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.