This is exactly the reason why we should buy him, I think if it had not been  for the failed experiment of Jeffers we may have tried harder for him when he left Ajax, Madrid or Milan. This time the risk is much lower as his price will be a lot less.

I also think it was a mistake not making more of an effort for Affelay in the summer, this may have been down to not being able to sell Arshavin. It is quite a possibility that we will lose two wingers in the summer, both Arshavin and Walcott. So I think one maybe two proper wingers should come in. I actually like how Sir Alex Ferguson always stock piles wingers, and switches  them around in games. There are a few names which I would suggest, but all these will be very expensive. These being: Wilfred Zaha, Tom Ince or Hatem Ben Arfa.

Ben Arfa again is a player who is constantly linked with Arsenal, but he would now cost a lot of money. I would spend the money on two of these, probably Zaha and Ince but it is unlikely we would get both of them, as it would be in the region of £30 mil for the two of them, more likely we will go abroad. 

The fourth signing I would suggest is Yang M'Biwa, he is a young defender who can play anywhere along the back line and is already captain of Montpellier. His contract also expires at the end of the season, for me we should make the pre-contract as soon as it turns 1st January. He could then be integrated into the squad for next season.

In my opinion the club made progress in the last transfer window, but need to add to these. The only way to do this is by getting rid of the deadwood: Chamakh, Djourou, Arshavin, Denilson, Bendtner and Santos. Slowly the club are pushing these out.

I just hope Arsenal are not stingy when buying or selling these players as a few pennies could cost us the player, possibly resulting in the loss of our champions league status. The pennies have cost us with players in the past the latest being Walcott, lets hope we don't have to put up with this much longer. 

Why AFL should be more popular in the UK

Last Saturday I made my way to the Oval where the Western Bulldogs played an exhibition match against Port Adelaide. This was my first AFL match which I have ever seen, but I am sure it will not be the last match. I had little expectations as I knew very little about this sport. In fact the only thing I knew about the sport were from two short videos which my cousin had sent me. Here are the links to these videos: 

Video 1 Video 2

My initial thoughts on the sport were that all these rules would make the game very complicated, but when after about 5 mins of the game some of the rules became clear. As the game went on I started to understand more and more of the rules and the game started to become enjoyable. 

The game seems to be a mix of many sports, as it is played on an oval pitch (usually a cricket pitch) there are certain rules from football, rugby as well as basketball. Fans of these sports will surely like the game, as an alternative to their sports, in the close seasons.

The one concern I had was that my cousin and I seemed to be the only non-Australian people there.  This seemed rather odd considering the British public are usually sports mad. What was even odder is that the cost of the ticket was £40 cheaper than I had paid to watch Arsenal v QPR the week before. Questions have to be asked of the marketing of the sport in the UK, the week before the NFL had packed out Wembley stadium. Yet the AFL could not fill The Oval. 

I do not think that the sport is even televised in the UK, this is something which needs to be copied from the NFL. In my opinion Aussie Rules is better than rugby, and that it should have more coverage in the UK. A reason why the crowds were less could be that the match was scheduled on a day when there are many football matches taking place very near by. This again seems to be poor organisation, If I were to have picked a time to play it would have been either on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon. 

If anyone has any more information about AFL/Gaelic football in the UK please let me know. I would also like to adopt a team, so please leave your comments as to who I should adopt as my team. 

Lance Armstrong, Loser, Cheat, Bully

It seems that everyday there is a new Lance Armstrong story in the press. The longer it goes on the more shocking it gets. Today's news is that Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France wins as well as being dropped by many sponsors. 

Let me first say that it should not be forgotten that he has twice recovered from cancer and that he has done so much for charity. 

I am dumbfounded at some of the allegations which have come out. A very professional and organised doping group led by Armstrong seems to have some truth behind it. 

This is purely down to the number of the different people coming out against Lance Armstrong collaborating the same stories. He had never been found guilty of failing any drug test in the past, but the allegations levelled at him explain exactly how he got around this. The first time I thought that something fishy was happening was when Armstrong decided not to defend a ban and the stripping of some titles against him. This is something that I believe could be an admission of guilt. If I knew I was innocent of something then I would fight till my name was cleared. Maybe the real reason he decided not to fight the ban was to stop other information coming out. 

The sport seems to have been filled with many people taking drugs to enhance their performance. The fact that he had been taking drugs seems to something that all the riders were doing. Where Armstrong seems to be worse than the rest is the fact that he was the ring leader, he would organise it all and he was more cunning in covering up the truth. To me it seemed that the other riders were almost scarred to speak out against doping and Armstrong. 

I heard Christophe Bassons a French rider talk on a brilliant BBC radio show on doping last week about how Armstrong had hounded him out the sport. The only reason being that he wrote an article saying that doping in riding still happened. He describes here how the day after the article was published, that all the other riders had planned to go slow and not tell Bassons. This meant that Bassons pushed hard from the start, then Armstrong pulled up to him and verbally abused him saying he will make his life hell. 

Another interview in that show was with an American rider who was about to come clean about doping in cycling. He claims that Armstrong found out about this and came to the restaurant where his family were dinning, stating that Armstrong threatened him.  

Lance Armstrong has friends in high places, claiming amongst his friends the last three presidents of the USA as well as some other world leaders such as French presidents. Could it be possible that to help in his cover up he was also friends with people in high places in cycling who helped cover up his misdemeanour's to save the sports reputation?  

Me being a fan of sport wants Armstrong to get everything he deserves, he has conned people into idolising him. He has bullied his way to the top of the sport and ruined the reputation of the sports once again. He has profited a lot of money through this cheating and should be accountable. 

The two worst things to come of this is that the seven titles which Armstrong cheated his way to victory now have no winners, just a little x written where the winners name should be. Something so traditional as the Tour de France will have seven failed tours. Also the fact that cycling in the UK had been on a high after the heroics of Bradley Wiggins and co through the summer, these people now are having to answer questions about why they are clean. The once legend of cycling now has pretty much been wiped out from cycling history and I believe should be forgotten, as he doesn't even deserve any mentions any more. 

The benefits of Balotelli vs The bad Balotelli

Sitting on Henman Hill/Murray Mount watching Nadal lose on the 28 June I checked my phone just for an update on the Italy v Germany semi final. To my shock I realised that Germany were loosing, and that Super Mario had scored both the goals. In my mind I thought that this could be the moment that Balotelli had craved for all his life, a point where he realised he could kick on without his issues. I probably was wrong to think this.

Just a few months before I had been watching him against Arsenal in a 1-0 loss for City, here he was sent off for a few bad tackles. Following this match it seemed Man City had blown their chance of winning the league and it was down to Balotelli being stupid. Mancini had stated that he was done with him and that he would definitely not play for the last six games of the season. 

Roberto Mancini seems to have an all most fatherly bond with Balotelli, this being that some times he is upset with him but always takes him back. Many people may call him stupid for constantly protecting a disruptive player, especially added to the fact the Mourinho could not control him. I have to give Mancini a bit of credit here, I think he has actually done a good job with him. This being that some people are uncontrollable, and Balotelli definitely fits this description.  

It seems to me an outsider that Balotelli is a big kid, the kid who never was popular. Mancini is the father, the only person who could have a slight affect on him. The fact that his parents pretty much left him to go live with other people and him suffering many illnesses as a child means that his childhood must have been very sad. This could be a reason why he is now acting out being a spoilt brat, chucking money everywhere and causing headlines for the wrong reasons. 

On the pitch Balotelli is a good player, one who has the potential to be great. This is because he has a bit of pace, power, a calm finisher and has a bit of skill. It is often overlooked that he is still a young player, having just turned 22 in August. In my opinion that is the only reason why Mancini entertains him at Manchester City. I think that by getting rid of a player like Mario Balotelli would be a mistake, as he is still young that he could realise his mistakes and change. As long as Mancini is there I think there is always a chance for the better Balotelli to come out. Manchester City have a big squad so therefore could carry him for a bit, possibly give him to the age of 24 to see if he does actually mature. If he does they have one heck of a striker on their hands. 

This probably will not happen, as rumours have resurfaced that Balotelli will leave in January. If he does leave now he could change his ways as I have earlier suggested or he could go totally off the rails. This would be a real shame, but I guess it has happened to many good players before him. Alex Ferguson stated after the red card against Arsenal that he would have sold Balotelli if he was his player. This is big for me, as he has tamed people like Cantona in the past. So if the two best man managers (Ferguson and Mourinho) don't want him then it does not look good for Balotelli does it. If Mancini does change him then he will have in my eyes done a great job.