Harry to go? Di Matteo to stay

Over the last few days Harry Redknapp's future at Tottenham has appeared to be thrown into doubt. Despite his denials regarding resignation, talk is rife that there is no agreement getting close in regards Redknapp's new deal. It's reported that Chairman Daniel Levy is not happy about the way Spurs season went downhill as they took 4 wins in the final 13 games. This is clearly not acceptable for Spurs fans or I imagine the Chairman, who had hoped they would not have to worry about 4th spot Champions League worries. Spurs saw their North London rivals Arsenal pip them to third and Champions League football. It will also be interesting if this uncertainty and no Champions League football will lead to players leaving the Lane. 

One man who looks to be going nowhere is Roberto Di Matteo. The decision makers at Stamford Bridge look like they will be keeping the Champions League winning Italian for a little bit longer. It is an interesting one. Di Matteo was there with Andre Villas Boas whose disappointing run saw his departure from the Bridge. Minding that Di Matteo was a link and assistant manager, usually he would get the boot. Something  was different for the former Chelsea player, they seemed to enjoy playing for him (although John Terry seemed to enjoy directing behind RDM's back). With the new signings arriving at the Bridge, it will be interesting to see if the form continues into the new season.

Euro 2012 - England good start, Rusian fan trouble

Despite all the fears and worries regarding England's performance against the 'Mighty France'. The French seemed to get the rub of the green with several decisions 'missed' by the referee. The French attack also found themselves to long range shooting as the England defence held strong despite the Nasri goal that deceived his club team mate Joe Hart.The big issue from England was that the defence went to deep which inevitably lead to the goal. There were many positives and an all round decent performance and the debut of Oxlade-Chamberlain brings great promise not just for this competition but to England's future.So long as England management don't rush him too soon seeing how young he is, Oxlade-Chambers can become and England great.

Co hosts Ukraine got their campaign off to a win over Sweden. Not sure how many would have called this result but it gives hope to England when they face them this Friday. Former Chelsea man Andrei Shevchenko got both goals to put his side 2-1 up and an unbeaten start.

Russian fans continued to bring trouble to the championship. Following incidents at the opening game against the Czech Republic, Russian 'supporters' clashed with Polish 'supporters' before the game. Clashes lead to arrests and Uefa are going to investigate. It will be interesting to see what they do, I hope they come down tough, but whether they do, will be another matter.

Euro 2012 opener - More than we expected

When the opening game was decided as Poland v Greece, did anyone expect it to be anything other than 3 points for the joint hosts. Well 2 red cards and a missed penalty later and it indeed turned out to be a decent game. Poland took the lead after the Greek keeper Chalkias went awol and let Lewandowski in. It looked like it was game over just before half time, the Greeks found themselves rather harshly down to ten men after Papastathopoulos was adjudged to have held Obraniak, who appeared to have no more than lost his footing. A second yellow card saw the 2004 winners a man down a goal down and up against it. Well that was what we may have been thinking. An early substitution for Greece proved to be inspired as Salpingidis levelled the score. Greece seemed to be on the charge and it looked like they could get something from the game. Poland's Szczesny gave the Greeks an opportunity with a foolish tackle and giving himself an early bath and a one game suspension. Up stepped Karagounis with a chance to put the Greeks ahead but a dive to his left saw substitute goalkeeper save the penalty and keep it level. The save proved vital and the game finished as a draw.

Russia took on the Czech Republic in the other Group A game. The Russian's took the Czechs apart despite the good early start from the Czechs, the Russians were in control. For one Chelsea goalkeeper it would be a night to forget. A while since the big man conceded 4 goals in one game, whether it happens again who knows, but the man with the Champions League medal will be hoping that his national team mates can turn it round so he can have small hope of having a European Championship medal added to his collection.

Chelsea Blues - short guest blog post by Riz Hafiz

It's a good portent that a London club wins the Champions League when the city is hosting the Olympics. But any neutral big-ups are nullified, at a stroke, when you see the unedifying antics of John Terry..the most shameless, in your face footballer going. It shows he has no regret for what he has done while the case is impending.. it leaves a huge distaste in the mouth. Get to the back of the victory bus; it's called keeping a respectful, low profile. You could say Hodgson has picked him because of his clout; as is quite evident Terry is a force unto himself and the manager was afraid not to pick him.

Then there's Torres also undermining the win; he causes trouble wherever he goes. This wasn't the time to try and overshadow the moment; it wasn't about him. He was the option, albeit an expensive one, he wasn't going to dislodge focused Drogba.

When your hands are in the fate of others it can go against you as Tottenham found out. Having lost 5-1; the bigger the match the bigger the implosion, their destroyers in chief delivered that final blow. Arguably Spurs stopped playing as a team when it began to dawn on some individuals that it would indeed be another false dawn. The 5-2 against Arsenal was the seminal bad result and the team will break up.

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So it comes to an end

So another season comes to an end. Manchester City the noisy neighbours gatecrashed the party in style. They did it in Fergie time. Fergie might have been pleased had it been the other way round, but this time he had to watch his team do their bit and still find it not enough. By United's standards a season bereft of trophies is not something they enjoy. Manchester City looked dead and buried for the title even when Joey 'psychology' Barton opted to end the season in the most unsportsmanlike way. Frankly I cant imagine him playing until October if he does play again for QPR. City eventually picked up and the rest is as thee y say history.e

Arsenal stuck one in the eye over their North London rivals Tottenham. For most of the season the Gunners were playing catch up and it would seem that Champions League footy would be a no go. I don't know if Arsene had words with the media and planted the Harry for England campaign in the world, it seemed to upset the boys at White Hart Lane. Spurs suddenly self destructed which included a capitulation in the FA Cup semi final against Chelsea. It came down the last game and it was all to play for. West Brom nearly gave a great leaving present for Roy Hodgson and a gift for Spurs. Once again Spurs fans would be left wondering what may have been when the games came to an end.

Liverpool departed with Kenny Dalglish, 8th place a League Cup win and FA Cup runners up may have been good for other clubs, but not for Liverpool FC as Dalglish found out. The search for a new manager began and ever since various names have been linked and rejected but Roberto Martinez of Wigan and Andres Villas Boas formerly of Chelsea have now been connected in high regard. One thing that can be said of Kenny Dalglish for all his pitfalls and errors of judgement, is that he united a club that had not been so long from being on the brink of administration. The club had new owners and Roy Hodgson had been removed.after a start not seen at Anfield since the early 50s.

Chelsea had a bad start, the players blamed the manager and his way of doing things. Chelsea were out of the top 4 and having a bad run. This inability to take collective responsibility for their on field performances lead to the departure of yet another manager at Stamford Bridge. Despite progessing in the Champions League and FA Cup it wasnt enough and the Portuguese manager was gone. In came Chelsea legend Roberto Di Matteo as Interim manager. He got the players 'united' and the club moved on. They went on a run in the league before dropping points against Newcastle which would make the move towards 4th place more difficult. This would lead to one night in Munich which would make history.  They would be the first London club to win the Champions League not only that they would beat German opposition on penalties. They had a week or two before won the FA Cup at Wembley. 

Newcastle fans had something to be pleased about. They finished a respectable fifth narrowly missing out on fourth, which although wouldnt bring Champions League, it would be a decent placing under the leadership of Alan Pardew. Pardew of course a man derided on arrival to the club after the departure of Hughton in 2010. Having signed some players that would make a difference to the season, Pardew rightly received Manager of the Year award. Next season barring a crazy self destruction I would expect the Toon to continue marching upwards.

Tottenham's failure to get Champions League football next season could prove costly. Luca Modric is rumoured to want away and this could see the Modric to Chelsea saga raise its head again. Bale has been linked with a move away but to whom will be a question. Of course he may very well put his loyalty to the club and stay with Spurs and fight to get Champions League footy next season. We will have to wait and see.

Two players that will be definitely at different clubs are Didier Drogba and Owen Hargreaves. Drogba who had wanted two years and not the one year that Chelsea offered, could not have signed off his Chelsea career in a better way by winning the Champions League. The last few days saw him staying and going but it took himself to finally say that his Chelsea career was at an end. Love him or hate him, his skill and knack for scoring will be missed in the Premier League. It will now be upto others new signings or current player and whinging Fernando Torres, to carry on the mantle. 

Owen Hargreaves was released by Manchester City. It was always a risky signing for the former Man United player who was beset by injuries, so it was no surprise that his time at City has come to an end. Whether he continues or hangs up his boots is a matter for him. I guess we'll find out in time.

A week's a long time in football

So it came to pass this weekend that Fernando Torres wants to leave Liverpool. Naturally at the start of the season it would have been expected for him to depart back in August when the club was still on the rails and Hicks and Gillett were ripping the very heart out of the club. We now have new owners and we have a new man in charge. It has been the opinion of a few football fans across twitter, that Torres upped his performance for the sake of the transfer window. Have us fans become so cynical that it's come to this.

If Torres had come out at the start of the transfer window and said that he wanted to move, then I think it would have been accepted. To state that you want to move with two days two days of the transfer window left (not counting the weekend) is clearly disrespectful to the fans and to the club.

It was only in the last two weeks that Fernando Torres stated that he was happy to see the rest of his contract out, yet soon as Chelsea put in a late bid, he suddenly wants to leave. Who knows what is going through his mind. One theory is that maybe he is doing a Rooney. The Suarez transfer saga has come to an end with him joining for just under £23 million. Another pointer which makes it interesting is that Torres and Suarez both have the same agent. Fernando's transfer request doesn't seem to have put the Uruguayan off from joining.

As much as would like to see Torres stay, if he doesn't want to be committed to the club then he should go. It should be remembered though that Torres did sign a new deal during the Hicks and Gillett era when things were still not rosy and time after time he claimed a special connection to the club and it's fans. This now seems all very hollow.

There is still no official word from the club in regards to Torres, moving but the Sunday press does speculate on various options. I guess it will be the case of staying tuned as it were.

Blackpool found themselves wrongly on the receiving end of a £25,000 fine over team selection. The fine relating to the team selection against Aston Villa earlier in the season. It would have been greatly understood if Blackpool had been played off the park or fielded a youth team, but now they lost 3-2 through a late Aston Villa winner. Now even the most partisan football fan can see that this is a mockery of the very rules that the FA Premier League put in place. If a manager has a squad of 25 to choose from then as a manager who actually spends more time with his squad than the FA Premier men, he will know who his best players are, he can judge who are in form, top fitness and likely to match the opposition and beat it. The FA Premier League should either stop fining managers for Premier League selections or drop the 25 player squad rule.

There are those who say there is one rule for the big clubs and another for the smaller clubs. It would easily be swung to that opinion. Arsenal in a game against Wigan made 8 changes to their team and escaped without punishment. Of course Arsenal like the bigger clubs have international players who can come in and take their place. The FA Cup replay away to Leeds was a fine example.

Darren Bent left high flying Sunderland to join struggling Aston Villa to much controversy. It was believed that Bent left for the bigger money. For Darren Bent, it wasn't the first big money transfer he was involved in. He moved to Spurs for £17 million where he bagged 25 goals in 79 games. Gerrard Houllier believed that the criticism he received was because he was French. Think that was a bit much to be honest.

Robbie Keane looks like he's on his way to West Ham on another loan move. This of course the same Robbie Keane who Harry brought back to Spurs in February 2009 saying 'I'm very pleased to have signed him,he's just the type of player we need - his enthusiasm,his work rate, he's a terrific character to have around the place. He was made vice captain and often leading the side in King's absence. If Keane thought he was going to be at the Lane long time, he would be mistaken. February came and the Irishman was heading north to Scotland and on loan to Celtic.

Too many vinos at Christmas?

So Sepp Blatter proposes an anti corruption unit? You would think that would sound reasonable in most circumstances. Problem is that they already had the Ethics Committee. The very committee that investigated the dodgy goings on during the World Cup voting process. It would seem that Blatter is trying to act and make it look like they are doing something to clean up the game. The new committee will be independent and made up of between 7-9 individuals from various backgrounds. Will be interesting to see how independent it would be if some really jaw dropping allegations came out. Of course this could just be the thing to take away the shambles of World Cup finals winning bids. Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 still seem to be causing some issue although mostly with the fact that come the middle of summer, it's going to be extremely hot in Qatar. Talk being that it will be moved to the winter when it will be cooler.

Sorry Fifa. you made the bed now you simply just have to lay in it. If Qatar was to punish England, then it's backfired tremendously. You chose to give it to a country with scorching temperatures that surely no human would think about running about in. Hopefully in the time (11 years) someone will come up with a competent idea.. That being said this is Fifa who despite wanting less league games played they introduce more pointless competitions. The World Club Championships or whatever they call it now. In the old days the South American champions played the European Champions and that was that. Now we have all number of crap clubs wasting our time and whenever an English team wins it, causing a fixture congestion or injury risk. This is the competition you will remember that Man United withdrew from the English FA Cup from to play in. Thankfully I cannot see anything happening like that again.

Heading to domestic league issues, it's certainly hotting up. Arsene Wenger may regret the 8 changes against Wigan which ultimately cost his team joint top spot. Man United seem to have ridden their luck yet again having been denied three points against Birmingham, Gary 'Crazy Legs' Neville brought down a West Brom player from behind, clear goal scoring opportunity. Bobby Moore classic tackle this was not and the former England man breathed a sigh of relief as he allowed his team to remain with 11 men on the pitch and eventual victory.

Not having the full compliment wasn't any hinderance to Tottenham during the Christmas campaign. Two games two red cards, one a harsh decision the other not so. Harry's men seem to be on the outside like the trailing jockey in the Grand National biding it's time to whip into action. Will it be the smooth outside run to the straight for Redknapp's boys or will there be one fence too many and they fall away.

At City with the will he wont he saga finally dusted, the light blue half of Manchester seems to be hanging in there. They may have played a couple more games than United but they have a defence tighter than Martin Broughton's legal team in October and I feel extra games played won't do any harm, especially if they keep winning and their City rivals are opting for the point away from home. A big game against title rivals Arsenal looms and it will be interesting to see how this one fairs. United and Chelsea fans will no doubt be praying for a draw whilst they hope to get points from their games.

One wonders how long before a certain Roman Abramovich decides he made a complete howler of a decision to let Ray Wilkins go. Since that fateful day they've looked far from convincing and you just wonder how they will have any chance of winning the title if they don't return to winning ways. Chelsea find themselves fifth and six points behind Man United and Man City. They really need to get back into gear if they want Champions League football. The notable bonus that the blues have over their London rivals Tottenham, is their goal difference. They may very well be strong at the lane but away from home they have shipped more than their title rivals.

Troubles continue for Liverpool fans. Roy Hodgson's bewildering comments during his tenure together with decisions likely to puzzle the most eager of football fans seem to lead to his Anfield demise. Was this the parting shot from Hicks and Gillett who knew their time was up and so thought they'd throw a spanner in the works. Having regularly finished in the top four to then finish 7th and hope that bouncebackability was the order of the day was a bit optimistic, but did anyone really expect things to be this bad? Signing players when there were surely better alternatives. We had money to spend on Van Der Vaart, so what does Hodgson do? he signs Raul Meireles and Christian Poulsen. The latter who seems to have disappeared. Paul Konchesky now it was like Hodgson had started pulling the Christmas crackers and reading the jokes in August. Liverpool were crying out for a striker. Well to be honest we did already have one or two in the forms of Kuyt and Babel, but someone thinks that they are best played as wingers. I do so hope the next manager of Liverpool actually knows that strikers play up front, wingers on the wing etc.

Blackpool under the leadership of the mighty Ian Holloway look certain to maintain their Premiership stay despite a run of home game postponements. They look far from the team that was hammered by Chelsea and Arsenal at the start of the season, although the game at Arsenal did see them down to ten men after 31 minutes. I do so enjoy hearing the musings of Holloway, telling it like it is, not that it would stop him should they ever go back down, but his opportunities to exposure would indeed be restricted.

Finally a word going out to Andy Hessenthaler and Gillingham FC. For a while it looked like the only battle that the Medway team would be facing was Football League survival, a run of a few wins together with burying that dismal away record and the mighty Gills are now in the running for the play off promotion chase. The only issue is that it could be a false dawn. Promotion gained this season relegation next. It happened before. I try not to be too cynical but I'll be glad if Hezza and the Gills prove me wrong.