Premier League 2014-15 Predictions

Everything is at stake! Actually, only my pride is on the line but once I make these predictions my much-vaunted reputation will be in the balance. Here is how I think the Premier League table will look after all the fixtures are completed. I do not like the way it looks, except for where QPR find themselves.

 1. Manchester City

 2. Chelsea
 3. Liverpool
 4. Arsenal
 5. Manchester United
 6. Tottenham Hotspur
 7. Everton
 8. Newcastle United
 9. Stoke City
10. Southampton
11. Hull City
12. Sunderland
13. West Ham United
14. Aston Villa
15. Swansea City
16. West Bromwich Albion
17. Burnley
18. Q.P.R.
19. Crystal Palace
20. Leicester City

Manchester City successfully defend title
Even without a formidable defence, the Sky Blues have enough attacking options to deliver goals aplenty. Sergio Aguero's fitness is crucial, so too is Yaya Toure. As long as the club's stakeholders do not become too obsessed with European success, their domestic season should run smoothly.

Chelsea have too many superstars for my liking, with the signing of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas looking uncomfortably like the rather disappointing appearances of Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko in 2006. Great individuals do not necessarily make for a better team.

Messy bottom half
Once again, the Premier League's bottom 12 placings are much more difficult to predict. Connor Wickham's goals will see Sunderland in a strong position whilst Burnley's hard work and endeavour will keep their heads just above the drop zone. The amount of time the Clarets have Sam Vokes and Danny Ings on the Turf Moor pitch together will be the deciding factor in their season.

Swansea are dark horses for relegation. Last season they occasionally played decent football but Gary Monk remains a dubious appointment as team manager. However, Wilfried Bony and Gylfi Sigurdsson should be enough to keep them safe.

On the other hand, Crystal Palace and Leicester are the most likely candidates for a plummet into the lower divisions. Without Tony Pulis the Eagles are a flimsy rag-tag side. Despite a comfortable ascent to the Championship title last year, nothing about Leicester suggests they have a squad to compete at a higher level. No doubt Nigel Pearson has other ideas though.

2012 Legacy Lost in Basketball Cuts

Once again elite British basketball is penniless. Along with water polo and synchronised swimming, all funding from UK Sport has been axed from the national basketball programme. The uncompromising decision was made on the back of Team GB’s lack of medal prospects at future Olympic Games.

But sport is about more than winning and losing, with the removal of funding sure to affect all levels of basketball in Britain, for spectators and participants alike. Without the annual £7 million  cash injection, it will become increasingly difficult to cultivate professional, semi-professional and amateur players as well as provide the infrastructure in which they can beat the odds and achieve their dreams – even if it is just to have fun every Friday evening.

For me, the British women’s team’s efforts at the 2012 London Olympic games were one of the highlights of that summer. It was a story of pluck and spirit, the kind of thing normally confined to cheesy American family films. The team automatically qualified for their first Olympic appearance because they represented the home nation.

Expectations were so low that some nervous commentators worried about a potentially miserable streak of humiliations pushed on the team. But although they lost every match in their group, the British ladies’ performances showed a determination which defied their lowly ranking and would have given any witnessing Briton a surfeit of pride.

Only three points after overtime separated Great Britain from the hotly-tipped France, who eventually took the silver medal. It was one of those unmistakable occasions when defeat is nothing more than the etchings in a history book; what really mattered was the inspiring performance. The most gutsy runner, Natalie Stafford, had a great game whilst sporting a black eye.

Speaking of the David vs Goliath match, former NBA star John Amaechi (himself a prefect case of basketball’s worthwhile contribution to British society) said “The efforts of this team have been enormous. Much has been said of the men's team taking opponents to the brink, but nothing they've done compares to this team's performance against France.”

"There can be no doubt from anybody who played in this tournament that GB deserved to play in this tournament."

Sadly for everyone involved, this year’s funding cut could mean that Team GB never plays at another Olympic games, based purely on how tough it is to qualify. All that British fans of the sport can do is ask the same critical question of the money-wielder’s current strategy: where is the legacy of 2012? The whole point of the London Olympics was to inspire young and old folks into sports just like basketball, but now the rug is being pulled from under their feet. The issue is particularly pressing in the case of female participation, whereby basketball offered a more athletic and, let’s face it, a more enjoyable alternative to netball at junior level.

Worst of all, the news spreads an unhealthy message that something is not worth doing unless you do it well. The morale of all the passionate people involved in this country’s basketball infrastructure must be at its lowest ebb, knowing that their hard work and enthusiasm is still going unappreciated. So what if their endeavours do not lead to trophies? Isn’t the opening of opportunities for passionate individuals justification enough?

Indeed, participation in schools has dramatically increased in recent years. More children are opting for hoops instead of goalposts and embracing the American game with their peers. Commenting to newspapers, British Basketball chairman Roger Moreland said “The basketball community at home and abroad will be aghast that this can happen again. It seems every barrier to progress for basketball originates in Britain; the very country that should be embracing the progress its basketball teams have achieved.”

“How can a system abandon a sport where 70 per cent of the participants are under the age of 25 and where around 50 per cent of those that play come from BME communities?"

York University boasts both men and women’s basketball teams. Neither are a stranger to the lack of insight from governing bodies when it comes to their sport. The current female Basketball President, Sophie Bennett, believes that neglect from the relevant authorities lies behind the move: “It is true that England have gone the wrong way about dealing with basketball, because the GB team didn't cross the t's or dot the i's, the whole of England has now begun to suffer. How do they expect a generation to get better if they won't help it?”

“Overall, the cut came as no surprise because England have always been so centralized around football that they can't begin to comprehend the rules behind another sport. But given England's display at the World Cup this year - do you think football will get a cut in funding? I'll bite my tongue at the thought of that.”

Basketball is being kicked into a corner at the moment when it looked set for a period of rude health in this country. Without the appropriate support and funding, there will not only be very little chance of Team GB improving its international standing in future tournaments but also creates another obstacle to laying the foundations for the development of the sport across the country.

Lance Armstrong: Not forgotten, Never Forgiven

When asked about Lance Armstrong’s portrayal of himself as a victim of popular scapegoating, the former head of the UCI (world cycling’s regulatory body) Patrick McQuaid said “I would agree with him. He is a victim.” Only two years ago the same man officially plunged the final seal into Armstrong’s coffin when he announced that the famous doper “has no place in cycling. He deserves to be forgotten.” And yet, the Armstrong saga rumbles on, with McQuaid indicative of the reversal in opinions.

Courtesy of Paul Coster.

Armstrong’s legacy is one of divided achievements and contemptible lows. To win seven consecutive Tour de France titles is a phenomenal record. He reached that peak by cheating, lying, bullying fellow competitors and one instance of perjury. In 2012 the former golden boy was stripped of his major titles. But unlike athletics, the sport administrators can’t hand those triumphs to anybody else because it is impossible to ascertain any other tour contenders from 1999-2005 who were totally clean. The Texan was simply the most determined of a very dirty peloton. As it stands, the history books are left blank for seven years, although many individuals within cycling believe Armstrong should be reinstated as a former champion.

The truth is that Lance Armstrong is a bad man. If any sportsman is guilty of pride, greed and wrath clouding their better nature then it is him. Those who were duped acted as willing fools to the lies of the sinner. Cancer or no cancer, the man was an exploitative and duplicitous fraudster.

It just so happened that Lance defended himself tooth and nail to conceal the truth. In sworn statements he called one of his critics a “whore” and Greg LeMond an alcoholic. People’s jobs were threatened and livelihoods endangered. Despite his uncomfortable confession to Oprah Winfrey, it is hard to believe that one of sport’s most ruthless figures is feeling any remorse.

I do not believe the record book should stand empty. Nor do I believe it should celebrate an unworthy winner. Instead, it should read “1999-2005 Tour de France – won by Lance Armstrong: the disgraced seven time Tour de France winner. When cycling was brought into disrepute and guilty of hiding its rotten flaws in plain sight”. Armstrong was the best of a bad bunch and to banish him as a lone outcast would be to make his pleas of persecution depressingly true.

Wembley Way and Pricing Shame

Admission Exploitation

On the 18th the mighty Gateshead competed at Wembley in the Conference play-off final. Despite my gleeful giddiness at the prospect of league football coming to the International Stadium, I was not there to join the battalions of the Heed army at FA HQ.

Courtesy of http://www.landscapesofengland.co.uk/

With tickets costing around £40 per adult, compounded by hefty travel expenses, I was frozen out of the club’s historic moment because my meagre student budget could not carry the strain. At the time I needed new shoes and, with the weather increasingly worsening, the fear of Trench foot made up my mind for me. Bear in mind, after all, that this was still a non-league fixture, not some weighty championship decider.

In the end Cambridge won the match 2-1 so I was relieved I had not felt the need to fork out the cash by unrestrained loyalty. But with over 19,000 punters attending the occasion, my own optional exclusion was the minority experience. Evidently, many other fans took the financial plunge without complaint. Surely such high prices cannot be justified, particularly when they harm the efforts of small clubs and their devoted fans to attract a large following on their grand day out? Perhaps if admission had been cheaper a larger crowd would have ultimately made the trip. Even if people remain willing to agree to such high fees, the system remains neither fair nor ethical.

This season saw supporters of Dundee United and St. Johnstone gather widespread support through their open criticism of inflated ticket prices for the Scottish Cup final. A fund for subsidising impoverished fans was established and subsequently received donations from individuals across the country’s various club allegiances. Nevertheless, the prices which caused such uproar are seemingly modest compared to their counterpart costs south of the border. An adult seat at Hampden is currently valued at a maximum of £35 for the biggest game of the domestic season; less than that quoted by the English authorities for a promotion decider to the fourth tier.

So how much would it have set you back for a ticket to the big one: the FA Cup final? Well, Hull City and Arsenal devotees were expected to fork out £45 for only the cheapest seats in their allocations. Adult seats in the other price bands were officially between £65 and £85 each. The Gunners would have certainly appeared to get their money’s worth but the Tigers’ narrow defeat must have made the hole in some wallets feel a lot deeper on the coach back to Humberside.

Let’s say a family of four (two parents, two kids) decided to watch their team in the once-prestigious tournament. Even without compounding the sum with any travel costs, this average family group would end up with a bill of at least a whopping £160. That is a serious amount for a single afternoon’s worth of entertainment.

Considering this year’s ticket allocation is only 25,000 for each finalist in a 90,000 capacity stadium, it is worth questioning whether ordinary supporters are paying the financial penalties of a bloated corporate presence. Although I personally do not begrudge the places allocated to the FA’s various good causes, the 17,000 seats reserved for Club Wembley members should receive some raised eyebrows.

Everyone seems to have noticed the exclusive seat holder’s absences before and after the intervals of big games, particularly England matches. However, the revenues generated from the members’ grand reservations greatly overshadow those contributions between individual fans.

For instance, the Club Wembley website claims “prices start from £167 per person per event”. That is a little less than four times the cost of the most economical ticket option in the ground. Multiply 167 by 17,000 and you get £2,839,000 in total income from membership packages. With this large figure in mind, it is no wonder the FA are willing to alienate most common supporters if prawn sandwiches are such an effective money-spinner.

In contrast, when Club Wembley has no interest in its possible allocation, prices return to respectable levels. In the past I have been fortunate enough to visit Wembley on two separate occasions, both being the climax of an FA Vase campaign involving Whitley Bay FC. For those admittedly obscure events the general expense was rather acceptable. No doubt this enabled the Bay to collect a marching column of at least 7000 eager pilgrims down the A1 for each tournament triumph.

And yet the costs for Cambridge United vs. Gateshead are set at seriously daunting heights. What chance have modest league clubs like Fleetwood or Southend got of accumulating a buoyant atmosphere, when it’s most needed, if any potential fans feel extorted before they even reach the venue gates? There is simply no justification for such high prices levied at matches in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. I mean, let’s face it; no corporate big-shot is going to be swallowing a big allocation for the League Two play-off.

Even some Premier League sides are feeling the effects of this Wembley greed. The explanation given in some forums for Sunderland’s poor turn out against Southampton in the 5th round was their imminent trip to London for the conclusion of the Football League’s less illustrious trophy the following fortnight. Apparently, many fans could not afford to watch both matches so closely together. Only 16,777 individuals showed up to the game and made the two-thirds empty Stadium of Light an embarrassing site.

Whether this is a valid excuse for such a derisory showing in an important fixture is open for debate. Nevertheless, the situation where supporters are forced to prioritise between loyalty and the health of their bank balance shows that Wembley’s pricing policy is working to the detriment of regional soccer.

Since when was supporting your team dependant on financial largesse? Of course, anyone with sense will have noticed the gradual inflation of ticket valuations across every level of British sports. The only genuinely cheap events are those held at amateur and semi-professional standard.  Wembley is merely the biggest exponent of this exploitative culture in stadium charges.

English fan groups could greatly benefit from a similar protest movement to that held in Scotland. At the very least, another charitable fund would allow those with low incomes to have the privilege of seeing their team on the big stage, in Hull and St Johnstone’s case the biggest of their entire history.

Brazil Battered, Nation Shamed

Samson goes to the barbers.

Whenever a team concedes four goals in six minutes it invariably spells out a performance which is beyond bad. Only a completely shambolic outfit, where players and management are both bereft of concentration and competitiveness, could slump to such a shocking capitulation. 1-7 the scoreboard said. Few believed it.

On July 8th 2014 the Brazilian dream died, nay was obliterated, in the most cruel and gruesome fashion imaginable. Germany, that most ruthless of international predators, happily picked away at the rotting carcass of a bald Samson. They were just as brilliant as their opponents were awful. The Deutsch, even in such seismic victory, never dropped their supreme level of professionalism. On the other hand, the Selecao's arrogance showed no abating until the ninety minutes were finished and the expected public riot did not materialise.

This morning David Luiz said he was sorry. That apology, however, does not fit with his swashbuckling modus operandi during the game. His ramshackle runs forward were full of stupidity whilst his determination to return to his position in defence was plain negligible. Like nearly every other player in the team, Luiz played for himself and nobody else - showing all the behavioural attributes of a nine year old participating in a match for his school team. One sleepless night is too soon, I believe, to make the transition from man-child to responsible and remorseful citizen. For £50 million PSG have bought themselves a brilliantly gifted idiot.

So what if Brazil were missing Neymar and Thiago Silva? This was a World Cup semi-final, not some summer testimonial. They could have at least kept their shape, marked each black and red shirt and passed the ball with the smallest modicum of composure. It was a performance so at odds with the 5-times World Champions history that it brought the entire population's reputation into disrepute. How could a team of professional players give up before a ball had even been kicked? It seems the entire squad was intimidated into despair by its own perceived deficiencies. The Germans simply had to turn up and do their jobs the way they'd been drilled.

I wonder what Pele, Zico, Romario and Ronaldo thought as they witnessed their country's humiliation? Today Brazil mourns the loss of its most treasured national love. It lies solemnly by Garrincha's tomb.

Of course, the team in yellow and blue has been in continuous decline for the last 12 years. Everyone deceived themselves by saying that this Brazil team could actually win the Jules Rimet trophy. Hope was built on the platform of Confederations Cup victory last year, where Neymar dazzled every spectator and stamped his reputation on the world's memory. But let us remind ourselves that in order to win that showpiece competition, Brazil only had to overcome Italy and Spain, both of whom were eliminated in the group stages of this year's cup with equally impotent displays.

When was the last time the South American giant produced a player of Rivaldo's calibre? Looking around last night's starting 11, I could not even find a playmaker in the mould of Kaka. Kaka! Even at his peak he was not in the same league as Ronaldo and, so I've been told, the midfield of 1970 and 1982.

Seeing Fred wear the famous number 9 shirt is enough to bring any football puritan to tears. I can't remember him having a single touch of the ball whilst his teammates slouched like petulant children. His overall movement was slower than a beached whale. Few players have ever looked further out of their depth.

Oscar, Willian, Hulk: all are good players but none have been consistent star performers. They cannot carry the mantle their predecessors lay down in tournaments gone by. What happened to the famous South American production line? Trying to find any signs of flair was like searching a 'Where's Wally?' book.

Brazil needs a reformation in its football system. Get rid of the overpaid has-beens from the domestic league (e.g. Ronaldinho) and focus on producing new talent and embedding them in competitive seasons. The way Socrates and his peers were discovered and nurtured needs to be replicated again. Currently, it is like the post-Roman world, where the academic knowledge of antiquity has largely been lost. For every home fan in Belo Horizonte yesterday evening, the shadow of the dark ages was unmistakably present. A Renaissance is urgently required to revive Brazil's chances of future success.

Hopefully this catastrophic landmark defeat will create the spark of radical reform. Now is the time to halt the decline or, heaven forbid, the Selecao could become as bad as England. Brazil have reinvented their style before, notably after the shame of losing the 1950 World Cup final in the Maracana stadium, but the task 64 years later is a much greater challenge.

My Best World Cup XI

If all the world is a stage then the World Cup must be the greatest platform of them all. In this article I have attempted to list my own personal international dream teams from previous tournaments. My one big rule is that I must have seen each person play. So, most are from 2002-2010 with a few twinkles of 1998.

Although I try my best, these opinions are never infallible so leave your own suggestions below. I'm sure some of the picks are controversial.

GK - Gianluigi Buffon
The Italian side of 2006 is a common theme across my defence. Buffon is a veteran 'keeper with a consistent record as a reliable shot-stopper whilst rivals Iker Casillas and Oliver Kahn have both made obvious mistakes at World Cup finals. The Juventus man proved his own superiority after his sturdy showing in a penalty shootout earned his country the world title against France.

LB - Philipp Lahm
The German rock is as good going forward as he is tracking back. Most people have forgotten his stunning goal to open the 2006 tournament for the host nation. When have you ever seen him have a bad game?

CB - Rio Ferdinand
Pace, strength, intelligence, awareness: was there anything Rio didn't have at his peak? The former England captain was robbed of a fourth finals venture after a knee injury in 2010 caused his absence. It would have been a much easier task for the three lions if he had been fit. Even at the age of 24, he was Sven Goran Eriksson's most important player during 2002.

CB - Fabio Cannavaro
Skippered the so-solid crew of his nation's back line when they won the championship. For every match on that triumphant run Cannavaro was in imperious form. His casual punditry on ITV in no way reflects the incredible standard he set on the field. Only Buffon has collected more caps for the peninsula side.

RB - Gianluca Zambrotta
The unsung hero of the Italy team throughout the 2000s. There is a very deliberate reason Barcelona singed him after Juventus' match fixing scandal and subsequent demotion: the lad had class. 98 caps for the Azzurri proves that. Zambrotta is another player of 2006 that needed to be seen to be believed.

RM - Bastian Schweinsteiger
Everyone knows about the respective talents of the German midfield dynamos. If the Bayern Munich ace returns without winning the biggest trophy he will have been treated harshly by the football deities. On a more positive note, Schweinsteiger appears to revel in the group stage matches more than any other big name modern player. At times his distribution of the ball is totally beyond comparison.

CM - Andres Iniesta
The short midfielder's name is marked in history after securing Spain's first grasp on the Jules Rimet in Johannesburg. His calm and crisp finish was remarkable after a long and ill-tempered match where their Dutch opponents looked to stifle the bookies favourite at every turn. Tippy-tappy tactics may be on the decline but, under long term teammates Xavi and Iniesta, were effective for over half a decade.

CM - Steven Gerrard
Whenever England needs a hero Gerrard is always the first to test his strength. After sadly missing the occasion in Japan and Korea through injury, the Liverpool icon scored crucial goals against Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S.A. in subsequent group stages. In the aftermath of the disastrous 2010 campaign, he was the only squad member to still have some credibility amongst fans.

LM - Zenedine Zidane
Although the man himself would staunchly resist my decision to select him for a wide position, the middle of the pitch is too congested in my formation for his daunting skills. Wherever he might have played, Zidane is an undisputed legend of the game. To remember him for a headbutt, and the many other disciplinary lapses in his international career, is to forget his unbeatable quality. 1998 and all that is a dazzling part of the sport's history.

FW - Ronaldo
Even after eating his way towards a porky profile, 'Big Ron' could still score goals at the highest level. A reported epileptic fit is said to have curtailed his preparations for the 1998 final in Paris. Nevertheless, redemption was secured four years later with a brace against Germany in the deciding game. Nobody else has scored more World Cup goals.

FW - Miroslav Klose
In a similar vein to Geoff Hurst, the German forward's club career has always come second to his exploits with his country. On several occasions he has carried some particularly average squads to admirable heights on the back of his goals tally. His ability in the air is still something to be greatly feared at the old age of 36.

Supersub - Michael Owen
In hindsight it is easy to scoff at one of the greatest unrealized talents in football history. Between 1997-2004 however, Michael Owen was an unstoppable force, curtailed more often by medical ailments than opposing defenders. Deadly as a poacher, agile as a dribbler and devastating as a sprinter he destroyed some of the best teams in the world.

The Yorker Football Show Ep. 4

Take a look at our most ambitious episode yet. The wildcard Switzerland team are rated whilst new segments include World Cup History and "If only...". The World Cup is so close I can almost smell it.