FOOTBALL IN FRANCE DRIFTING INTO WINTER OF DISCONTENT
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- Written by Chris Stanley
Who’d be a champion, eh? All that struggle and worry, all that effort, and for what? For everybody to hate you and hope that you fall on your behind at some point in the immediate future. Yeah, you get a trophy and a medal, but what exactly does that get you? Not player loyalty, that’s for sure. As Ligue 1’s incumbent champions Olympique de Marseille are currently finding out, sometimes a championship can be more trouble than it’s worth.
The pressure was eased on Gordon Strachan yesterday night as a late Tarmo Kink double helped his Middlebrough team beat Burnley 2-1, visitors who continue to suffer away woes. After a 68th minute goal from Bikey it looked bleak again for Strachan’s men, but Kink coming off the bench turned the game on its head and with a great free kick in the 94th minute saved Strachan for another game at least. 
This isn't another article about Wayne Rooney and his s-excapades. At least it shouldn’t be. Instead I hope it to be the full stop on all this hysteria. Many trials have befallen the young Liverpudlian turned Mancunian lately, there has been revelations about his private life, speculation about his ‘waning’ ability and the back of a failed World Cup to add to the bloke’s hangover. The question you should be asking is, ‘does it really matter?’ 
A few weeks ago Jose Mourinho issued a warning to his replacement at Inter Milan, Rafael Benitez.