And some people thought that Brendan Rodgers’ honeymoon period at Celtic wouldn’t last. Well, to paraphrase a certain muppet-looking, muppet-brained politician, they’re not laughing now. But this isn’t Brexit, thank goodness. This is far more important than that – this is Scottish football.
I've been watching football for years, decades even, but am well aware of my failings when it comes to visiting enough football grounds. With that in mind I decided to be proactive and change this, starting with a trip to Griffin Park, home of Brentford FC. I have to admit that my initial motivation for this football away day was the claim to fame the ground has for being the only one in the football league with a pub on every corner. Sadly one of these is currently closed but me and my cohorts still managed to have a drink at all four corners of Griffin Park, following the game against Bristol City on April 1st...
An interesting weekend of football may have not only provided entertainment aplenty for fans, it might just have given us an indicator of the potential silverware roll of honour in a month’s time...
'It's not the winning, it's the taking part that counts'. A phrase I'm sure we've all heard before and perhaps even experienced first hand. And whilst it does have its place, when you're in the world of professional sport it is a belief that's often replaced by 'winning is all that matters'. The truth is we can't adequately sum up sports participation with a phrase because this ignores all of its nuances. For example, in football winning may well be all that matters, but then most people would agree that diving to win a match-winning penalty is against the spirit of the game.
For some football clubs though, their recent history suggests that they do have a bit of the 'taking part that counts' ethos. Now let's be clear, footballers at all levels have a burning desire to win every game, but only a minority of teams can ever win a trophy. Each club has expectations from the board, and depending on a number of circumstances, success will be quantified very differently from one to the other. So it turns out that some clubs in the English Football League (EFL) have become winners in their own unique way, they don't get promoted and they don't get relegated, instead these are the most consistently average teams in the country:
Yes you read the title correctly, Pep Guardiola remains unproven as a football manager! It's a point of view that I've had for a while, but only now is the evidence beginning to mount in my favour thanks to how the Spaniard is finding life with Manchester City and the Premier League. It seems that even the man himself is having a crisis of confidence, judging by his own recent shocking admission.