Two posts this week, The Premiership up and downs and Games I saw this week.


Well the English football season is done and dusted, Man Utd were the winners but who were the big loser, why the three teams relegated to the Championship of course, West Brom, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United.

Down they go.
A shame to see West Brom go, at least they tried to play football with flare and passion, they just did not have the personal to keep them up. The fans are intensely loyal, still chanting the managers name, Tony Mowbray, right up to the last minute of the last game and beyond. I fully expect to see Tony Mowbray still at the helm next season and quiet likely to lead them back up to the Premiership next season. Don't expect to see many players leaving, there just as loyal as their fans.

Middlesbrough have fought many a relegation battle over the years, this was just one to many. Gareth Southgate, manager, is a nice guy, probably too nice to give the team a good kick up the backside when they needed it, but, again, I fully expect to see him in charge next season. Players likely to leave, Afonso Alves, Robert Huth and Stewart Downing, maybe a few others too.

Well now, who would have thought at the beginning of the season the Premiership would be saying goodbye to Newcastle United, not many I bet. With players like Sebastien Bassong, Coloccini, Owen, Martins and Viduka a finish in the top half of the table, at least, would have been excepted. But the fact is Newcastle were shocking, abysmal to say the least. This was not help by the revolving managers door. Four managers in one season has to be some sort of record, Kevin Keegan was the first, he resigned, Chris Houghton took over as caretaker manager, then enter Joe Kinnear, ill health forced him out and then there was the Newcastle idol/demi-god/messiah, Alan Shearer. If Alan Shearer will still be in charge next season is any body's guess, it all depends on what funds the owner Mike Ashley makes available to him to buy new players. But you have to remember Ashley paid close to $200 million for Newcastle, at the moment he would be lucky to get $90 million, so how much more money is he going to be willing to invest?
At the end of the last game Alan Shearer walked into the dressing room and said "You weren't good enough", never a truer word spoken.
Players that I think will leave faster than rats on a sinking ship are Fabricio Coloccini, (he is an Argentine International after all), Sebastian Bassong, Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith, Obarfem Martins, Michael Owens and Mark Viduka, and probably a few others too.

Up and Up.
Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanders) as champions, Birmingham City as runners up and Burnley as play off winners.
Wolves and Birmingham City most people would know, but when you say Burnley they usually say "Who?"
Well, so who are Burnley. Actually they are a club with a strong history and have been League champions (Old Division One), twice (1920-21 and 1959-60), they beat Liverpool 1 - 0 to lift the FA Cup in 1914, (King George presented the cup to the winners, the first monarch to do so). They reached the quarter finals of the European Cup in 1961 and the are Founder Members of The League (1888). Their home ground is Turf Moor where they have played since 1883 and have had 118 international players play for them at one time or another.
Last season (2008-09) saw them have a great run in the Carling Cup, beating Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal before losing narrowly to Tottenham Hotspurs in the semi final, but does this mean they will stay up? They have a small fan base, Burnley has a population of approximately 78,000, and how many of them go to see Burnley, well Turf Moor can hold 22,546, and say at an avarge price of 40 pounds a ticket thats 901,840 pounds for each home game. Compare that with Old Trafford at an avarge 50.00 pounds a ticket and a capacity of 76,212, thats 3,810,600 pounds a week, (remember Utd charge more for their tickets), Burnley are going to struggle financially, big time. Buying new players of a better quality is going to be hard, even keeping some of their better players may prove to be a struggle. A 50/50 chance of staying up, it will all depend on their home form and pinching a few away wins.

Wolves have a strong history too, they are also Founding Members of The League, have won the old Division One Championship 3 times, FA Cup winners 4 times and the League Cup twice. They are the only club to have won titles in five different divisions and were the first club to score 7,000 league goals. Phew.
Are they likely to stay up, again their ground capacity counts against them, just 28,525, but I believe that they will stay up, just.

Birmingham City have been around for an age too, but with less success, Division Two champions and a League Cup win, they can bounce from playing great football to decidedly average, even during the course of a game. The manager, Alex McLeish, a canny Scotmans, has generally put a stop to that and they played pretty good football last season. But will Alex McLeish and quiet a good squad be able to keep them up? I believe they will struggle, but they have been there and done that more recently than either Wolves or Burnley and that might just keep them up, by a hairs breath.



Games I Saw Today.
Well I got to see 5 games, or at least part of three of them and two full games, today, and I was over all impressed and happy with what I saw. Firstly the 14th Grade at home to Boys High, when I arrived, about 15-20 minutes after kick off Utd were already 2 - 0 up. And I have to say that Utd were far the better team in the time I watched them, narrowly missing a few goals and generally giving Boys High the run around. I spoke to Alan later and he was very happy with the teams performance and said 4 - 0 was a bit flattering to Boys High.
Next I skipped down, (well drove actually), to Barrington to watch 11th Grade play Medbury, and saw a cracking second half display from 11th Grade. The first half was nearly over when I got there and I saw Medbury score their third goal, the Utd keeper made a good save but the Medbury striker had followed in and poked the ball into the net. A bit of a lucky goal really.
Anyway, after a rousing half time talk from Mike, a bit of chat from me with Lennox, the second half started. And what a second half, not only did they keep Medbury scoreless but they were unlucky not to score a goal or three themselves. Jack ran himself ragged, showing some great skill and determination, Jack G delivered some great corners and some great passing forward, Sam showed she is a force to be reckon with, making some great tackles and what a boot, wow. Jordan was a rock at leftback, winning tackles and pushing the ball forward with purpose, Bailey showed some silky skills and was a constant threat, Ryan, (who been ill as well) showed some skill and pace. I am not sure of the others names, (but I am sure I will be in the future), apart from Lennox, (who I will talk about shortly), but they all showed that they can play football with skill and determination, an excellent display. Now to Lennox, who by the way was Player of the Day, (Sam got Support Player Of The Day), Lennox played right back today and at half time I had a wee chat about the position he was playing, about putting his foot on the ball and having a look instead of just booting the ball down the field, about covering in the middle, holding the player and not diving in, and surprise surprise he listened and did what I suggested and a bit more as well, actually quite a bit more. Very pleasing to see and to watch, well done Lennox. In fact, well done to the whole team.

The next game I got to see was the last half of the 9th Grade Hawks at the Te Kura Maori School, a game that they won 2 - 0 against Halswell Force. And again I was quite impressed with the way the Hawks played, they passed the ball around well, defended well and attacked with speed and skill, very unlucky not to notch up several more goals. Karl commented that this was one of the better teams they had played, if that is so the future is bright indeed for this team. I am not sure who got Player of the Day but for me, on a second half performance, Lewis was my pick, he had a great second half, tackled well, ran the lines well and passed the ball around, also was unlucky not to score, well done Lewis and a great game by all the team.

The next games at the Te Kura Maori School saw the 8th Grade Hawks take on Parklands and the 'mate against mate' game between the 8th Grade Rams and 8th Grade Wolves. Firstly the Hawks, a fast paced game that saw the Hawks go down by the thinest of margins. Parklands scored first, and from what I could see, as I was trying to watch two game at once, was against the run of play, but the Hawks bounced back and leveled the score. Then they were very unlucky not to take the lead on several occasions, some good build up play and individual skills had Parklands at six's and seven's at times. Again, against the run Parklands nicked the lead and were very lucky to hold on to it, a very good game by the Hawks, well done team.

Now the 'Mate against Mate' game, the Rams against the Wolves. And what a hectic, fast paced game it was. Both side's showed skill, determination, great defense and awesome attacking. There were chances for both sides, but the Wolves prevailed to take the honors, just. The score of 3 - 1 to Wolves does not really show how close this game was, Conner and Lachlan were for the stand out players for the Rams and Mitch, Charlie and Jake were the stand out players for the Wolves, (remember that is just my option), but a big shout to all the players who made this a great game to watch. Well done to all.