Attributes Needed to Make It to The Very Top of Football

What is needed to become a pro?

In some sense this is a very basic question. On the other hand this can go as deep as it possibly can. Of course you need to be good at football. Duuh! You need to be athletic in every sense of the word. Compared to maybe 30 years ago, today's football players are prime athletes, and if they are not they will be found out. The body fat percentages and all the fitness tests you can do in the world are all off the scale when it comes to professional footballers. I'm talking: stamina, speed, agility, flexibility, strength, power, balance, co-ordination, how many more do you want? These are just physical. Then you have tactically, socially, psychologically and mentally. The list of attributes goes on and on. In this piece I am going to talk about my opinion of not just what makes a professional footballer, but what separates the good from the great from the crème de la crème of professional footballers.

First the good. A lot of people, boy and girls, men and women love football in England. The percentage of people who start off playing football at amateur level hoping to one day make it is quite high. The percentage of people who actually make it is less than 0.003%. The success story numbers are incredibly low. I'm not talking the amount of people who make it and go on to play at the top of the game, representing their country, winning the Premier League and playing in Europe. I'm talking even being paid to play football somewhere around the League Two level. Then the great, from there if you do actually kick on and go on to playing in the Premier League, those percentages are even lower. The crème de la crème players that go on to become world class and have that consistency for most of their career, mainly have another 5-10% plus mentality. 

The different attributes for different positions.

Physical attributes needed by players can sometimes change depending on what position they play. The physique or even body type of a player can be different for the position they play too. Obviously most goalkeepers are strong and usually well over 6 feet tall. They are agile and have great agility. Even if some goal keepers claim they are not as agile and show as good agility as other top goal keepers, compared to a "mere mortal" average human, they are still at the very top of the scale. Like I said before it is just an extra few percentages that separate the good, great and world class. This may be a recurring sentence I use during this blog. A lot of wingers have a totally different physique to most centre backs. Wingers are usually electrically fast and the type of humans that look like they could catch pigeons. Centre backs are usually 6 feet tall and over, show good strength and power. These are very basic examples.

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Over the last 20 years the game has changed a bit in English football. Some of that has to do with the type of coaches that have come to coach in the Premier League. I think one of the very first to make a drastic change in the Premier League era of English football was Arsene Wenger. He changed attitudes in terms of the diet, health, fitness and life style of professional footballers at the top. Changing how players see food and drink to make their body a temple changed Arsenal football club and without him probably wouldn't have gotten the better of Manchester United from the late 90's to mid 2000's. They went back and fourth with the Red Devils winning a few trophies; including the Premier League title, the FA Cup and going deep into the Champions League. Not only did they win the Premier League a couple of times, they are the only, and still the only team to win the Premier League without losing a game in the league all season. Yeah they had great players all over the pitch, great coaching staff with the state of the arts facilities, yet I think the few percentages that the team needed to get themselves over the line to winning silver ware was the methods of Arsene Wenger.

Why attributes have changed.

Another coach that has arrived on our shores and shaken up the philosophy of the beautiful game and how it is played is Pep Guardiola. Sometimes I think it is unoriginal and lazy that other coaches replicate the Spaniard's style of play for their own teams but if you can't beat them join them. The style of play that is now played in this country has slightly changed the key attributes for certain positions. Like I said earlier, goalkeepers and defenders are usually tall, strong and have power. Now-a-days they need that and also great footballing skills. To go with the philosophy of playing out from the back, a centre back and full back now needs to be almost as good at passing and receiving as a creative centre mid. You need to be a Tony Adams mixed with Paul Scholes all in one. The same with goalkeepers. Not only have you got to be able to; keep the ball out of the net, strong in a one v one situation, take control of your penalty area by catching and punching to be an ariel presence; but you also have to be good with your feet. We have seen perfectly good goalkeepers be ousted by the top teams. Joe Hart and Aaron Ramsdale to name a couple. Just because even though as a goalkeeper they do a job for the team by keeping clean sheets and being a great shot stopper, they're simply not good enough with their feet. This goes against the coaches new philosophy and methods of how he or she wants their team to play out from the back and build up play. So they're out.

I have an opinion on full backs that I don't think is shared by many. It is not very nice; I'll admit; yet I think it is true. I believe that right back or left back is not a specialists position. I don't think players grow up wanting to be right back or left back. Simply, I think players who play in these positions are either failed centre backs or failed wingers. They're still good enough to be in the squad or the team, just not good enough to play centre back or winger as first or even second choice. How many times do you see a centre back or a centre mid filling in at full back. Teams won't have too many back up full backs in their squad. They're not going to waste transfer and wage budget money bringing in a third choice left back. If there are injuries and/or suspensions in the team and they are going into a game with no recognised left back, the manager is happy enough to either put a centre mid or a centre back in that position. Unless your team is hampered by many, many injuries at a stage of the season, what other positions do you see this happen in? You don't see a 'target man type 9' filling in for a winger, or a 6 playing up top because of injuries. If you look at the physique and top attributes of right and left backs, you will notice which they were meant to be; a centre back or winger. In today's game Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Milos Kerkez. Fast, Speedy, good acceleration, good with the ball at their feet and crossing the ball. Failed wingers. Ben White, Dan Burn, Josko Gvardiol plus Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville. Big, tall strong, powerful, not at good on the ball but great at reading the game and breaking up play. Failed centre backs. 

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As the game changes, so do the philosophies then so do the attributes needed in each position. One thing that stays the same for me, and is the same in all sport is mentality. The most important thing you need to make it as a professional athlete is mentality. Really it is also true outside of sport and in life but let me stick to what I know. I am not going to start talking about being a great salesman or lawyer or stock market broker because to be honest I know next to nothing about those industries and I'm here to talk about football and occasionally other sports. Look at other sports too and the athletes that are considered the best to ever play their respective sport. Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Floyd Mayweather, Sachin Tendulkar or Shane Warne. You could never question their mentality, whether it was the first game of a tournament or a final, their mentality to win never wavered. Michael Jordan is up there for being one of the best athletes ever. There's stories of MJ not making his high school team and by the time he's leaving high school he's one of the best players in the NBA. This is clearly because he has massively improved his basketball skills yet to do that he had to change him mentality. Did he become the best athlete of all time? I'm not sure how you would measure who is actually number one... I guess it comes down to opinion on this one at the end of the day, plus maybe some biases on what sport you prefer or how much of that sport you have seen. Ronnie O'Sullivan is considered the best snooker player of all time due to his talent. I think even less would argue he is the most talented snooker player of all time. In his recent documentary he openly admits that when he isn't there mentally, he is so far off his game he doesn't deserve to win a game, never mind a tournament. A very good example of you can be the most talented at what you do but if your head isn't in the game you'll be well off it.

The most important attribute.

A players mentality can decide how far they go in the game. We see almost every year, a young, talented, hot prospect make his/her way onto the scene out of nowhere and become a wonderkid. It happens a lot and fans end up judging them on what they have done in their first 10 games of their career. We see it all the time, a player is dynamite at the age of 16-18 years old and by the time they are 25 they are playing in the Championship, League One or even out of the game. There is nothing wrong with playing in the Championship or League One. Like I said earlier, only 0.003% of people who start playing football in England make it to that level so it is clearly some achievement. However, my point is that wonderkids come onto the scene and look like they are going to take the league by the scruff of the neck. They show talent and skill of the greatest to play the game, then by the time they are 24 or 25 they hype has died down because then never reached the height of potential that fans first thought of. 

Players like Ethan Nwaneri, Miles Lewis-Skelly, Archie Gray, Lamine Yamal and a few others in the last 2-3 years. Lamine Yamal is slightly further down the line of establishing himself as a wonderkid, who is proving that he may become a top player. However, lets look a Ethan Nwaneri. I have no connection to Arsenal Football Club. I don't support then nor do I support one of their main rivals. I am quite impartial to any debated surrounding them. The first time I had notice Nwaneri was when Bukayo Saka had got injured and he would make appearances for Arsenal off the bench. He has scored a couple of goals and had some very promising games for the Gunners. Where I have a slight problem is that the lad has played 19 games in total for Arsenal. That's 19 games in his professional senior career and you hear fans and pundits saying this player can go right to the very top. Have a day off will you Rodney. 

We could say it about 10 players a season that they could go to the very top and we say that because of the talent that we see. The thing that will take them to the very top of the game is an attribute that no coach and no therapist can measure or predict and that's mentality. There are so many players that have played in the Premier League in the last 20-30 years that were great but still didn't reach the top is huge. To measure this I would use Manchester United. Whether you like them or not, as a team they have the best record in the Premier League. Since it's launch in the 1992/93 season, Manchester United have won 13 Premier League titles out of 32 completed seasons. That's 40% of the time they have won the league, and they haven't won it in over 10 years. So at one point they had won 13 in 20 years, that's 65%. Let's use this as a measuring stick of the best of the best in the Premier League era. In the other years from 1992 to now, next on the list is Manchester City with 8, then Chelsea with 5, Arsenal have a few titles and Liverpool, Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers all have one each.

The crème de la crème. 

Think of the great players to play in the Premier League but wouldn't get anywhere near playing in that Manchester United team. The great players like Paolo Di Canio, Niko Kranjcar, Mousa Dembele, Jay Jay Okocha; the list goes on and on. They had all the talent in the world and did things on a football pitch that mesmerised fans and pundits yet were never on Manchester United's radar. Maybe they needed to be the star player in the team. When scouts go to assess a player to bring into their club, these are also the sort of things they will look into. Not only what they do on the pitch but what are they like as a person and how's their temperament. These type of players needed to be in the starting line up every week and play every minute. There's nothing wrong with this in my opinion, yet players that do this maybe sometimes stunt themselves of ever getting to the very top in football. At the end of the day their mentality let them down. Actually, this is nothing to be ashamed of as I think this happens to 99% of the 0.003% that make it. Only a handful of people on this planet have this type of mentality to make it to the very top of their profession. It isn't something that you can turn on and off. You could put them into a small meaningless game of tiddlywinks and they still have the desire and passion to win. 

Maybe these players weren't that focused on winning every single year, week after week, day to day. They might have seen a football career as something to enjoy. They may have been world class for a season or two and then dropped back off with their team. A bit more than just being in form but less than creating a legacy or being a great. To me "world class" can sometimes be thrown around too much about too many players. I think world class is if we were to make a game with two teams playing against each other, would the player be on either team or in the either squad. So basically there are 2-3 players in each position that are world class. Sometimes there are a couple more or a couple less. At the moment, it is becoming apparent that there are less world class number 9's in the game. In the 90's to 2000's there were maybe 7-8 number 9's to choose from just for the England squad. Very good strikers would miss out on ever playing for England in a major tournament. That's only England I'm talking about, there would be so many around European teams and the world that were icon and top top strikers if not world class. It has slightly changed now to being a lot of top top wingers. 

The difference isn't always what players do on the pitch. It isn't always about stats, numbers and percentages. A big reason of why and how players get to the levels that they do is what they do off the pitch. Not only in training and how they train but their lifestyle and how they recover between games. To be the absolute best you need to eat, drink, sleep and breath the game. Players now will have everything in place to make sure that their body is performing at 100% throughout the season. I agree, there won't be many times in the season when players are fully 100%, yet they will do things in their own time to try and get as close as possible to being fully, fully fit. Things like hiring their own chef at home that can accommodate their strict diet regime. Having their own ice baths and saunas fitted into their homes to aid with recovery. Maybe certain mattresses or home comforts will be added into their home. The players who are at the very top are doing things 24/7 365 days of the year to get themselves their and to keep themselves there. 

Remember, a lot of players will make it to the top, yet staying there for the vast time in your career is another story. Some players have unbelievable seasons and then drop off again and some players will make it to the stop and stay there for 10 years plus. In today's game I'm talking about the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Players in the conversation of greatest of all time; even though people have tried to knock them off their pedestal at the top of football for years; never get deterred and find ways to adapt and overcome adversities in any shape or form. It can be hard to get to the top of the mountain, but staying there for a long time even harder. There's less oxygen, the weather can change on the spin of a coin and there's not much space for a lot of people.

In Conclusion.

What it all comes down to is the overall attributes: physical, tactical, technical, mental and psychological. Depending on how many of these overall attributes you have will probably depend on how far up the list of great players you are. I think if you make it into the game at professional level you are probably exceeding in 2 of these overall attributes. Physically and technically. How many times did we use to hear, "he's good, but just not big enough." I'm sure Messi would have got that when he was about 10 years old. If Messi was coming into football in the 90's he probably wouldn't have been given the chance back then. As the game has changed into a much more technical game with the ball more on the floor, I think we will see this less and less. Players being rejected because of their physical size is probably a thing of the past. 

As you go up the pyramid of the football league you will see an increase in the overall attributes that players have. As you get to the top of League Two, into League One and flirting with the Championship, players will definitely have needed to add a third overall attribute. They will have needed to show their understanding of the game tactically along with being physically astute to play the game and obviously be technically good enough to play at this level. I would also add that at times the players at this level will show how strong they are psychologically. They will have hit bumps in the road, they will have knock backs and also played in huge pressure situations. Whether it be a huge game or situations in games where they either need to deliver or they have their backs against the wall. Coming through these moments can define a players career and show how they grow as a player in their development. 

At the top; and I'm talking the top of the Championship into the Premier League; I think the biggest difference is mentality. The player's mentality to improve and keep improving their physicality, technical ability and tactical understanding of what they are being asked to do in the system of their team. As a player keeps going up and up and up, from a top Championship player to an established Premier league player, to playing for a top top team in Europe, it is all about mentality to keep going and not being satisfied with where they currently are, wanting to break records. It seems like these type of players just don't have a ceiling and can achieve more or less anything they put their minds to. To be honest, I don't think these players give themselves time to enjoy their career. Even if they've won a trophy, league or something like a treble, their next thought is always: what's next? what can I win next? what is the next record I can break? It is never enough.

The difference is the mentality.

And Long Live Sir Billy Connolly!

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Liverpool's Big 3 Out-of-Contract Players

Who has the power?

When we look at Liverpool coming towards the end of this season, they have 3 huge players coming to the end of their contracts. As they are in great position to win the Premier League this season, you would think that if they were to lose all 3 players, they have no chance of being in the same position next season. Defenders Virgil Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold plus star man Mohamed Salah are all out of contract at the end of the 2024/25 season. My first thought is, there’s no way Liverpool can afford to lose all 3 players if they want to keep up with the competition at the top in England and in European competitions.

In all honesty, I think all 3 players are waiting to see what the others are going to be offered, so it may help them in negotiating more on their own deal. For example, if Trent or Van Dijk get offered £400,000 per week, then Mo Salah comes to the club saying he should be paid more and he wants to be the highest earner at the club. As a result, I think it's possible 2 out of 3 may leave Liverpool in the summer. I hope this doesn’t happen. I have no connection with Liverpool football club, yet I feel it will weaken the Premier League and I want as many world class players playing in the league as possible.

All 3 players are treated differently by the fans. Of course, if you are a Liverpool fan you want all 3 to renew their contracts. Why wouldn’t you? I think it gets tricky and splits opinion, if you asked Liverpool fans to choose only 1 or 2 out of 3 to resign.

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Are Liverpool Going to Lose All 3?

I think Van Dijk has been treated very well by the Liverpool fans and will be in the time during the negotiation stages of the new contract extension. The Dutchman will be seen as a vital part of why Liverpool were able to win the Premier League and the Champions League, along with the signing of goal keeper Alisson Becker. The signing of both players was immediately evident in the team’s performances and what the team won since their arrivals. Also with VVD’s leadership on and off the pitch, I think he is irreplaceable and arguably the best centre back in the world right now. If not the best, definitely top 3. His current salary is £220,000 per week. The second highest at the club after Mohamed Salah.

Trent Alexander Arnold is a different kettle of fish compared to the other two mentioned, as he is a home grown talent and came through the academy system. He joined the club at just 6 years old and has represented the club at U16, U18 and is now vice-captain of the first team. The scouser in the team. The fans will expect him to respect the club being a fellow scouser. They will see it as the club comes first and you as a player should feel the ultimate privilege to play for this club as you are from this city. If Trent is offered a contract he should sign it and be happy he has been offered an extension to play for his club. These feelings go deep into the city of Liverpool and are not only the thoughts of people from Liverpool but every city in the UK.

Home grown talent are given a slightly different ride than players who are brought in. Don’t even think of joining a rival club. Even if it’s not a rival club but a club that plays in the same league, the player can be given a hostile reception when returning to their club. You don’t see it too much any more but there use to be quite a few one club players. Players like Steven Gerrard, Gary Kelly or Tony Adams. Even out of the UK you had players like Paolo Maldini, Francesco Totti or Carlos Puyol and many more. Players who only played for one club or played the vast majority of their playing career at one club.

Even though Trent Alexander-Arnold is Liverpool's third highest earner; with a salary of £180,000 per week; I don’t think Liverpool fans will have as much patience with the scouser as the other two players.

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Mo Salah, Running Down the Wing.

Mohamed Salah is having the season of all seasons. I'm writing this after Liverpool have played 29 games in the Premier League. Top of the league; after beating Southampton 3-1 at home; by 15 points and an inferior goal difference. The closest teams Arsenal and Nottingham Forest do have a game in hand yet that still effectively puts them 13 points behind if they win their game in hand. Effectively because of Liverpool’s inferior goal difference.

Earlier in the season, Salah did come out and do a few public interviews. It was spoken quite a bit by pundits on Sky Sports Football. He was obviously trying to force the hand of the Liverpool board. As he is lauded by the Liverpool fans for the performances and the stats he has produced over the last 7 or 8 seasons. After signing for Liverpool from Fiorentina in 2017 he has always seemed to produce great numbers and always been in and around the golden boot for the Premier League. He could have done the public interviews to get more fans on his side. I don't think he's threatening, yet a big part of me thought he was putting it out there that if he's not given a deal that he likes, he will move on. Maybe he was also putting himself in the "shop window" and trying to get the attention of other clubs, that he might be available at the end of the season on a Bosman. 

I think a great way for this to all defuse would be to make the negotiations public. Why wouldn't they? A lot of fans will literally think, "Pay him what he wants. He's one of the best in his position in the world. His stats this season show that, and how much would it cost to get a player like him to replace him?" If the negotiations were out there for the public to see, the fans would see who was in the wrong and who to support. For example, if the club are seen to be not giving the Egyptian a good enough deal in the current climate of salaries, the fans will see that and back their player. However, lets say Liverpool have offered Salah stupid money and are willing to make him the top earner in the league, and he's still not signing, I think the fans would realise it is not the clubs fault.

The way it looks like the club is run in terms of money spent on player fees and salaries doesn't look too shabby. I don't see Liverpool as a club that throw a load of money at the wall and see how much will stick. They never seem to be scrambling in transfer windows and it seems like recently there's not many players that are bought for astronomical prices that don't work out. Players like Andrew Robertson, Wataru Endo and Sadio Mane were all brought in for quite small fees and had great years at the club. Also, the academy seems to bring through good prospects every now and again. Players like full back Conor Bradley and midfielders Harvey Elliot and Curtis Jones it can save the club millions.

From afar it seems like the club has structure and a plan on how they are going to do things. It seems that they have guidelines and as if they have caps on how much they are willing to spend and make sure it makes sense. A year or two ago when Jude Bellingham was leaving Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool could have easily slapped down an offer of well over £100 million. Whether it would have been accepted and whether Jude would have wanted to sign for Liverpool is a different story. Obviously they weren't willing to spend that amount of money on one player when they were losing central midfielders Fabinho, James Milner and Jordan Henderson at a very similar time. They needed to fill the whole in the middle of the pitch and instead of panicking and making a rash decision to buy they waited for the right player(s) at the right price for them. 

It looks like the club has a structure, a way of spending money and a financial plan that they don't break. In my opinion this is one of the very rare moments that you could break what you plan. Replacing Mo Salah and to replicate what the team are doing this season, next season is highly highly unlikely. Now we have seen a few clubs recently sell their star man that scores all the goals; Harry Kane, Ivan Toney, Dominic Solanke; and the teams have kicked on and done well. Even outside of the Premier League. For example, PSG look a much better team now they don't have a Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi or Neymar type star figure. It's as if other players have now been able to step up now they are no longer in the shadows of a poster boy. These teams have sort of shown that losing your star player isn't always the worst thing that could happen. However, these teams aren't competing for the Premier League, Champions League and basically every tournament available in domestic football.

The more I think about it, my opinion on the situation swings. On one hand if Salah puts pen to paper, Liverpool are more than likely breaking their financial structure but if you're going to do that, you're going to do it for a player like Salah. The winger is obviously going to be near impossible to replace. This season he has scored 27 goals and got 17 assists after 29 games. He is having a season where he's breaking a lot of personal, club and Premier League records, yet he may be thinking, "Leave while I'm on top." A lot of players can continue for a year or two too long and ruin how they are remembered. This happens not just in football but all sport. There's some chance that the Egyptian breaks all records this season, signs a new contract and then next season has quite a dip and doesn't perform any where near what he has done this season. I don't expect him to repeat the numbers of this season anyway but it could be that he drops off a long way. I don't think it will happen but I've seen it before where players have a flyer on their contract renewal season and then drop off once they've sign their new lucrative deal.

Honestly, deep down, I think the deal is done. Romeo done. I think it has been agreed, signed and this is all a publicity stunt. In todays world there's so much emphasis on clicks and views and doing things just to create and generate more attention. At the start of the season; or even as far back as last season; people would be realising this is the last season of Mo Salah's contract. The talks around pundits, media and fans would have started and this season it has amplified; maybe because of the numbers he's producing. I think it has turned into a soap drama and it has brought in even more attention. It will build and build, until all that has to be done is the release of the information that "Mohamed Salah has signed a new 2 year deal with Liverpool club." Blah Blah Blah. When it is eventually released, and the news drops that this seasons top goal scorer has signed, it will explode all over the internet and create quite a revenue in clicks and views. The tactic is a good one. Maybe not great for the blood pressure of most Liverpool fans but great for the publicity of the player and the club. And remember, all publicity is good publicity. 

Just my honest opinion on the whole subject. Like I said, I have no connection to Liverpool Football Club nor am I a fan of one of their major rivals. I neither like them or dislike them, I think this makes me pretty neutral in the subject and for me when it comes to it football is the winner.

And Long Live Sir Billy Connolly!

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Across the "Digital" Touchline: Fantasy Football *Week 29*

 Guess who's back, back again.

So Friday's Across the "Digital" Touchline is back after a month. I've been on holiday and didn't want to spend too much time writing blogs while away. However, the mini retirement is over and it is back until the end of the season.

In game week 29 I decided to use my free hit chip. This was because Liverpool, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa all had a blank week. This would have meant 7 of my players would have not played and as I'm trying to reach the top 1M overall and stay top of the leagues that I'm in, I needed to do something. 

The changes that were made for this game week alone were as follows: 

Goalkeepers: Ederson in for Alisson and Jose Sa in for Fabianski

Defenders: Gabriel in for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kerkez in for Hall, Semedo in for Greaves.

Midfield: Fernandes in for Salah, Son in for Palmer, Gibbs-White in for Rogers

Forwards: Haaland in for Isak and Evanilson in for Mateta.

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I was very lucky to actually changed Fabianski as well as Alisson. I didn't plan this as I thought Ederson was a nailed on started. Turns out he didn't feature at all for Man City this week and I feel I was slightly unlucky not to get 4 clean sheet points from Jose Sa as Wolves played against Southampton (Away).

In defence Gabriel got those clean sheet points but also collected a yellow card. Kerkez got my team 4 points as he got an assist but also lost a point for conceding 2 goals at home to Brentford. Aina blanked with only 1 point after also conceding 2 goals away at Ipswich. From my original team, which my team will reset to for game week 30, both Trent and Lewis Hall are showing up red. I think Hall is out for the season and Trent will be out for a few weeks. I'm pretty sure I will transfer out Lewis Hall, but whether I transfer out both of them I will wait until after the international break next week. I am thinking of bringing in Kerkez from Bournemouth, even though they have gone off the boil a little they have a favourable run of games from now until the end of the season, plus either Jurrien Timber or William Saliba just because Arsenal's defence is now performing how it usually does.

In midfield, Son and; son of Patrick; Justin Kluivert both blanked. Bryan Mbuemo got an assist and a single bonus point and Morgan Gibbs-White collected 5 points with an assist. I was debating between Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga, both from Nottingham Forrest as they have a favourable game against Ipswich and I chose wrong. Elanga got 2 goals in 66 minutes and was subbed off before Ipswich scored meaning he got a clean sheet point plus 3 bonus points. 5 points to 16, I definitely chose wrong. The star of the team this week was Bruno Fernandes. With 2 assists and a goal against Leicester (Away) he also collected 3 bonus points scoring 17 points this game week. The only reason I am not going to add him to my team is because his next three games are Forrest (Away), Man City (Away) and Newcastle (Away). 3 tough, tough games that I can't see Man United getting anything from and Bruno not getting many points from.

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Up top Haaland got a goal plus 1 bonus points and Chris Wood blanked. On the bench, Semedo and Evanilson blanked but Antonee Robinson scored 7 points with his clean sheet points and a single bonus point. I had to choose between Robinson and Aina and with Forrest playing against Ipswich and Fulham playing Spurs I thought it was a higher chance of Aina getting a clean sheet than Robinson. Again I was wrong but I have no grouch with that, it was my gut feeling and most weeks I would probably be right with that idea. 

There is a few weeks until the next game week starts due to the international break as I said. I will make 2 transfers between now and the start of the next game week. It is looking like it will be Lewis Hall out for Milos Kerkez and Jurrien Timber in for Trent Alexander-Arnold. Both look to be out for a while, if not most of the rest of the season. After that, I am looking at replacing Morgan Rogers and it's surprising to say but Cole Palmer is not performing or bringing in any return for my team so it may be time to replace him. At this moment in time it is looking like they will be replaced by Anthony Elanga and Anthony Gordon or Bruno Fernandes if the transfers take place after the next 3 game weeks.

In my leagues since I last posted my friday blog I have basically maintained my positions, however two league have become incredible close. First, second and third are separated by about 10 points. I am still top of another league by around 20 points and sit third yet less than 10 points off second in another league. In the overall league I am pain stakingly close to entering the top 1 million, only less than 40,000 away. 

Friday's Across the "Digital" Touchline will be back after the international break. 

And Long Live Sir Billy Connolly!

To keep up to date with all things Across the Touchline, follow the blog on either:

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Blogs in the near future will be posted on Mondays and don't forget about Across the "Digital" Touchline blogs for all things Fantasy Premier League, posted on Friday's.

Why British Players Don't Play Abroad

In 1977, Kevin Keagan signed for Hamburg SV on a 3 year deal, making 90 appearances for the club and scoring 32 goals. A few years later, after being the first player to be sold between English clubs; in 1982; Trevor Francis joined Italian side Sampdoria for four years. He then joined Atalanta for another year, making it 5 years in Italy. This started a slight trend in England and Britain's top players to move abroad. Back then, not many British players moved abroad to play football. It wasn't like it is now where the English Premier League is brimming with overseas talent. 126 nations have featured in the Premier League since 1992/93 season.

You don't see many average English players going to play abroad. It's as if it is the "crème de la crème" of the British talent that gets noticed across the boarders and the rest don't exist. It seems like the views haven't changed since back in the 80's too. In 1986, Gary Lineker joined Barcelona on a 3 year deal until 1989. He is one of England's all time top goal scorers and maybe in a list of top 10 England players ever. Winning Golden Boots and goal scoring records, Lineker shone for Tottenham Hotspurs and Everton in England's First Division. At the same time, Mark Hughes also played for Barcelona. He was slightly less fortunate and not played as much as Lineker and moved out on loan to Bayern Munich for a season. There use to be a rule that you were only allowed 3 foreign players in your team at a time. The Premier League use to have a similar rule about non-European players too. This has since changed and now you can have as many as you like from where ever. 

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Towards the end of his career, Lineker joined Japanese side Nagoya Grampus. In today's game this could be likened to players joining the MLS, The Chinese Super League or The Saudi Pro League. Going for a bit of extra retirement cash or to grow the game in that part of the world. I agree these days you don't really grow the game with the odd player joining a team in a country that doesn't have massive exposure to the top players in the world. Even though Lineker would have got a much better deal from the Japanese side than any team in Europe for his last two years in the game, I do believe he went there to try and grow the game in Japan. It could have been like what China were trying to do around 2015-2020 and it just never took off.

The MLS may have done this in America and was almost started by David Beckham. Building a platform to promote the game and make it what it is today with other super stars joining more recently. Without Beckham going there 20 years ago, I don't think you would see players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic going to The States to play, or even more recently Lionel Messi joining Inter Miami. It's all publicity stunts and the athletes get a nice pay out. That's the positive side of it. 

Maybe it is for another blog to get into the ins and outs of players and countries developing the infrastructure of the game in smaller footballing nations around the world. I've digressed. Back to it.

A few players did this in the 80's and earlier but not many. It always seemed to be the best British players such as; Laurie Cunningham, David Platt, Peter Beardsley, Graeme Souness and Chris Waddle. All internationals for their country and playing at the top teams in English League Football. Glenn Hoddle was another. He joined AS Monaco in 1987 until 1991 after playing at Spurs for 12 years. He made almost 400 appearances for the North London club, was recognised as one of the best English players of his generation and then moved abroad. It is only the top players that get recognised? It's not all the best players that go, but seems to be the players that go are one of the best at the time.

Things have never really changed. Entering the 90's and the age of the Premier League, still not many British players go to play abroad. 

I think the first British player to leave the newly invented Premier League was Paul Gascoigne. Again, he was one of the best British players of that time. For a while he must have been the first player on the team sheet for England and he was recognised abroad. Gazza joined Lazio in 1992 for 3 years, before he returned to Britain to join Glasgow Rangers.

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Before I continue, can you imagine being a Lazio player being told that an English player is coming to join their dressing room and it's Paul Gascoigne that shows up. Some of his team mates have incredible stories about what he would get up to, with the pranks and crazy jokes he would do on a regular basis. Imagine the Italians in that dressing room who are dead set professionals. He must have blown them away silly.

The Modern Era

Since the turn of the millennium, a few British players have gone abroad. In 2004 Michael Owen joined Real Madrid from Liverpool. Owen was one of the best English strikers of his generation and was becoming England's set number 9. He was slightly hampered with injuries from playing so many games at such a young age and maybe the better thing for him to do for his career would have been to stay at Liverpool or at least in England. However, the pull of giants like Real Madrid is a strong one. I'm pretty sure Owen has absolutely no regents on joining the Spanish giants. How can any player at the top turn down such an opportunity. When he went there he was jostling for position with the likes of Raul and Ronaldo. Not bad company is it. He knew this and with his injuries, surely it would have been better for him to be playing regularly rather than sometimes in the team and sometimes out of the team. He didn't get the game time he was use to and only lasted one year in the Spanish capital before moving back to England. 

Weirdly the same thing happened with Jonathan Woodgate. After playing for the two giants in the North East; Newcastle United and the mighty Leeds United; he joined Real Madrid on a 3 year deal. Similarly to Owen, the defender was also becoming hampered with niggling injuries. What didn't help was his debut for Real Madrid was met with an own goal followed by a red card; all in the first half of the game. Between 2004 and 2007 Woodgate only made 8 more appearances before returning to England, firstly on loan but then joined his hometown club Middlesborough on a permanent deal.

In 2012/13 season, Gareth Bale won the PFA Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year Awards. After Cristiano Ronaldo, he was only the second player in the history of the awards to win both awards in the same year. This caught leverage and he caught the attention of the Spanish giants too. In 2013, the Welshman joined for a record breaking £85.1 million (over 100 million Euros) to form the impressive; BBC Bale, Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo; forward line. The trio went on to break goal scoring records for Los Blanco's and won many trophies.

A few years later, after winning the La Liga title, The Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup, Bale was ostracised and questioned about his work ethic. One rule he broke after joining a Spanish side was not learning the language as is tradition. Players are given the exception for their first season in the country and after that, in press conferences, they are expected to listen and speak in Spanish. The winger was found to be playing more golf than football at the time, and in an international game posed for photos with a fans flag that read "Golf, Football, Madrid. In that order." While captaining his nation Wales. Things got very sour after that between the player and the club fans and he was never really accepted back.

If you went off these examples, you wouldn't really think hard about why not many British player go to play abroad. Going back to the 80's not many of our best talents had success abroad. With these examples since the birth of the Premier League, not many of the best players in their generations had success abroad. Yet there are some success stories. 

Another top English player, Harry Kane has gone abroad to Bayern Munich. The happiest person about this is Alan Shearer. It makes his Premier League goal scoring record a bit harder to break as Kane looked sure to break his record before leaving the Premier League. In all honesty, I think Kane has gone there because Daniel Levy wouldn't sell Kane to another Premier League club cheaply or easily. I think the current England captain will spend a few years abroad and then come back to give himself a few more years at trying to break Shearer's record of 260 Premier League goals.

David Beckham

Golden balls gets a whole section to himself when it comes to talking about British player who have played abroad. It's a whole life journey, what he has done abroad in football is more than a lot of players do playing in their own country, in Britain or overseas. 

After 11 years at Old Trafford and over 250 games, Becks joined the Spanish giants Real Madrid. He said after finishing his career he never wanted to leave Manchester United, yet I bet he didn't complain too much once he'd got to Madrid. He was joining a side nicknames "The Galactico's" due to the star studded squad Madrid had at the time. Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Iker Casillas, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, the list goes on and on. 

With his reputation of a global superstar, being married to a Spice Girl, and now joining Real Madrid he was definitely setting his status as one of the most famous and recognisable people in every corner of the planet. In his first season in the Spanish capital he won the UEFA Supercup. This looked like it was going to be a very successful, trophy heavy time in Spain. However, the next silver wear he won in Madrid was in his last season when they won the La Liga title in 2007.

In 2012, Beckham exited Real Madrid and joined LA Galaxy in the American MLS. At first this looked like a massive mistake. The MLS back then wasn't what it is today. The pitches football was played on was similar to grass roots football in England, the stadiums weren't up to scratch like they are in NFL or baseball in the USA and the teams were the standard of the fourth division in England. 

During his time in America, Becks made a few loan spells back into European football as the league schedules would not overlap. The former England captain joined AC Milan on loan for two spells in 2009 and 2010.

At the end of his 5 seasons in the MLS, he joined PSG for one last season. His body was obviously not keeping up with the playing schedule and it was time to end his memorable career.

As we can all see how, Beckham had a plan that none of us realised. He made sure that he would be able to create his own franchise in the MLS. Creating Inter Miami was always the plan for Beckham. He won't have known it would have been in Miami, Florida, and he won't have known that one day he would be signing Lionel Messi to his team.

This all started with Beckham leaving England and being exposed to a different culture and the way of doing things. It is very easy to say, if he didn't leave Old Trafford, none of this would have happened. Great things can happen from travelling abroad to work.

The Apprenticeships

When Birmingham City retired Jude Bellingham's number 22 shirt in 2020, a lot of people thought they were over reactive. He joined Borussia Dortmund from the midlands club before he had played a top flight game of football. He wasn't a developed player and at the age of 17 his body hadn't quite filled out yet. At £25 million Jude became the most expensive 17 year old in history. He joined a team only behind Bayern Munich in Germany's top league and wasn't exactly joining a small club. He has pressure on him with that price tag as he hadn't really done anything in the game. Only one year in senior football and he was already joining the German giants. 

In 3 years at Dortmund, the England international went from being hardly known to one of the first players on the team sheet for his country. The problem really was where is he going to play in the team because he's taking someone else's place in the starting line up. Someone with experience and is an establish international. Jude took his place in the side and hasn't looked back, playing important roles for England in European competitions and the World Cup and scored vital goals in the competitions. For Dortmund he played 92 games in 3 seasons, showing that he might have been born in Birmingham but he was made in Dortmund. 

Dortmund have shown that they have the recipe to creating young super stars. Including names like Erling Haaland who developed into currently being the games deadliest goal scorers with a domestic and international game to goal ration of 1 in 1.

Do Managers Perform Any Better Abroad?

Gary Neville's Valencia experience isn't a good place to start so I'm not even going to talk about it.

When I think of English managers abroad I first think of Sir Bobby Robson. After managing England from 1982-1990, he managed European clubs; Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona sandwiched by spells at PSV Eindhoven. It's quite clear that after being targeted by the English media and brandished a "traitor" for not renewing his contract with England that his patience in English football was done. In his first spell at PSV they won the Eredivisie title back to back. Sporting Lisbon is where Sir Bobby met a certain Jose Mourinho. Mourinho was his translator and became his assistant manager when he moved to Lisbon rivals, Porto. At Porto, like at his time in The Netherlands, he also won the league title back to back. 

In 1996, 6 years into managing on the continent, the former England manager joined Spanish giants Barcelona, also with Mourinho by his side. One of Robson's first signings in Catalonia was Ronaldo. That season they went on to win the Copa del Rey, Supercopa de Espana and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. He was voted manager European Manager of the Season 1996-97. 

Another English manager to manage Barcelona was Terry Venables. He gained the nickname "El Tel" from the English tabloids. However, El Tel only managed outside of England for two jobs. His first, Barcelona was because he was recommended by Sir Bobby Robson. He had gained a great reputation for the jobs he had done at QPR and Crystal Palace respectively. 

In Venables 3 years in Catalonia, he won the 1985/86 La Liga title, Barcelona's first since 1974, he also won the 1986 Copa de la Liga, and got to the final of the European Cup losing on penalties to Steaua Bucuresti. 

Managers More Recently

Steve McClaren will be looked down on by most English football fans for the jobs that he did with the English National Team and becoming "The wally with the 'brolly." After working with Middlesborough, Manchester United and England, McClaren joined FC Twente in the Eredivisie. In 2010 won the title ahead of PSV and Ajax and became the first Englishman to win a title outside of Britain since Sir Bobby Robson did it with Porto in 1996. Robson also won the Eredivisie title in 1991 and 1992 with PSV. Just like Terry Venables at Barcelona, Sir Bobby had a big influence in McClaren going to work in The Netherlands.

After winning the title, McClaren moved across the boarder to Germany and joined Wolfsburg. He became the first English manager to manage in the top flight of German football. Things didn't go as well as they did in The Netherlands and he only lasted just under a year before returning to manage in England. 

Another England manager to manage abroad was Roy Hodgson. Hodgson had great longevity to his managerial career. He had a great influence on football in Scandinavia. His first managerial role in football was with Swedish team Halmstad. Joining in 1976, he won the league title in 1976 and 1979. To date, this is still one of the biggest surprises in Swedish football. The year before the former England manager joined Halmstad, the team avoided relegation by goal difference. The very next season, he's got them winning the league. Leicester City eat your heart out, right. 

After dipping back into English football, in 1982 Hodgson moved back to Sweden and had spells with two second division teams; Oddevold and Orebro. There wasn't much success before he moved to the bigger Swedish side Malmo. Malmo won 5 consecutive league titles along with two Swedish Cups between 1985 and 1991. He was offered a lifetime contract but declined.

After making such an influence in Swedish football, Hodgson moved to Switzerland. He joined Neuchatel Xamax. In his time in swiss domestic football he took his team all the way to the UEFA Cup in 1992, where they beat Celtic over two legs and won their home game in the next round against Real Madrid. This caused waves in Swiss football and he was giving the position of Men's Swiss National Team manager. 

Hodgson took them to their first major international tournament since the 1966 World Cup. They qualified top of their group that included top national teams such as; Italy and Portugal. In the finals they finished second in group A, progressing to the knock out stages. He did the same again for the Swiss national side and got them qualified for the 1996 World Cup and resigned once they were qualified.

Once his job was done and the Swiss were qualified for the World Cup once again under his reign, he joined Italian giants Inter Milan. Hodgson spent two years in Italy and by Inter fans will always be known as the manager who sold Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos. At the time Inter were a struggling league team yet did well in cup competitions. He led them to the UEFA Cup final in 1997, where they played Schalke. Back then even the final was played over two legs. Both sides won their home games 1-0 before the Italians were beaten on penalties. Yes, the Germans won on penalties. Shock! 

Hodgson has a list as long as your arm of teams he has managed outside of The British Isles. Including clubs teams; Swiss side Grasshoppers, Copenhagen, Udinese and Norwegian side Viking. He's also managed national sides; UAE and Finland before given the England job. What a career and I've only mentioned outside of English football.

Alan Pardew spent 4 months at Dutch side ADO Den Haag and 6 months at Greek side Aris Thessaloniki. Sounds a bit like he did the G.Nev at Valencia twice.

In 2010, Graham Potter joined Ostersund who at the time were in the fourth division of Swedish football. He took them to consecutive promotions and won their third promotion in 4 season in 2015. He had taken them from fourth division to first division in 4 seasons and pushed on to enter the group stage round of the UEFA Europa League. Despite beating Arsenal 2-1 in their group they were eliminated on goal difference being level on points with Athletic Bilbao.

In Conclusion

As a player it seemed like you needed to be a top British international to be recognised by a European club. Unless you played at the very top and strived there you didn't go abroad to play. More recently I still think this is the case with most players. Only the best will go and play for the giants of Europe like Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. Recently, some players such as Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham, Chris Smalling or Scott McTominay have gone and played abroad yet I feel that is because the teams they played for did not want to sell them to rival clubs or teams in the same division as them. 

It seems to be similar circumstances with managers. Only the managers who have credentials of working at the best domestic clubs in England or even the Men's National Team manager role are noticed by clubs to go work in the European leagues.

I think young players, if given the option, should jump at the chance of playing abroad. We have seen from experience that the playing time as a teenager or young player is higher compared to players who play for teams in the Premier League. The type of coaching they are exposed to seems a lot more technical too, which develops players into the system based football a lot of teams play in today's game.

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Rivalries in Football

Records Don't Mean Anything in a Derby Game

When I think of rivalries in football, I think of fans and players who hate each other. It's a must win game to gain bragging rights against the other team, at least until the next time you play them. Specifically, when I think of British rivalries in football I think: Celtic - Rangers, Man United - Liverpool, Man United - Arsenal, Man United - Leeds or Newcastle United - Sunderland. Yeah, lots of teams hate Man United.

What really makes a rivalry or a derby?

The first reason I think is location. Maybe it could be the same city or county in the UK. If this is the case there are so many rivalries in British football. There are lots of multiple football team cities in the UK. Some are geographically closer than others. London has quite a few teams in the English Football League. I think as there are so many teams in one city, its slightly weakens some London derby games. I said some....

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West Ham United - Millwall. 

They've made movies about this rivalry. Both from the East End of London, this also fits the pattern of rivalries being made because of location and close proximity. When this rivalry started in 1899, the two clubs were only 3 miles (4.8km) apart. Back then they were known as Millwall Athletic and Thames Ironworks. They would fight over attracting the local players to sign for their club and got in each others way of doing so. The violence of both fans has attracted story lines of books and movies such as "Green Street."

London Derbies 

As most rivalries start because there are more than one team in the city; and there are quite a few professional team in the EFL; for London the derby name is a bit more specific. For example, The West London derby between either Chelsea, Fulham Queens Parks Ranger or Brentford. The South London Derby between Crystal Palace and Charlton. Or even The North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs. 

When you think of football derbies in London this one of the first ones I think of is The Gunners v Spurs. The rivalry started in 1913 when Arsenal moved to Highbury in North London just 4 miles from Tottenham's White Hart Lane. Since 1950, these two teams have been in the same league every year but 1, (1977/78) the highest of any rivalry in the country.

Some rivalries maybe be situated in London but are not from the same area of London. The reason for this rivalry could be because of location yet I think it was intensifies because of recent games. Well, the hostility of recent games. The Battle of the Bridge. No, not the actual battle. The 2016 game between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspurs. As Spurs were actually challenging for the title that season and Chelsea were in bad form that saw Jose Mourinho lose his job, this some how became one of the feist games in Premier League history. The players were basically attacking each other left, right and centre, resulting in Spurs receiving 9 yellow cards, Chelsea receiving 3, Mousa Dembele was given a 6 match ban and both sides were finned by the FA for failing to control their players.

Some derbies are fierce and some are a bit more mellow. I've always seen Chelsea v Fulham as quite a mellow derby. Maybe because it's located in West London which can be a bit of a nicer part of the city. Then whenever you watch a game at Stamford Bridge or The Cottage the fans are rather quiet throughout the game. Some games at Stamford Bridge remind me of Covid times when no fans were allowed into the stadium and you could hear the players and managers talking on the pitch. 

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Multi-team Cities

Another City with more than 2 teams in it is Birmingham. Whether it's Birmingham City themselves or; Aston Villa, Wolves or West Bromwich Albion. The Black Country derbies are usually fierce. For me, the one that tops the list is Birmingham City against Aston Villa. The Second City derby is only separated by 2.2 miles. The fans are wild and clearly hate each other. The games become all about pride, even though they haven't been in the same league as each other for a while. 

The Merseyside Derby use to be seen as something slightly different. I can remember watching their games on the TV and seeing the fans all mixed in together. As the city is quite unique compared to the rest of the big cities in the UK, scousers all seem to come together more than other local cities. It would be great to see that happen again in the Premier League yet maybe the way safety goes now a days, it won't happen again. I think it is one of the biggest derbies in the UK in terms of both clubs sizes in one city. They are both well in the top 10 of biggest clubs in the country and I don't think any other city has two teams as big as Liverpool and Everton. Some might say Manchester, yet the fans of both Manchester clubs are either tourists or plastic fans that wish they were arm chair fans.

Across the Boarder - Inter-City Rivals

The Roses Derby is also because of location yet it is slightly different. Leeds and Manchester lie around 40 miles apart geographically. One in Yorkshire and one in Lancashire they are divided into North East and North West by The Pennines. This derby has a very nasty and harsh tone to it. There is a bitterness to the rivalry that also included a war; The War of the Roses; back in 1471. Both teams have directly challenged each other for titles and trophies since the 1960's and both have come out on top in their time. As there is location, challenging for titles and war included as factors this is one of the strongest rivalries in the country. 

Even further into the North East lies two sleeping giants. Newcastle and Sunderland are both one team cities. Up there football is treated as a religion, or even a way of life. Both sets of fans are rowdy and up for every game. The passion is off the scale compared to other fans and they're not scared to show it. The Tyne-Wear Derby is two teams who are just 12 miles apart even though they are located in different cities. The Tyneside is how to fans who are up there on being the best fans in the country and I think it comes down to being one team cities, similarly to Leeds. The games between The Toon and The Mack'ems has one of the closest records in all rivalries across the UK. In 157 competitive games it is 54-53 in favour of Newcastle with 50 draws.

The biggest rivalry in English football is located in the North West of the country. These two teams are the two biggest teams in the country and have won the most league titles. Their accolades are a list as long as your arm. I'm not here to write about what teams have won, I want to talk about what makes the rivalries. Liverpool and Manchester United have been battling for league titles and cups almost since football began. Not many people alive today haven't seen either Liverpool or Man Utd win a trophy. Both have had significant dominance domestically and in Europe. More recently they haven't challenged each other for a title, it has been on or the other. This recent dip from either team doesn't take away from what these two teams have done in English football history. Even though both teams have big noisy neighbours they would both still list this as their biggest rivalry over their local rivals. 

Player Rivalries

Keane v Vieira. Do I need to say much more? Roy Keane of Manchester United against Patrick Vieira of Arsenal. Just thinking back to the tunnel incident at Highbury in 2005. They were both the captains and leaders of their team challenging for the title. For a few seasons this will have been the biggest rivalry in the country and made even more tasty because of these two gladiators. You knew everything was left out on the field when they played against each other and what made it more was they were directly against each other on the field, both playing centre midfield for their respective team.

There are a few player rivalries that have come about because of certain incidents are maybe not the same as Keane v Vieira who went to battle together. For example, Luis Suarez v Patrice Evra or John Terry v Anton Ferdinand. Most people who know about football have heard these instances. There is also examples such as Kevin De Bruyne v Thibaut Courtois and John Terry and Wayne Bridge. Things sometimes happen away from the game that can cause a falling out and a rivalry spawns.

The most recent player rivalry that I can think of that is a similar bout to the Keane and Vieira saga is Gabriel of Arsenal and Erling Haaland of Manchester City. You have a centre back up against a centre forward so they are matched up on the pitch. For the past few seasons Arsenal have been challenging Manchester City for the Premier League title. Some seasons you can't really call it challenging with the numbers that City produce by the end of the season yet The Gunners have been either the best of the rest, or in and about challenging for three quarters of the season. You can see the whole Arsenal squad a desperate to win the league over city and I think that these two players are the ones to start showing a grit between the two clubs. You have Mikel Arteta as Pep Guardiola's understudy; almost like his apprentice and the apprentice now thinks he should be the boss. 

Back to Gabriel and Haaland. In the past few seasons, the two players have had some real battles against each other. Scrapping with each other throughout the games, trying their best to win their personal battles to help their team over the line. Some fans may think that it can step over the line at time, yet personally I think it is exactly what the game needs. You're going to war and in war there are no rules. Any slight up you can get on your opponent do it and they both seem to do it. Sometimes it can look slightly unclassy yet who really cares if you've got the bragging rights in that moment.

The Old Firm

This one gets a section for it's self. For me it is the biggest football rivalry in the UK. I don't care about the standard of football in the Scottish leagues compared to the EFL. This is one of those games that everyone wants to witness at least once in their lives. Whether it's at the Ibrox and Celtic Park, it's one of those games you just have to go to to witness the atmosphere of the fans. This rivalry can be so strong that the clubs fear releasing tickets to away fans and have played games in the past with only home fans in the stadium. 

Both teams are the top 2 biggest teams in Scotland making it not just the location in the city of Glasgow, but also the amount of times they have challenged for cups and titles. The last time a non old firm team won the Scottish Championship title was Aberdeen in 1985. 

Another factor that makes this rivalry so strong is that; just like The Tyne-wear derby, it is a way of life; the choice of team in Glasgow also comes down to religion. Glasgow is separated in a similar way to The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Glasgow Rangers are known for traditionally having a large support base from the Protestant community. This would be emphasised by only signing players of a similar faith. On the other hand, Glasgow Celtic were based in the Catholic side of the city and would have just as strict rules. It became strongly known for certain schools that were Catholic would have no Rangers fans and visa versa for Protestant schools. This started as in the beginning Rangers fans are Native Scots and Celtic's origin was created by Roman Catholic Irish-Scots. Everything around the teams were set up this way, from the colours, emblems and style of life. These things also included what flags you were likely to see being branded by both sets of fans. Celtic fans are more likely to wave the tri-colour Irish flag and Rangers fans are more likely to brandish the Union Jack.

This has boiled over and throughout the years hasn't simmered down at all. On the pitch and off the pitch it is fierce, nasty and violent; and it's not going to change. 

With the growth of the Old Firm rivalry over the years, do you think you can compare this rivalry to the Liverpool - Manchester United rivalry? 

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Getting Referees in From Other Leagues Around the World

Lets Start by Clearing Some Stuff Up

People who come away from any football game blaming the referees are idiots. At any level, whether it is a grass roots game, Premier League or a World Cup Final. Your team lost the game. The officials could have made a mistake yet your team probably didn't take their chances or were weak defensively. There's more chance your team's players were making mistakes and you need a scapegoat. "Target the refs, its the easiest way out." To be honest, if you're going to a grass roots game and complaining about the ref, go home and take a look in the mirror. Maybe give your head a shake. You are the problem. The refs at those games are most likely volunteering, giving up their weekends, officiating for free to work their way up the ladder or possibly just to be involved in a sport that they love.

This is not a post about bashing the officials that we have in English football. This is to talk and discuss about the problems that we have in the game right now and what could be done to improve it. Suggestions coming out saying the officials should be doing interviews after the game aren't a good idea for me. The only time you're going to want to hear from a ref is when they've done something wrong or made a bad decision. If the officials were hardly involved in the game, went unnoticed and the game ran smoothly, do you still want to hear from the ref?

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I'm Sick of Talking About it, But Here We Go...

"You go on about VAR this, VAR that, help the officials out. Clearly they need help. We play in the Premier League, the best league in the world, the most watched league in the world. So give them all the help they need cos they've clearly cost us two points today. It's a joke!" 

Charlie Austin, 10 November 2018.

For me, most of the time, the biggest problem isn't the officials on the pitch. There's 4 of them. They're human and they're going to make mistakes. That's part of the game. Whenever you watch a game now that's not a Premier League game; in the Championship for example; there's no VAR. Actually, it's quite refreshing and to be honest; 99% of the time; I'm not complaining about the officials at the end of the game. Sometimes there are howlers of decisions. Every now and again there's a close offside missed or a hand ball missed but when you go back to it and watch it again you can show sympathy and see why a certain decision has been missed or why a decision has been given that way. Sometimes in a game there's a foul, hand ball or offside in the build up to a goal and you don't even notice it, until you see the replay in super slow-mo.

I find games without VAR more refreshing to watch. If you have VAR in a game, how can you still be getting so many decisions wrong. Maybe the decisions aren't wrong by the letter of the law and I think that is the biggest annoyance in the game these days. The way these laws and rules are written are bollocks. Utter bollocks. There's either too much interpretation and opinion or not enough. The game is all about opinions and debate. It could have gone this way, or that way. However, my problem is when you see a decision and 99 people out of 100; because there's always a village idiot; can clearly see the referee has got it wrong. My problem isn't that the ref or lino has got it horribly wrong, it's that a person sat at a TV screen, who has the ability to re-watch and re-watch, from practically any angle they want and still not see the mistake.

VAR was brought in to correct the howler and the misidentification. Like that one for Arsenal in 2014 against Chelsea, where Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain denied a goal using his hand and Kieran Gibbs was shown a red card. It was clear misidentification, even with 'Ox' explaining to the official it was him. Howlers of decisions pop up all over the place. These things happen. There's only 4 officials at the game and they only have 2 eyes each. Things can be missed and things can be seen wrongly. It happens. Yet the way VAR has been used recently is not for the reason and ways we were told they would be. A big problem for lots of people is the time it take to get to the decision; whether they agree with the decision made or not; and the actual wording of the rules and laws now.

Why are the rules and laws written in such a way. This for me is why there is so much confusion and inconsistency around the game now. Also, the reason why there are so many strange red cards and disallowed goals. It is taking the game away from the fans. When a decision has been passed over to VAR, there have been instances where it has taken over 3 or 4 minutes. What are the fans doing in this time? There's not real explanation to fans in the stadium and they're the ones who pay their hard earned money to buy the tickets. These days ticket prices are astronomical and the fans are sitting there looking at a screen saying, "possible handball" or "possible offside." How is that fair?

They have to make edits to the game, from how it is today and make is more spectator friendly. One easy way of doing this is letting the fans watch replays on the big screen. Let them see what you would be able to see if you was at home or down the pub watching on TV. Or a big one for me; and I've been saying it for years; mic the refs up and let the stadium hear them. This way it can be explained in a tenth of the time and everyone knowns what's going on. I'm not saying do what happened in the Women's Euros, where the whole game stops just so we can listen. Mic the official up, so we can hear them the whole game. Let us listen to the conversations throughout the game and we, as fans, can see the process into the making of the decision. 

Another positive of this will be the respect for referees. Do this and watch how much the players swear and mistreat the referees. There's so much cancel culture in society now. Rightly or wrongly, that's for another debate. What I'm saying is, players now-a-days are making themselves into a brand and want to be role models in society more than ever. Do you think it makes them look good if they're heard swearing and insulting referees every week.

Maybe certain changes could be trialled in lower leagues. Could teams being given a number of 'challenges' per game be the way to go? Or would this bring in more tactics to either waste time or kill the momentum of a trailing team towards the end of a game? A team is 1-0 up with 5 minutes to go and under the cosh, all of a sudden they challenge a decision and the game is stopped for a minute or three. Pressure over and a breather. To me this also sounds very American Football. Our game doesn't have the natural breaks in game play like NFL, tennis or rugby. Therefore, I don't see a practical way of bringing in challenges.

Realistically, I would bring in a 30 second rule. The Video Assistant Referee has 30 seconds to look at a scenario to decide to overturn a decision. Any longer than 30 seconds and it's deemed not a howler, as a result, it is not a howler. Carry on. Even if the VAR are not overturning a decision and have made spotted something on on field officials haven't, they are still only allowed to look at a clip for 30 seconds max. And none of this super slow-mo crap. The scenario must be played in full speed for the decision to be made this speed must be taken into strong consideration. I agree slow it down to see; for example; if the ball hits the arm or shoulder, or if it has taken a deflection, and even if the arm is in a natural position, yet even when you're talking about it there is so much interpretation to what is or isn't.

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Big Ref, Little Ref.

I would like to think that these officials in our game in England don't have a corrupt bone in their body. I would also like to think they are very professional and when it comes to officiating certain games with certain teams they are not swayed. I believe the current crop of officials in the Premier League are as professional as ever. Yet I can't help think that there is a hierarchy within the official's team. 

They have a mix of experience and newer referees. Some have a vast amount of Premier League games officiated in and go off to be chosen for European competition or even World Stage competition. If one of these experienced referees gets a decision wrong, how likely are one of the newer, lower down the pecking order, referees going to correct them. I sometimes see it and think, "If he overturns his decision, when they get back to Stockley Park on Monday, he's going to be given the "hair drier treatment, and he knows it."

I bet some of these refs have bigger egos than some of the players and don't like being shown up. Then I bet if they are, the one who corrected them and showed them up are punished by not officiating in the Premier League the next weekend. This almost creates a pact. A bit like the magicians circle. Referees Only Club. 

Even on the highlight shows and Sky Sports Soccer Saturday, they'll have an experienced ex-referee talking us through that side of the game. It's usually someone like Dermott Gallagher or Mike Dean. Fantastic referees back in the day. They both officiated some huge games in English football and probably around the world. How many mistakes do you reckon they made across their careers? Tonnes. Fucking tonnes, and they are still up their with the best the Premier League has produced and seen. 

Now. How many times on these shows do they see a decision that everyone else is saying is wrong; clearly wrong; and they stick up for the ref? Happens all the time. Most times I see it the ex-ref on the show is explaining how it is actually not that bad of a decision and how they can see why they've made that decision. It's a piss take. This goes back to my point on how I think the officials these days have a pact. They look after each other. There's nothing wrong with sticking by your mates but in their instance, for me, they come out looking like cowards. Have some accountability. Hold your hand up, have some dignity and admit that they made a mistake. If they did this they would come out with so much more respect and actually more humanity. Managers, coaches, players, people in everyday life make mistakes, and so do referees. Just admit it and stop trying to hide behind one another.

Why is it English Only?

We bring in players, managers, coaches, owners, sponsorship deals, even the physios. The Premier League is totally international. In total 126 countries have been represented in the Premier League. This year alone in the 2024/25 season there are 62 countries. 

How many countries have been represented as officials? Strictly speaking 2. All English and 1 Australian, Jarrad Gillet. As Charlie Austin said, "This is the biggest league in the world, the most watched league in the world." Why are we not getting the best officials from around the world to officiate our games? The money for the salaries of around 20 referees and 30 assistant referees is definitely there. 

This is my idea.....

Imagine getting the best 3-4 referee teams from La Liga, Serie A, The Bundesliga and Ligue 1, plus the best officials from North and South American, Asia and Africa. All coming to the best league in the world, with the best players and managers in the world you could have the best officials added to that list too. How come this doesn't and isn't happening for the Premier League in England? Maybe it doesn't have to be from all over the world, but the best referees from Europe come to referee in the best league in the world.

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Not Paying These Ticket Prices

Ticket Prices in English Football are Criminal.

Lets be Rafa Benitez for a Minute, Lets Talk About the Facts.

Lets take a look at season ticket prices and have they have changed from the year 2000 to 2010 to this season. First we'll look at the 'big 6' teams in the Premier League: Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspurs and Manchester United.

Manchester City: 2000/01 season £170-£220, 2010/11 season £425-£745, 2024/25 season £675-£915.

Liverpool: 2000/01season £190-£410, 2010/11 season £615-£780, 2024/25 season £685-£890.

Arsenal:2000/01 season £400-880, 2010/11 season £985-£1955, 2024/25 season £875-£1900.

Chelsea: 2000/01 season £240-£575, 2010/11 season £595-£1250, 2024/25 season £675-£1150.

Tottenham Hotspurs: 2000/01 £420-£850, 2010/11 season £880-£1170, 2024/25 season £960-2150.

Manchester United: 2000/01 £175-£540, 2010/11 season £530-£950, 2024/25 season £775-£990.

Just reading some of these numbers makes me feel sick. Forget how good or bad these football teams have been over the past few years. Paying these prices to watch any football is outrageous and to me it is nothing short of exploitation. This is a ticket for 19 home games a season. Some fans will have done this for years and some for even decades. It is the heart and sole of their week to go and watch their team play. I've heard in some conversations that a few people aren't able to go and watch their team play any more. They had been going for years and years but now enough is enough. The prices of tickets have just gotten too high and they can't afford it any more. 

When you look at how much prices have gone up on average from the average season ticket price at a club it is around 200%-300% in 25 years. In 25 has the average salary gone up 200%-300%? So how are people going to afford their tickets? they're only able to go if they skimp and change how they spend their money in other aspects of their lives. These fans are showing great loyalty to their clubs and what are they getting back? "Oh your season ticket is going up another 10%-20% for next season. Cheers!"

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Are These Prices Only For The Top 6 Teams?

Yeah Right... Listen to This.

In the 2023/24 season, Aston Villa qualified for the Champions League for the first time in a long time. It was a long time. For over a decade, Villa hadn't played in Europe since those Martin O'Neil days. Their fans hadn't seen them play against the European giants such as Real Madrid or AC Milan. Some fans weren't even born the last time their team played in a European competition. On their first time back in the big league how does the club celebrate with the fans? They list their ticket prices at £85-£97 for adults. That's per game by the way. 

How can this be allowed?

Say for example you're a family of 4. Mum, Dad, son, daughter. The average you're going to pay in 'Zone 2' at Villa Park is £30 each for under-18's and £94 each for Mum and Dad. That's a total of £248 and that's before you've done anything. Not including that travel, food & drink or any merchandise to remember the big game. 

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How often are teams like Newcastle United and Aston Villa going to get into the Champions League these days? This season Nottingham Forest look like they have a good chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season. When was the last time they faced any of the European giants in competition? The Brian Clough days? Then parents are being forced to pay around £250 on tickets for their family.

What is Creating These Sky Rocketed Prices?

To me this is down to the owners of football clubs now. Our football clubs in this country and no longer owned by rich men from the area of that football club who have ties with the area or the club. It's no longer and family owned business by one of the fans. In todays game, our clubs are owned by international wealthy businessmen and women. To them, our pride and joy are a business and that's how they run them. At the end of the day it's all about the cash and the bottom line. Is the club turning a profit at the end of the financial year.

Owners like Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, Fenway Sports Group, The Glazers, even the owners of the teams further down the league. How many of them do you think have a close affiliation with the club? The club is a business and if it was good for business to sell and leave I don't think they would hesitate.

Most of the teams in the Premier League are owned or part owned by Americans. When we look at American sports and the prices of the tickets there, maybe we can see why tickets in England are becoming so expensive too. For example, in the NFL regular season in 2024 the average adult ticket price was $130 (£104). The average price for a single NBA adult ticket in the regular season is $94 (£76). If you wanted to go to a baseball game last year in the MLB it would cost around $85 (£68). This is for one regular game. If you wanted to go to a play-off game or a finals game the prices sky rocket to $2500+. 

I feel this is the way football is going. These clubs; especially the top 6; are being made into franchises. They have poster boys and girls and they are advertised on a global stage to create the highest amount of revenue and the fan doesn't come first. 

Isn't This The Way All Football Ticket Prices Are?

Germany is one of the countries where fans can stand and watch football unlike many other countries. This makes ticket prices lower as they can fit more people in. Another thing the German football association and clubs believe in is that sport; including football; needs its fans and it doesn't need to squeeze every last penny out of them.

Looking at the top two teams in the Bundesliga; Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund; their season ticket prices are the equivalent of £200. You may have heard of "Fortuna for all" when hearing about Germany football this season. Fortuna Dusseldorf are a Bundesliga 2 team who are planning to have free tickets for all fans in 3 of their home games this season. They are trying to arrange a sponsorship deal that will cover the cost of fans tickets for the next 5 years. 

This could work out to be a brilliant concept and bring great atmospheres to the stadium. If it was to be taken up in England's top flight, would it be a negative, cause security issues and more tickets would be given to sponsor executives and corporate suits or would it be a positive giving the opportunity to people who wouldn't normally be able to attend a football match at the top level. In my mind this should definitely being trialled before it is brought to a top league even though I see a lot more positives than negatives. If anything, a price cap needs to be brought in.

The 3pm Blackout.

The Premier League TV deal is worth £6.7 billion and is showing more games than ever. We're decades away from only being able to watch the FA Cups final on TV. Now you can watch some time 6-7 Premier League games per weekend. On top of that there is usually on average 5-6 Football League games on TV a week. Most popularly on Sky Sports or TNT 270 games a season are shown. However, since the 1960's no football game has been shown between 14:30 and 17:15 on a Saturday afternoon. This was brought in to protect the attendance numbers at lower league stadiums.

For the lower league teams around the big Premier League teams, their attendances can be affected depending on if the games overlap each other. For example, in Leeds, fans of Leeds United may go to watch Harrogate Town when Leeds are not playing. If the two West Yorkshire teams have a game at the same time, more fans will choose to attend Elland Road. Even more so, if Leeds United are on TV at the same time as a Town game, the attendance at The Exercise Stadium. I think this could have an effect on ticket prices across England. 

If TV companies came together to show all Premier League games at a reasonable price, I think ticket prices would come down too, and then attendances wouldn't be as effected. 

All in all, the ticket prices for football games in this country is scandalous. I don't understand how any owner of any football club can feel comfortable charging the average fan so much to go and watch his or her team play. Fans can show immense loyalty to their football club and what is repaid to them after showing decades of support? Ticket prices that are unaffordable in the long run. Things need to change. How come fans can come together and stop the Super League from being created within 48 hours of it being announced? I really think if fans came together again to protest this, the owners would quickly realise that the game is nothing without the fans. 

And long live Billy Connolly!

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List the Top 20 Biggest Clubs in England

The Premier League if it Was On Club Size.

The Realisation.

Did you realise that there are 12 American owners in the Premier League. This is significant to our game in this country. The way decisions are made is by a vote by the clubs. To pass a motion there usually has to have 16 clubs agree on the subject. This could mean, if 4 more American billionaires buy a club in the Premier League, they have 16 deciding votes. Enough to make a lot of motions pass.

We've seen from quite a few ideas and decisions that are made by clubs, these owners do not care a jot about fans. A lot of things done now a days are not done for the fans. Ticket prices, some games have thoughts around them that they should be hosted in The States, and also how tickets can be bought. I haven't been to a game for my club since 2019. Before the covid season. It is either impossible to get a ticket or the ticket prices are ridiculous. The waiting list for membership or a season tickets is about a decade and being put into a ballot for tickets is mostly a scam. If you get lucky you might get tickets in the ballot but I have a feeling we are told the tickets are in a ballot and available for lucky fans yet they are sold on to co-operations and sponsor executives. 

My point is these owners are caring less and less about fan. Loyal fans who have come to support their team for years and years. Loyalty is no longer rewarded for fans of football in England. 

More big changes could happen in our game. Look at how sports in North America are set up. There's no hierarchy in the league tables. There could be a 20 game season and if a team loses every game of the season, they are still in the same league next season. There's no relegation or promotion. A bit like what was going to happen with the European Super League. The biggest clubs in Europe would be invited into the competition every year, regardless of their end of season position in their domestic league.

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The Factors.

This brings me onto the purpose. If I was to make a Premier League of the biggest teams in English football right now, which teams would be in it. 20 teams based on club size. Please realise this isn't who is the best current side with the best current form. We're talking club size. There's a few specifications on what makes a big club for me and how I can justify one team being bigger than the other.

Firstly, and not most importantly, the history of the club is one of the factors. What has the club done in the past 50-75 years. Remembering teams like Nottingham Forest winning the European Cup two years in a row. The equivalent to the Champions League now. They got promoted to Division 1, qualified for the European Cup and went on to win it in consecutive years. In todays game, that's like Ipswich Town qualifying for the Champions League this season and then winning the Champions League next season. And the year after.

Another factory is going to be; what have they won in that last 50 years? It's not just trophies. How many times have they qualified for Europe? How many FA Cups and how many League Cups? Have they got to finals or these competitions? Have they come second in the league and really challenge for the title a lot? How many European trophies have they won? Including the Champions League, UEFA Cup and European Cup. Also, in the modern day, the Europa League or Europa Conference League. Basically the success of the team over a long period of time going back to maybe 1950's. I'm not saying the team had to be successful for the last 75 years. I don't think any team has. I'm saying they weren't a 1 season wonder where they challenged or got to a semi-final one year and then never got close again. Sustainability, consistency and success. 

I think a slight factor of a team's size is the capacity of their stadium. Again, I'm not saying this is exact, and the biggest stadium is the biggest team. Second biggest stadium is the second biggest team. Just as a guideline. A loose guideline. I think the biggest stadium in the country belongs to Tottenham Hotspurs and they probably not in the top 5 of biggest teams. There's anomalies.

Team history. Success. Trophies. Stadium size....

Maybe the last factory is world wide presence. You see the following size of teams around the world. We may have seen it more when teams do their pre-season tours around the world. When teams go to America, Australia or countries in Asia, the amount of fans that come to greet them at the airport. The amount of fans in and around the stadiums where they play in their pre-season games and tournaments.  

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Team History. Success. Trophies. World Wide Following. Stadium Size.

• 1. Manchester United
• 2. Liverpool
• 3. Arsenal

Honestly, I don't see the top 3 of this list any other way. I don't think there is much arguing with this top 3, unless you still don't understand what I'm doing. Anyone putting Manchester City or Chelsea in this top 3 are not thinking about club history, and only what they have won in the last 20 years. Without Roman Abramovic and Sheik Mansour these two teams are still no where near any trophy. Yes, I agree football clubs are becoming successful based on how much money they spend. It is almost the more money you spend, the more successful you are. 

• 4. Manchester City
• 5. Chelsea
• 6. Tottenham Hotspurs
• 7. Everton
• 8. Aston Villa

Even though Manchester City and Chelsea's History is not the greatest, I feel the success of these teams takes over. Just not enough to get into the top 3 right now in 2025. With the recent league wins, Champions Leagues win and FA Cup wins, they are becoming higher in the list of successful teams in the country. This brings more money for bigger stadiums and the global recognition becomes greater, albeit they may be plastic, glory supporters.

In this whole list I think Tottenham Hotspurs is the team that will get the most hate. Being a team in London and being big rivals with two other teams in London that have won silver wear quite recently doesn't help. Spurs have the biggest domestic stadium in the country at the time of writing this yet don't have much to show for it since the turn of the millennium. Spurs won the League Cup in 2008 and that's all the have to gloat for in the 21st century so far. The 20th century was a lot better for the North London club. They won at least one trophy in every decade from 1950 to 2000, only Manchester United can match that. They have won two league titles, 8 FA Cups, and 4 League Cups. They were the first non-league team to win the FA Cup and first team in the 20th century to win the FA Cup and League Cup in the same season. Spurs were the first British team to win the European Cup Winners Cup and also won the first UEFA Cup in 1972. Even though they get a lot of hate these days, in the mid to late 90's they were one of the biggest teams in the country for a long time.

Everton and Aston Villa are sightly different. They may not be winning trophies, competing for league titles or going deep into cup competitions, yet the size of their fan bases are huge. The Toffees have 9 league titles and 5 FA Cups to their name and challenged for a lot more in the 1970's and 80's. Everton are still 1 of 6 teams never to be relegated from the Premier League. They may have flirted with it in recent seasons, but almost isn't. Aston Villa have 7 first division titles and 7 FA Cups. Both teams have also won European silver wear. Each team would host FA Cups semi finals, before the bullsh*t of Wembley semi finals because the FA spent too much money on the new stadium and they need to make a return some how. If there was a UK World Cup or Euros, these two clubs stadiums would be towards the top of the list of being used. I also feel the history of the clubs is one of the best coming out of Liverpool and Birmingham respectfully, after the giant clubs.

• 9. Nottingham Forest
• 10. Leeds United
• 11. Newcastle United
• 12. Blackburn Rovers

Nottingham Forest have great history. It may not be recent. It might have been before a lot of us were born, yet history is history. Winning the European Cup twice, consecutive years after being promoted to Division 1. Remember when Leicester won the league after finishing 17th the year before. Imagine if they went on to win the Champions League the year after. And the year after. It will never be done again. 

The mighty Leeds United were not just one of the biggest clubs in the country, but in Europe. In the late 1960's into the 1970's they won the first division a few times, an FA Cup and went deep into European competitions. In 1975 they reached the European Cup final, only to be beaten by Franz Beckenbeauer's Bayern Munich, and the referee. Some will say they were cheated out of it and "Champions of Europe" is still sung at Elland Road to this day. They went head to head with the fantastic Liverpool side of the 70's, while managed by Don Revie and captained by Billy Bremner with a team list full of full internationals. The team created a huge following around the world although it has been bleak since the turn of the millennium, relegation from the Premier League and didn't return for 16 years. Still the most sung about team in the country, by a country mile. 

The Toon, The Magpies, The Geordies. Newcastle United join this list just outside the top 10. Newcastle have been sleeping giant for a long time. They may have had some ups and downs over recent years and in the Mike Ashley era but before that things went pretty well for the Toon. Early 2000's saw them qualifying for Europe under Sir Bobby Robson, before that in the 90's they were challenging Manchester United for division titles. Sir Alex Ferguson and Kevin Keagan going toe to toe, sometimes with it boiling over in interview. "I would love it if we beat them" type squabbles. For a good decade or two the team were almost at the heights of English football. In the 1950's The Magpies won the FA Cup 3 times and have a stadium; St James' Park; that is revered over, up and down the land.

Not many teams have won the Premier League since it's creation in 1992/93 season. Only 8 teams have managed it, Blackburn Rovers are one of those teams. Rovers became the first team to win the FA Cup 3 times in a row in 1884, 1885 and 1886. With a Premier League win and a total of 6 FA Cup they are certainly a sleeping giant.

• 13. Leicester City
• 14. Derby County
• 15. Sheffield Wednesday

Leicester City won the Premier League in 2016 after finishing the season before in the 17th place only just beating relegation. To win the league after just avoiding relegation is a fairy tale. It hadn't been done since Nottingham Forest were promoted with Brian Clough in the late 70's. The Foxes also won an FA Cup in that era under Claudio Ranieri. This was their first FA Cup win after being in the final 5 times. 

Derby County have a rich history. A bit like Nottingham Forest they have Brian Clough to thank for that. In the late 1960's Derby got themselves promoted and into the first division. They went deep into the European Cup although Clough could not repeat what he had done at Forest and win the competition. As well as going deep into European competitions, The Rams won the First Division twice, 1972 and 1975.

Sheffield Wednesday have 3 top flight league titles to their name. They have a legacy around the country and it shows with their stadium. Hillsborough was selected to be used as a neutral ground for FA Cup semi-finals. This needs to be brought back instead of using Wembley. Wembley should be finals only. Wednesday also have 3 FA Cups to their name making them one of the biggest clubs.

• 16. Wolverhampton Wanderers 
• 17. Sheffield United
• 18. West Bromwich Albion
• 19. West Ham United
• 20. Sunderland

I've found with writing this list that the top 10 almost choose themselves. There is no room for argument against the top 3. That is the top 3 of English football and probably will be for a long time.

There's no real arguing about who is in the top 10 for most of them, the argument is more what order that 10 goes in. Anyone putting Chelsea and Man City higher than they are in this list either don't understand the elements of the list or are purely basing it on what's happened in the last 10 years. 

From 11th to 15th there are some very big teams. Some teams with great, great history and maybe haven't had serious success recently. They have become sleeping giants and anyone knows they could wake up at any moment and come back to the top. Teams like Brentford and Bournemouth may be doing well at the moment, yet they have no foundations and history to back themselves against teams on this list. 

16th to 20th got a little tricky for me. There could be 3 or 4 other teams that make it into this section of the list. I wouldn't argue it too much, I also wouldn't argue too much about the order of the bottom 5 teams in this list. I think they are relatively similar. I also think most people would have an argument about this list because it's their team and they have ties and loyalties to their team. That's fine with me, things like this bring up good discussion and debate.

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