Last month 90 Minutes Online got around to organising a 1st football away day for the 2018/19 season, and this time it was the turn of Swindon Town and The County Ground. Once again, we got to experience a football stadium that we hadn't visited before, plus of course the all-important pre and post match rituals...
Every football club has aspirations, from the non-league to the top tier. Some are realistic, whilst others are not so much. Regardless of this, football clubs will use these aspirations to determine the success and failure of their season. This article is about what should constitute success at the top level of football, and how the argument has evolved over the last decade, particularly in the Premier League.
Question: What's more important to a football club and their fans. Is it finishing high enough in the league to qualify for the Champions League, or is it winning trophies?
Answer: Silverware is what really matters.
Let me explain...
On August 5th 2018, Pep Guardiola added another new trophy to his personal honours list. Yes it was 'only' the Community Shield, and yes it is dismissed every season as a 'glorified friendly', but then again it is a piece of silverware, and one that takes a lot of effort to be eligible to compete for. It was also, memorably, a competition that José Mourinho described as being the 1st instalment in the Manchester United 'treble-winning' season of 2016/17...
After all the build up and anticipation, the 2018 World Cup is well and truly underway and has already provided some surprise results. The first 4 days of the World Cup were a great spectacle for England fans, they witnessed the holders (Germany) lose to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina having unconvincing draws with Switzerland and Iceland respectively, plus France getting a little lucky to defeat Australia 2-1. Spain and Portugal did produce the most spectacular game we've had up to this point, but neither team could land the killer blow in another draw.
Monday night changed all that, it was time for England to begin their own World Cup quest, versus Tunisia, and for the nerves to take hold. Now, in light of their late, dramatic win, where do we stand with our hopes and expectations for this squad..?
Celtic win the league with plenty to spare. Aberdeen secure the bridesmaid spot. Silverware remains a stranger to Rangers. The national side is going nowhere fast. That was Scottish football 2017/18, and come to think about it, the half dozen or so seasons before it.
Well, to be fair it certainly has a familiar ring to it, but the campaign just ended had a bit more to it than that. Here’s the edited highlights, 6 top talking points: