Leicester's fairytale inspired others!

Last season's Premier League saw one of the most incredible sporting achievements as 5000/1 underdogs Leicester City did the impossible and won the title. Widely regarded as relegation fighters before the season started, they went on to break record after record and won the first division league title for the first time in the club's history. Their success sent shockwaves around Europe as Leicester were guaranteed a place in the Champions League groups stage and a place amongst Europe's elite. It seems that clubs across the continent have been inspired and are pushing for their own fairytales this season.

In Germany, newly promoted RB Leipzig started the season with real ambition and quickly found themselves at the top of the table. After 24 games of the Bundesliga, Leipzig sit in second place with a comfortable six point gap between them and Dortmund in third. They are a huge ten points from top spot but to be the best of the rest behind 26 times league champions, Bayern Munich, is a huge achievement for a club that was only founded in 2009. Rising from lower league obscurity to the brink of a Champions League is a fairytale story in its own right but a league title triumph would be the ultimate achievement.

There is an interesting three way tug of war for the title in the French league as PSG try to defend their title against Monaco and more surprisingly, Nice. In recent year, OGC Nice have achieved a couple of fourth place finishes but their league positions have varied from top five, to mid table, to fighting the drop. This season however, they have spent the first few months at the top but in recent weeks they have dropped down to third. They are by no means done for the season as they are still only five points behind Monaco in first and two points behind PSG in second. If they go on to win the league, it will be their first major trophy since the Coupe de France in 1997 and it would be their first league title since 1959.

Sevilla have also started pushing for the Spanish title and although they are already considered to be one of the best in Spain, or the best of the rest outside of the top three of Barcelona, Real and Athletico Madrid, a league title would be an incredible achievement. Despite recent successes with a Copa del Rey win in 2010 and three consecutive UEFA Europa League wins between 2014 to 2016, they haven't actually won the Spanish title since the 1945 - 1946 season. This season it has been difficult for them to keep up with the top two but they are only five points behind first place and if the top two continue to drop points and perform inconsistently, Sevilla could take their chance and the title.

Elsewhere across Europe, Feyenoord sit top of the Eredivisie and are looking for their first league title in seventeen years and trying to break the Ajax, PSV dominance that has seen fifteen of the last seventeen seasons being won by one of the two teams. Another shock could come from the Turkish Süper Lig where Istanbul Basaksehir, a club that was only founded in 1990, sit second in the league, only two points behind leaders Besiktas. If they manage to win the title, it would be the first major trophy in the club's history and an amazing accomplishments to beat top traditional Turkish clubs like Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray.

It does seem to be a new era for football across the continent with more smaller clubs fighting back against the dominance of the bigger and wealthier clubs. The first major shock in recent years has to be Montpellier winning their first ever league title in 2012 and now Leicester have done the same in England, it shouldn't take long before we have a few more surprise victories in other leagues.

Are Southampton the ultimate comeback club?

In the space of ten years, Southampton have gone from a Premiership club to a League One club and back again. They've gone from relegation fighters to competing in the UEFA Europa League. They've lost player after player and manager after manager yet they are still able to achieve impressive league finishes and compete with the best clubs in England. They suffer setbacks every year and manage to overcome them despite the critics. The pundits will soon have to realise that it isn't luck that's kept them at the top.

In 2012, Southampton began their first top flight campaign since the 2004/2005 season and they had worked their way up with two consecutive promotions under Nigel Adkins. Important players were brought in to help fight relegation with Clyne, Rodriguez, Davis and Yoshida all joining the club. Despite sitting in fifteenth in the league, Adkins was sacked as manager in January 2013. The man who lead the Saints from the third tier of English football to the Premier League was replaced by a seemingly inexperienced Argentine in Mauricio Pochettino. The loss of the much loved Adkins did not affect the team's performance as Pochettino lead them to safety with a fourteenth place finish. The next season saw more new faces join the team as Wanyama, Lovren and Osvaldo were brought in to help Pochettino in his first full season in England. Things went even better for the club as they managed to avoid any second season problems and managed to finish in eighth instead of fighting the drop as so many thought they would.

The 2014/2015 season started awfully for the Saints as they lost manager Pochettino, who left to join Spurs and they also lost a number of key first team players. They had already lost their top scorer Rodriguez to injury so he was unable to play in a single match in the 2014/15 season, and they lost goalkeeper Boruc to Bournemouth and also Cork to Swansea. They also lost Chambers to Arsenal, Lovren and Lambert to Liverpool as well as Lallana and Shaw who were Southampton's representatives in the PFA team of the year for the previous season. They were sold for big money to Liverpool and Manchester United respectively. Ronald Koeman was brought in to manage the team and had to buy a lot of players to replace the outgoing ones. Tadić, Pellè, Long, Forster, Mané, Bertrand and Alderweireld on loan were all brought in. They managed to achieve a seventh place finish in the league and qualified for the UEFA Europa League.

Koeman's second season started with just as many problems as his first. He lost a couple of key players as Schneiderlin joined Manchester United, Clyne joined Liverpool, Alderweireld's loan ended and he joined Spurs and Forster was ruled out until the new year due to injury. They lost their Europa League qualifying game against Midtjylland 2-1 on aggregate. They had to make a few additions to their squad to once again fill in the gaps left by their sales. Van Dijk, Cedric, Clasie, Romeu, Stekelenburg and Austin were all brought in as replacements and as cover for the squad. They went on to finish sixth in the league. Once again qualifying for the Europa League but they were only three points off Manchester City, who finished fourth.

This season began with another crisis for the Saints as they lost manager Koeman to Everton, top scorers of the last two seasons, Pellè and Mané were both sold as was Wanyama. Things quickly turned around as Claude Puel was brought in. Redmond and Boufal were signed and Austin took the opportunity and became the main man upfront. They have had their first proper taste of European football since the 1970's as they participated in the Europa League group stage and competed against well known clubs from across the continent such as Inter Milan and Sparta Prague. They only just missed out on reaching the knockout rounds because of their head to head record after finishing level on points with second place Hapoel Be'er Sheva. They have made it to the EFL cup semi finals and if they get past Liverpool, they will be in their first major final since the 2003 FA Cup final and as 2016 ends, Southampton find themselves in ninth in the Premier League


If they achieve another top ten finish this season, they can look back on the season with pride as they have to overcome the unfortunate truth that a lot of players and managers who join Southampton see it as a stepping stone so they can join a so called "bigger club". They have so far dealt with everything and managed to establish themselves as a Premier League club but they know that they will likely go through it all again next season.

Is a British league system really a bad idea?

Every few years, the idea of including the likes of Celtic and Rangers into the English football league system is thrown around but is always rejected. Any suggestion of a combined British system is seen as an insult to people on either side of the borders and they fear losing independence for each separate FA. Any possibility of cooperation is also dismissed as seen during the summer when they couldn't even agree on creating UK teams to participate in the Olympic Games.

The English football leagues have multiple Welsh teams already competing with Swansea being a regular in the Premier League since their promotion back in 2011. They've gone on to achieve two top ten finishes, they've gone on to win the 2013 League Cup and had a run in the UEFA Europa League the following year. Cardiff also had a stint in the top flight during the 2013/2014 season so there were two Welsh teams in the English top flight for the first time. Newport County play their trade in League two and Wrexham play in the National League. If they had to play in the Welsh leagues again, they would likely dominate and achieve top five finishes and if the other Welsh clubs benefited from the money in the English leagues like Swansea and Cardiff do, they would improve and reach a higher standard as well.

The Scottish Challenge Cup has already taken the first steps towards a British competition as it invited the top two teams from Wales and Northern Ireland to participate alongside the lower league Scottish teams. Welsh champions, The New Saints have reached the quarter finals and stand a good chance of becoming the first Welsh team to win a Scottish tournament. Welsh teams have won English trophies before as Cardiff lifted the 1927 FA Cup and Swansea with their recent League Cup win. Even Queen's Park have reached the English FA Cup final in two consecutive years back in 1884 and 1885. They now play their trade in the Scottish third tier. British link ups is common throughout history and we shouldn't really be a surprise if it happens again.

Also, with Celtic's dominance of Scottish football, it would help them improve if they were in a more competitive league. Their recent three all draw with Manchester City in the Champions League showed that they are capable of competing with English teams. Celtic have won the Scottish title for the last five consecutive years and seem to be well on their way to making it a sixth this season. With Rangers now back in the top flight, it won't take long before they resume taking turns in dominating. The last time a team other than Celtic or Rangers won the league, it was Aberdeen in 1985 with a young Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm, in the same time period there have been nine different English champions and although Ferguson did dominate English football with Manchester United, it has all changed since his retirement. English football has become even more open and competitive with the last four seasons being won by four different teams with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Leicester all lifting the trophy. With Celtic's inclusion, they wouldn't find it as easy and would have to improve to lift another title.

English teams would dominate the leagues at first with only Celtic being good enough to represent Scotland in the Premier League and Swansea for the Welsh clubs, the likes of Aberdeen, Rangers and Hearts should be able to compete in the Championship with the rest of the top Scottish teams being lower league and the Welsh being in the fourth or fifth tier at first. They would all quickly get better and the money in English football would help the club's improve. It would also help the national teams with more clubs playing at a higher level, it would give the national teams more options with The Welsh and Scottish teams benefiting.

The only problem is that the FA's wouldn't agree. They fear losing their individuality with the national teams and their structures. The idea of having a football team to represent team GB at the Olympic Games was rejected for the Rio Olympics despite the agreement for the 2012 London Olympics for that exact reason. If everybody agreed to unite, something special could happen with a new system and even possibly with a British national team which could be able to take on the best teams in the world. Football fans across Britain could be persuaded to accept a new combined league but without the associations agreeing, it will only ever be a dream.

Manchester City's owners are building an empire

The City Football Group was formed to oversee the expanding franchise of teams under the "City" umbrella which started with the Abu Dhabi United Group's purchase of Manchester City back in 2008. It has since spread to three continents and has five teams fully under their control and partial ownership of another. The aim does appear to be the creation of a footballing empire and dominance on a global scale where each side could dominate their continents and the Club World Cup could have just "City" teams.

Manchester City - The first team bought by the Abu Dhabi Group and in the years since the takeover, they have established themselves as one of the best in England but so far have struggled to make their mark on the European stage. They are the most successful of the City Group clubs as they've added the 2012 and 2014 Premier League titles, the 2014 and 2016 League Cups, the 2011 FA Cup and the 2012 Community Shield. They did manage to get to the semi finals of the Champions League last season but nobody really believed they could go on and win it so now Pep Guardiola has been brought in to lead them to European glory.

Manchester City Women - In 2012 the already existing Manchester City Ladies was acquired and joined to the Manchester City men so they are linked. They had a slight name change and became the Manchester City Women but the joining with the men was not just for a name change, it enabled the City Group to start pumping money into the side. They quickly became one of the best teams in England with one of the best stadiums in the Women's Super League and also some of the best players because they can offer what few other English women's teams can offer, a professional contract. They have brought women's football into the public eye and helped boost the sport in England. Since the City Group got the team, they've won the 2014 FA WSL Cup and are well on their way to winning their first Women's Super League title this season.

New York City - The MLS franchise was established in 2013 but didn't begin their first season until 2015. In their inaugural season, they finished in a disappointing eighth and missed out on a play off spot. Top players have been brought in like David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo to help get the new franchise up and running. This season has been better as they have guaranteed a spot in the play offs and could still win the Supporters Shield for 2016. With the squad improving so much so quickly, they should be aiming to win the MLS Cup and the CONCACAF Champions League within the next three seasons. So far, they have not won any silverware but it is only their second season and they should be able to start dominating the USA and bringing in the trophies soon.

Melbourne City - In 2014, Melbourne Heart were bought out by the City Group and became the third City team. In their first season under the new ownership, they finished fifth in the regular season and reached the play offs semi finals and in their second season, they improved with a fourth place finish to qualify for the play offs but they once again lost in the semi finals. The side will only get better and will be hoping to push on from their semi final defeats to win the Grand Final and eventually try and win the AFC Champions League. The seemingly unlimited resources available and also the signing of Australian legend Tim Cahil will help improve Melbourne City's stature with fans across the country.

Melbourne City Women - After the success of the women's football team in Manchester, the City Group decided to do the same in Melbourne. Only being founded in 2015, they only have the one season to their name but in their inaugural season last year, they got a clean sweep of trophies by winning the W-League Premiers after winning twelve games out of twelve in the regular season and they also went on to win the Grand Final. Two trophies out of two from the first season and they could easily go on to dominate women's football in Australia for the next few years.

Yokohama F. Mariners - The City Group do not own the Mariners but they do have a minority share in the club and it does appear likely that they will want a Japanese franchise and will probably try and buy the club outright. They could change the name to incorporate them into the group of "City" clubs.

With Europe, North America and Asia all being home to a City club, it wouldn't surprise me if we will soon see a South American or even African club joining the growing group. The aim does appear to be dominance of world football on the men's and women's stages and although dominance is going to be very difficult, the teams are each becoming successful in their own right.

Manchester United, The English Galacticos

Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, Manchester United have been quite happy to spend big in order to bring success back to Old Trafford and they have broken their own transfer record multiple times and now even gone and broken the world transfer record with the £89 million signing of Paul Pogba. The trophies have been few and far between and since 2012, there have been four managers at the helm but now with Mourinho, the Galacticos of England might just be able to bring the good times back to the red side of Manchester.

David De Gea - Brought in by Sir Alex Ferguson and has become the best goalkeeper in the Premier League in the years since his retirement. He has been named as Manchester United's player of the season for the last three consecutive years and is now considered to be one of the best if not the best goalkeeper in the world.

Eric Baily - The young Ivory Coast international defender was brought in as Jose Mourinho's first signing for £30 million and has been named man of the match in his first two games for United. He helped lift the first trophy of the Mourinho era in the 2-1 win over Leicester in the Community Shield.

Luke Shaw - The young left back was voted as the best left back in the Premier League after his last season with Southampton and became the world's most expensive teenager after completing the move to United, which was in the region of £30 million.

Paul Pogba - The new world record transfer. The Frenchman rejoined United for £89 million and joined Mourinho's new look side. The transfer dragged on for most of the summer but was finished before the start of the Premier League and there is a lot of expectation on his shoulders to help give United the extra boost in the title race.

Juan Mata - David Moyes' most expensive signing and he even became United's club record transfer after his £37.1 million move from Chelsea in January 2014. He became a key player under Van Gaal and even scored the equaliser during the FA Cup final. He's started this season off well with the opener against Bournemouth.

Anthony Martial - Widely regarded as a panic buy by the English media, the £36 million United paid Monaco for him was quickly forgotten about as he scored on his league debut against Liverpool and went on to became United's top scorer for the season. The young French international became the world's most expensive teenager, taking the title from Luke Shaw and was voted as the best young player in Europe.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic - The serial winner was brought in on a free after his contract with PSG ended. Mourinho reunited with Ibrahimovic after their time together at Inter Milan and the former Sweden international managed to score United's winner on his debut to lift the Community Shield and also scored on his league debut in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth. Zlatan is looking to add to the trophies he's won in The Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France.

Falcao and Di Maria - Both brought in by Van Gaal but unfortunately only stayed in Manchester for one season. Both were regarded amongst the best in their positions and were seen as excellent purchases for United. Di Maria became United's all time record transfer but is considered as a flop after being sold for around £10 million less a year later whilst Falcao was loaned in from Monaco but injuries ruined any real chance of securing a permanent move to Manchester.

With all the money in the Premier League and with United's sponsorship deals with the likes of Chevrolet and Adidas, it looks like there will be more superstar signings in the next few years to help United get back to the top but it is the mixture of world class and homegrown players like Lingard and Rashford that really mirror the original Galacticos from Madrid. The Mourinho era has started with the Conmunity Shield and he will be hoping for much more with his record breaking side.

Will Newcastle win promotion this season?

With the Championship season now underway, Newcastle started as favourites to go on and win it and when you look at the squad that they've assembled, you can see why. They have arguably the best squad in the league, most experienced manager and history is on their side as well. It'll be a long season but a lot of people do believe the title is already decided and it's only promotion for the rest to play for. Last time Newcastle were in the Championship, they bounced straight back up by winning the league with 102 points. Despite all of the positives leading up to the season, it's been a disastrous start. They are still many people's favourites and they could very possibly still go on to win the league but they will have to improve.

Their squad is surely the envy of all of the other Championship teams. Although they have lost a few top players like Wijnaldum, Cisse, Coloccini, Townsend and Taylor and they seem likely to lose more players like Krul, Tiote and Sissoko before the transfer window ends, their recruitment to replace them has been impressive. Hanley from Blackburn and Clark from Aston Villa will help boost the defence, Hayden, Ritchie and Diame bolster the midfield and Dwight Gayle has been brought in to lead the front line. With the likes of Shelvey, Perez, Mitrovic, Colback, Janmaat and Dummet all staying despite relegation and with younger players hoping to make it into the first team like Aarons and Armstrong, there is a good mix of international quality players and young players eager to prove themselves.

They have a manager who has won promotion a couple of times in Spain and gone on to win major tournaments such as the Europa League and Champions League and was even the manager of Real Madrid only a year ago. Rafa is the most experienced manager in the Championship and has about seven years of managerial experience in English football with Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle last season. There aren't many other managers in the Championship with the same level of top tier experience. Reading have Jaap Stam who has had a few years coaching in the Ajax system and Aston Villa have another Champions League winning manager with Di Matteo. The competitiveness and quality level in this years Championship might mean that Benitez will have to use all his experience from getting promoted during his time in Spain more than competing at the highest level to help his Newcastle side bounce back up.

Now two games into the season, they find themselves at the wrong end of the table without a single point. It is early days but the Newcastle fans would expect results from day one. Newcastle have one of the biggest fan bases in England and are always very demanding. Perhaps their expectations are too high because over the last twenty years, they have seen their team go through highs and lows. The mid nineties saw Newcastle achieve multiple second place finishes and more top six finishes. From 2002 to 2004, they managed to finish in the top five for three years in a row. Even more recently in 2012, they finished fifth in their second season back in the top flight. They are capable of being a top ten team in the Premier League and should really be pushing on from that to try and win domestic cups and try to get a European place but instead they find themselves constantly flirting with relegation and competing in the second tier of English football.

The recent poor seasons at St James' Park have seen the fans turn on owner, Mike Ashley, for his lack of funding and poor footballing decisions. The appointment of Benitez and the money spent during last season show that Ashley was trying to turn things around. Over £75 million spent last season and over £40 million spent so far this season shows that it isn't for lack of trying but maybe the problems cannot be solved just by throwing money at them.

It's easy to get carried away after a couple of poor results but if Benitez's men don't turn things around soon and pick up some points, there will be plenty of angry fans asking questions. They ended last season with a 5-1 win over third place Spurs so the squad do have the ability but they just need to use it in the games that matter. If they can't, they could decline quite quickly and find themselves at home in the Championship like other former Premier League teams like Fulham, Blackburn, Wolves and Leeds who have fallen and been unable to drag themselves back into the top flight. Whatever happens, this could be a year to remember for Newcastle fans, for better or for worse.

Will England ever win another major tournament?

England's exit from the European Championships was a disappointing one but not really a surprising one as the English always manage to fall short in major tournaments. One win in four and a 2-1 loss to Iceland in the round of sixteen saw Roy Hodgson resign and the same questions get asked. People question if they can cope with the pressures that come from a major tournament, people question if the Premier League is causing burnout in the players, some people question the tactics and player selection and some just simply wonder if the players are even good enough. Frustratingly however, these are not new questions, the last time we won a major tournament was back in 1966 and the last time we even got to the semi finals of a major tournament was the 1996 European Championships. We should be able to get to semi finals every now and then but it appears that unless the competition is being held in England, we just can't perform.

Since the turn of the century, England's biggest success at a major tournament has been to reach the quarterfinals, which they have done on four separate occasions. If we want to be a top country we have to compare ourselves to the best in the Europe. Spain have won the World Cup once, the Euros twice, two other quarterfinals and a runners up in the Confederations Cup. Germany won the World Cup in 2014 and also reached two other finals and four semi finals. Italy have won one World Cup and reached two European Championship finals. France won the Euros in 2000, reached the World Cup final in 2006 and reached this years European Championship final. The Netherlands have reached one final and three semi finals and even Portugal, who won the 2016 European Championships, reached one other final and three semi finals. All within the same time period. Even Greece won the Euros in 2004, Wales got to the semi finals this year and Turkey and Russia both reached the 2008 semi finals. All further than England.

The suggestion that England could not cope with the pressure is completely unacceptable. The pressure of a semi final or final would be a lot to deal with but to get defeated in the round of sixteen has nothing to do with pressure. It's more likely complacency and arrogance that caused the poor performances throughout the tournament and not just against Iceland. The England squad for these Euros have 14 Premier League, 11 FA Cup and 4 Champions League winners medals as well as multiple other titles. They are used to winning, they should be able to take the winning club mentality with them in to international duty. There have been poor performances throughout the tournament and the only time England upped their game was for the Wales match. A 1-1 draw with Russia. A 0-0 draw with Slovakia and the 2-1 loss to Iceland. Wales went on to ease past Russia in the final group game with a 3-0 win. Slovakia were beaten 3-0 by Germany in the round of sixteen and France thrashed Iceland 5-2 in the quarterfinals. This is how England should have beaten teams, instead they went into each game with an undeserved arrogance to think they can win without even trying.

The idea that players suffer burnout from playing in the premier league has been a popular excuse after the last few disappointing tournaments and the suggestion that we need a winter break to help counteract burnout has been requested for just as long. Despite this, the Premier League had the most players at the Euros with Liverpool being represented more than any other team at the tournament. Due to the cosmopolitan nature of the league, there were 139 players from the English football league system that were taken to France and 18 of the 24 participating nations had players from English clubs. The final between Portugal and France had eight players from English clubs starting so it's quite clear that they had no such problem with burnout like the English players despite playing in the exact same circumstances. Even some of the best players of the tournament like Payet, Ramsey and Allen managed to represent the Premier League in UEFA's team of the tournament and only La Liga had more players in the team.

Now that Sam Allardyce has been appointed, we can look forward but people will ask if he's really any better than Hodgson. The FA wanted a change, to build a legacy that will run through the main team and into the youth teams so everybody knows how to play the same way for England. Can Allardyce be the one to set the foundation of this new playing style? It'll be hard to say without seeing any games but Allardyce does have a good track record as a manager, keeping Sunderland up last season, getting West Ham promoted back to the Premier League and stabilising them as a top tier club and taking Bolton from the second division and turning them into a top six side and into Europe. He could very well turn Englsnd's fortunes around but he will need time and the backing of everybody to follow his ideas but it is asking a lot of him to turn this team into World Cup winners in his contracted two years. I think he has a very good chance of improving the side but it'll be too hard to turn us into winners anytime soon.