The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Right now we're only hours away from the end of one year as we enter another that shows so much promise for football fans everywhere as it's from now on untill May that things really start to `get interesting` in all of Europe, along with the Title Race in the Premiership drawing to a close, and the FA Cup also kicks-off very-soon.
What a year 2003 could be for football...!
But at midnight tonight not only are we welcoming in the arrival of a fresh, new 12 months but we're also saying goodbye and farewell to 2002; a year that any fan of British Football - no matter where you're from - should never forget!
As 12:00 approaches and the celebrations begin to kick-in, I'd like to take this oppurtunity to look-back at all of British Football's finest moments of the past 12 months, just to make you all realise what a year this has really been...
First of all, there's the English Premiership - of course!
The one league that stands-alone from the rest at the top of the pile as No.1 in the World for finess, quality, and fine-action and drama.
During last-season's campaign we saw some truly astonishing things happen - especially during the final few months of the season when it really got tense at both the top and bottom of the league table. Manchester United had quite-frankly an awful season as they almost handed their Title over to Arsenal early-on. But even when their chances looked to have completely dissapeared, both United and Liverpool were giving-it-their-all in blind hope that they may be able to stop Arséne Wenger's side running away with it... somehow. And that's what really made those last few months of the season entertaining, as Arsenal's gap away from the rest began to decrease... gradually. In the end, they may have won it anyway. But because the competitors were still persistant in trying, we - as the viewers - were entertained in a season where it WASN'T Man United winning it all again! Infact... they failed to win even a single trophy for all their efforts last-season! Stars like David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, and even £28.1m Argentine star Juan-Sébastian Veron clearly couldn't cope with the changing ways with the English Premier Division!
What a year it was for the teams at the top...!
But the Premiership isn't all about winners. As some of you may well know from past experiences (any 'Palace or Bradford fans out-there?), things can get just as nail-biting at the bottom-end of the table with 3 teams scrapping to stay-up year-in, year-out.
Last-season may have been no big-surprise to us (really!) when we saw the 3 names who were destined for the First Division. OK, so seeing Leicester City there may have surprised us all, but when a "bigger" Premiership side like Leicester City gets caught-up in a last-gasp `Relegation Battle`, it makes that section of the league something you really want to pay attention to - even if you're not a fan of the Fox's!
And with West Ham United rooted to the bottom of the table so-far this season, I think it's fair to say that we can only expect things to be just as thrilling in only another few months time this season. Especially if Terry Venables' Leeds side DO fall into the trap too!
English Football isn't solely based on the Premiership though - although it really does count for a lot of what our game is really all-about.
There is the FA Cup of course - and that kicks-off for us this very week with a whole-host of `lower league` teams coming face-to-face with the likes of Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea. Every-year, this is a competition to look-forward to greatly as there's always one non-league side who'll come-up against opposition from a higher league and knock-'em-out like they've been playing these kind of teams all-season!
Last-season saw Arsenal not-only complete their second `Premiership-and-FA Cup Double`, but just like in the year before when Liverpool won it, Man United DIDN'T! Seeing them sent-packing thanks to a `controversial` Paulo DiCanio strike for West Ham really got things going as Liverpool and Arsenal soon became the favourites, and met in what was to be a highly-entertaining cup final in Cardiff.
And then there's the Worthington Cup aswell... Now it may not be quite-like the FA Cup in so-many-ways, but we do often see more-than out fair-share of cup-upsets early-on too, with a ticket into Europe awaiting the eventual winner. More than anything, this competition acts as a chance for the "smaller" Premiership teams to get into Europe from the even the wrong-end of the table. But it's still entertainment to watch all-the-same!
After reading through all that you may be wondering why I'm focusing so-much on the English-side of *British* Football when there are a few other nations to look at too. I could look at the Scottish Premiership, and tell you about how it was a close season-long battle between Celtic and Rangers, with Henrik Larsson topping the scoring-charts.... AGAIN! But that's just it... There are only ever 2 possible winners in the SPL, and it doesn't even take a football fan to know who they are!
Welsh Football? Frankly, I don't know diddly-squat about anything that goes on with the likes of Barry Town, Aberswyth, and Ebbw Vale. And in our 3 Football League Divisions we have the likes of Wrexham, and both Cardiff and Swansea City battling-it-out for supremecy in foreign land. And with the Premiership around, why should I care about Welsh Football when it's a place that never seems to get any recognition either, year-after-year. The same applies to local football within both Northern and the Republic of Ireland. OK, so only one of those may actually be part of the UK... But the fact is that we don't want to be stuck at home watching Cork City and other "amateur" sides when Man United and Arsenal kick-off at Old Trafford at 3pm!
With the English FA Premiership around, we here in England have never been bothered about what's going-on around us - not even with the SPL since it became so dull! It hasn't been a great year for Britain's other Premier Legaue's, so perhaps something needs to be done about that?
One things you cannot ignore the other nations for is the progress they have made as national teams on the international stage.
England, for a start, have had a fantastic time since Sven-Goran Eriksson took-over. And we also had a great World Cup in Japan and South Korea... Even if we did get knocked-out perhaps too-early thanks to a Ronaldinho strike that will haunt David Seaman for the rest of his international career. But we did manage to bust those ghosts that were haunting us from France '98 with the excellent Argentina game, and we showed favourites like France and Germany that we were a force to be reckoned with (even if we did't get to play all of `the best`). And after a year like 2002, I know find it hard to believe anyone who says that England will fail to reach the next World Cup Finals, or even the European Championships in 2004.
Fancy seeing Ireland over-there too! That was something that came as a huge shock to anyone with their eye on the summer's tournament. And when Roy Keane silenced the world with his dramatic exit from the competition - before it had even started - the critics had already written Ireland off from even passing the Group Stages!
But they did that! And better still, they even did it against the likes of Germany - just like they did against Holland and Portugal in the build-up to the competition. Spain may have sent them home soon-after, but you can't help but still feel that the Irish deserved to win that game, and to perhaps have gone-on even-further... MUCH-further!
Scotland may have failed in qualifying for the World Cup, 4 years after France '98, but with the arrival of Germany's former-head-coach things have been starting to go their way, and with the likes of Billy Dodds and Barry Ferguson in their side, it looks like Scotland may once-again be on their way to the finals.
The same can be said for Mark Hughes' Wales too. They also failed to come anywhere-near reaching the Middle East, but with players like Ryan Giggs, Simon Davies, Craig Bellamy, and many-other young, rising-stars in their side, they've been able to impress their fans in other ways - like that unbelievable win against World Cup-Favourites Italy recently! The future looks very-bright for Wales, and I can really see them going quite a long-way after a great year like this one.
On the non-playing side of football we've seen some good developments too. The once "shambles" Wembley Project seems to be back-on-track, so within another 5 years-or-so we may finally have our own national stadium, instead of having to borrow Cardiff's impressive Millennium Stadium.
Adam Crozier may have left the FA and concerned almost everyone envolved, but at least Mr.Eriksson has shaken-off the alledged rumours and will be seeing in the new year as England manager, for a little-while-longer at least!
But with the collapse of ITV Digital, many clubs up-and-down, and around Great Britain are on the brink of extinction, while others a free to just spend-as-they-like, with not even a little thought or consideration for those really in-need.
A positive look-forward to Football in 2003 for me then (even if Arsenal are currently sitting-pretty ontop of us all)! The Premiership may have just crossed the half-way mark, but to me, it's only really beginning! The FA Cup starts soon, the League Cup Final approaches, the Title Race begins to really take-shape, and only the real contenders emerge in the Champions' League in the battle for the European Cup.
I wish you all a Happy New Year for Football alone!
This year's been a real `blast`, yet I only see things getting better...!
What a year 2003 could be for football...!
But at midnight tonight not only are we welcoming in the arrival of a fresh, new 12 months but we're also saying goodbye and farewell to 2002; a year that any fan of British Football - no matter where you're from - should never forget!
As 12:00 approaches and the celebrations begin to kick-in, I'd like to take this oppurtunity to look-back at all of British Football's finest moments of the past 12 months, just to make you all realise what a year this has really been...
First of all, there's the English Premiership - of course!
The one league that stands-alone from the rest at the top of the pile as No.1 in the World for finess, quality, and fine-action and drama.
During last-season's campaign we saw some truly astonishing things happen - especially during the final few months of the season when it really got tense at both the top and bottom of the league table. Manchester United had quite-frankly an awful season as they almost handed their Title over to Arsenal early-on. But even when their chances looked to have completely dissapeared, both United and Liverpool were giving-it-their-all in blind hope that they may be able to stop Arséne Wenger's side running away with it... somehow. And that's what really made those last few months of the season entertaining, as Arsenal's gap away from the rest began to decrease... gradually. In the end, they may have won it anyway. But because the competitors were still persistant in trying, we - as the viewers - were entertained in a season where it WASN'T Man United winning it all again! Infact... they failed to win even a single trophy for all their efforts last-season! Stars like David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, and even £28.1m Argentine star Juan-Sébastian Veron clearly couldn't cope with the changing ways with the English Premier Division!
What a year it was for the teams at the top...!
But the Premiership isn't all about winners. As some of you may well know from past experiences (any 'Palace or Bradford fans out-there?), things can get just as nail-biting at the bottom-end of the table with 3 teams scrapping to stay-up year-in, year-out.
Last-season may have been no big-surprise to us (really!) when we saw the 3 names who were destined for the First Division. OK, so seeing Leicester City there may have surprised us all, but when a "bigger" Premiership side like Leicester City gets caught-up in a last-gasp `Relegation Battle`, it makes that section of the league something you really want to pay attention to - even if you're not a fan of the Fox's!
And with West Ham United rooted to the bottom of the table so-far this season, I think it's fair to say that we can only expect things to be just as thrilling in only another few months time this season. Especially if Terry Venables' Leeds side DO fall into the trap too!
English Football isn't solely based on the Premiership though - although it really does count for a lot of what our game is really all-about.
There is the FA Cup of course - and that kicks-off for us this very week with a whole-host of `lower league` teams coming face-to-face with the likes of Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea. Every-year, this is a competition to look-forward to greatly as there's always one non-league side who'll come-up against opposition from a higher league and knock-'em-out like they've been playing these kind of teams all-season!
Last-season saw Arsenal not-only complete their second `Premiership-and-FA Cup Double`, but just like in the year before when Liverpool won it, Man United DIDN'T! Seeing them sent-packing thanks to a `controversial` Paulo DiCanio strike for West Ham really got things going as Liverpool and Arsenal soon became the favourites, and met in what was to be a highly-entertaining cup final in Cardiff.
And then there's the Worthington Cup aswell... Now it may not be quite-like the FA Cup in so-many-ways, but we do often see more-than out fair-share of cup-upsets early-on too, with a ticket into Europe awaiting the eventual winner. More than anything, this competition acts as a chance for the "smaller" Premiership teams to get into Europe from the even the wrong-end of the table. But it's still entertainment to watch all-the-same!
After reading through all that you may be wondering why I'm focusing so-much on the English-side of *British* Football when there are a few other nations to look at too. I could look at the Scottish Premiership, and tell you about how it was a close season-long battle between Celtic and Rangers, with Henrik Larsson topping the scoring-charts.... AGAIN! But that's just it... There are only ever 2 possible winners in the SPL, and it doesn't even take a football fan to know who they are!
Welsh Football? Frankly, I don't know diddly-squat about anything that goes on with the likes of Barry Town, Aberswyth, and Ebbw Vale. And in our 3 Football League Divisions we have the likes of Wrexham, and both Cardiff and Swansea City battling-it-out for supremecy in foreign land. And with the Premiership around, why should I care about Welsh Football when it's a place that never seems to get any recognition either, year-after-year. The same applies to local football within both Northern and the Republic of Ireland. OK, so only one of those may actually be part of the UK... But the fact is that we don't want to be stuck at home watching Cork City and other "amateur" sides when Man United and Arsenal kick-off at Old Trafford at 3pm!
With the English FA Premiership around, we here in England have never been bothered about what's going-on around us - not even with the SPL since it became so dull! It hasn't been a great year for Britain's other Premier Legaue's, so perhaps something needs to be done about that?
One things you cannot ignore the other nations for is the progress they have made as national teams on the international stage.
England, for a start, have had a fantastic time since Sven-Goran Eriksson took-over. And we also had a great World Cup in Japan and South Korea... Even if we did get knocked-out perhaps too-early thanks to a Ronaldinho strike that will haunt David Seaman for the rest of his international career. But we did manage to bust those ghosts that were haunting us from France '98 with the excellent Argentina game, and we showed favourites like France and Germany that we were a force to be reckoned with (even if we did't get to play all of `the best`). And after a year like 2002, I know find it hard to believe anyone who says that England will fail to reach the next World Cup Finals, or even the European Championships in 2004.
Fancy seeing Ireland over-there too! That was something that came as a huge shock to anyone with their eye on the summer's tournament. And when Roy Keane silenced the world with his dramatic exit from the competition - before it had even started - the critics had already written Ireland off from even passing the Group Stages!
But they did that! And better still, they even did it against the likes of Germany - just like they did against Holland and Portugal in the build-up to the competition. Spain may have sent them home soon-after, but you can't help but still feel that the Irish deserved to win that game, and to perhaps have gone-on even-further... MUCH-further!
Scotland may have failed in qualifying for the World Cup, 4 years after France '98, but with the arrival of Germany's former-head-coach things have been starting to go their way, and with the likes of Billy Dodds and Barry Ferguson in their side, it looks like Scotland may once-again be on their way to the finals.
The same can be said for Mark Hughes' Wales too. They also failed to come anywhere-near reaching the Middle East, but with players like Ryan Giggs, Simon Davies, Craig Bellamy, and many-other young, rising-stars in their side, they've been able to impress their fans in other ways - like that unbelievable win against World Cup-Favourites Italy recently! The future looks very-bright for Wales, and I can really see them going quite a long-way after a great year like this one.
On the non-playing side of football we've seen some good developments too. The once "shambles" Wembley Project seems to be back-on-track, so within another 5 years-or-so we may finally have our own national stadium, instead of having to borrow Cardiff's impressive Millennium Stadium.
Adam Crozier may have left the FA and concerned almost everyone envolved, but at least Mr.Eriksson has shaken-off the alledged rumours and will be seeing in the new year as England manager, for a little-while-longer at least!
But with the collapse of ITV Digital, many clubs up-and-down, and around Great Britain are on the brink of extinction, while others a free to just spend-as-they-like, with not even a little thought or consideration for those really in-need.
A positive look-forward to Football in 2003 for me then (even if Arsenal are currently sitting-pretty ontop of us all)! The Premiership may have just crossed the half-way mark, but to me, it's only really beginning! The FA Cup starts soon, the League Cup Final approaches, the Title Race begins to really take-shape, and only the real contenders emerge in the Champions' League in the battle for the European Cup.
I wish you all a Happy New Year for Football alone!
This year's been a real `blast`, yet I only see things getting better...!
Looks like Preston are going to carry on in 2003 as they left off in 2002, on a losing streak. 2-0 down at half time.....
How come you didn't mention the city-rovers derby In janurary.
The bloddy pigs sent the Gasheads the wrong way out of the stadium.
We all ended up in Hartcliffe when we wanted to go to horfield :(
The bloddy pigs sent the Gasheads the wrong way out of the stadium.
We all ended up in Hartcliffe when we wanted to go to horfield :(
Yes, it's been a great year for football, and it would of been very special if we had won the World Cup. Beating Argentina would be the proudest moment for me, as Aston Villa did not have a good season.
It will be very interesting in 2003, to see whether Man United will a trophy this year. The title race looks closer than ever, which I find a good thing.
It will be very interesting in 2003, to see whether Man United will a trophy this year. The title race looks closer than ever, which I find a good thing.
Right now we're only hours away from the end of one year as we enter another that shows so much promise for football fans everywhere as it's from now on untill May that things really start to `get interesting` in all of Europe, along with the Title Race in the Premiership drawing to a close, and the FA Cup also kicks-off very-soon.
What a year 2003 could be for football...!
But at midnight tonight not only are we welcoming in the arrival of a fresh, new 12 months but we're also saying goodbye and farewell to 2002; a year that any fan of British Football - no matter where you're from - should never forget!
As 12:00 approaches and the celebrations begin to kick-in, I'd like to take this oppurtunity to look-back at all of British Football's finest moments of the past 12 months, just to make you all realise what a year this has really been...
First of all, there's the English Premiership - of course!
The one league that stands-alone from the rest at the top of the pile as No.1 in the World for finess, quality, and fine-action and drama.
During last-season's campaign we saw some truly astonishing things happen - especially during the final few months of the season when it really got tense at both the top and bottom of the league table. Manchester United had quite-frankly an awful season as they almost handed their Title over to Arsenal early-on. But even when their chances looked to have completely dissapeared, both United and Liverpool were giving-it-their-all in blind hope that they may be able to stop Arséne Wenger's side running away with it... somehow. And that's what really made those last few months of the season entertaining, as Arsenal's gap away from the rest began to decrease... gradually. In the end, they may have won it anyway. But because the competitors were still persistant in trying, we - as the viewers - were entertained in a season where it WASN'T Man United winning it all again! Infact... they failed to win even a single trophy for all their efforts last-season! Stars like David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, and even £28.1m Argentine star Juan-Sébastian Veron clearly couldn't cope with the changing ways with the English Premier Division!
What a year it was for the teams at the top...!
But the Premiership isn't all about winners. As some of you may well know from past experiences (any 'Palace or Bradford fans out-there?), things can get just as nail-biting at the bottom-end of the table with 3 teams scrapping to stay-up year-in, year-out.
Last-season may have been no big-surprise to us (really!) when we saw the 3 names who were destined for the First Division. OK, so seeing Leicester City there may have surprised us all, but when a "bigger" Premiership side like Leicester City gets caught-up in a last-gasp `Relegation Battle`, it makes that section of the league something you really want to pay attention to - even if you're not a fan of the Fox's!
And with West Ham United rooted to the bottom of the table so-far this season, I think it's fair to say that we can only expect things to be just as thrilling in only another few months time this season. Especially if Terry Venables' Leeds side DO fall into the trap too!
English Football isn't solely based on the Premiership though - although it really does count for a lot of what our game is really all-about.
There is the FA Cup of course - and that kicks-off for us this very week with a whole-host of `lower league` teams coming face-to-face with the likes of Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea. Every-year, this is a competition to look-forward to greatly as there's always one non-league side who'll come-up against opposition from a higher league and knock-'em-out like they've been playing these kind of teams all-season!
Last-season saw Arsenal not-only complete their second `Premiership-and-FA Cup Double`, but just like in the year before when Liverpool won it, Man United DIDN'T! Seeing them sent-packing thanks to a `controversial` Paulo DiCanio strike for West Ham really got things going as Liverpool and Arsenal soon became the favourites, and met in what was to be a highly-entertaining cup final in Cardiff.
And then there's the Worthington Cup aswell... Now it may not be quite-like the FA Cup in so-many-ways, but we do often see more-than out fair-share of cup-upsets early-on too, with a ticket into Europe awaiting the eventual winner. More than anything, this competition acts as a chance for the "smaller" Premiership teams to get into Europe from the even the wrong-end of the table. But it's still entertainment to watch all-the-same!
After reading through all that you may be wondering why I'm focusing so-much on the English-side of *British* Football when there are a few other nations to look at too. I could look at the Scottish Premiership, and tell you about how it was a close season-long battle between Celtic and Rangers, with Henrik Larsson topping the scoring-charts.... AGAIN! But that's just it... There are only ever 2 possible winners in the SPL, and it doesn't even take a football fan to know who they are!
Welsh Football? Frankly, I don't know diddly-squat about anything that goes on with the likes of Barry Town, Aberswyth, and Ebbw Vale. And in our 3 Football League Divisions we have the likes of Wrexham, and both Cardiff and Swansea City battling-it-out for supremecy in foreign land. And with the Premiership around, why should I care about Welsh Football when it's a place that never seems to get any recognition either, year-after-year. The same applies to local football within both Northern and the Republic of Ireland. OK, so only one of those may actually be part of the UK... But the fact is that we don't want to be stuck at home watching Cork City and other "amateur" sides when Man United and Arsenal kick-off at Old Trafford at 3pm!
With the English FA Premiership around, we here in England have never been bothered about what's going-on around us - not even with the SPL since it became so dull! It hasn't been a great year for Britain's other Premier Legaue's, so perhaps something needs to be done about that?
One things you cannot ignore the other nations for is the progress they have made as national teams on the international stage.
England, for a start, have had a fantastic time since Sven-Goran Eriksson took-over. And we also had a great World Cup in Japan and South Korea... Even if we did get knocked-out perhaps too-early thanks to a Ronaldinho strike that will haunt David Seaman for the rest of his international career. But we did manage to bust those ghosts that were haunting us from France '98 with the excellent Argentina game, and we showed favourites like France and Germany that we were a force to be reckoned with (even if we did't get to play all of `the best`). And after a year like 2002, I know find it hard to believe anyone who says that England will fail to reach the next World Cup Finals, or even the European Championships in 2004.
Fancy seeing Ireland over-there too! That was something that came as a huge shock to anyone with their eye on the summer's tournament. And when Roy Keane silenced the world with his dramatic exit from the competition - before it had even started - the critics had already written Ireland off from even passing the Group Stages!
But they did that! And better still, they even did it against the likes of Germany - just like they did against Holland and Portugal in the build-up to the competition. Spain may have sent them home soon-after, but you can't help but still feel that the Irish deserved to win that game, and to perhaps have gone-on even-further... MUCH-further!
Scotland may have failed in qualifying for the World Cup, 4 years after France '98, but with the arrival of Germany's former-head-coach things have been starting to go their way, and with the likes of Billy Dodds and Barry Ferguson in their side, it looks like Scotland may once-again be on their way to the finals.
The same can be said for Mark Hughes' Wales too. They also failed to come anywhere-near reaching the Middle East, but with players like Ryan Giggs, Simon Davies, Craig Bellamy, and many-other young, rising-stars in their side, they've been able to impress their fans in other ways - like that unbelievable win against World Cup-Favourites Italy recently! The future looks very-bright for Wales, and I can really see them going quite a long-way after a great year like this one.
On the non-playing side of football we've seen some good developments too. The once "shambles" Wembley Project seems to be back-on-track, so within another 5 years-or-so we may finally have our own national stadium, instead of having to borrow Cardiff's impressive Millennium Stadium.
Adam Crozier may have left the FA and concerned almost everyone envolved, but at least Mr.Eriksson has shaken-off the alledged rumours and will be seeing in the new year as England manager, for a little-while-longer at least!
But with the collapse of ITV Digital, many clubs up-and-down, and around Great Britain are on the brink of extinction, while others a free to just spend-as-they-like, with not even a little thought or consideration for those really in-need.
A positive look-forward to Football in 2003 for me then (even if Arsenal are currently sitting-pretty ontop of us all)! The Premiership may have just crossed the half-way mark, but to me, it's only really beginning! The FA Cup starts soon, the League Cup Final approaches, the Title Race begins to really take-shape, and only the real contenders emerge in the Champions' League in the battle for the European Cup.
I wish you all a Happy New Year for Football alone!
This year's been a real `blast`, yet I only see things getting better...!
What a year 2003 could be for football...!
But at midnight tonight not only are we welcoming in the arrival of a fresh, new 12 months but we're also saying goodbye and farewell to 2002; a year that any fan of British Football - no matter where you're from - should never forget!
As 12:00 approaches and the celebrations begin to kick-in, I'd like to take this oppurtunity to look-back at all of British Football's finest moments of the past 12 months, just to make you all realise what a year this has really been...
First of all, there's the English Premiership - of course!
The one league that stands-alone from the rest at the top of the pile as No.1 in the World for finess, quality, and fine-action and drama.
During last-season's campaign we saw some truly astonishing things happen - especially during the final few months of the season when it really got tense at both the top and bottom of the league table. Manchester United had quite-frankly an awful season as they almost handed their Title over to Arsenal early-on. But even when their chances looked to have completely dissapeared, both United and Liverpool were giving-it-their-all in blind hope that they may be able to stop Arséne Wenger's side running away with it... somehow. And that's what really made those last few months of the season entertaining, as Arsenal's gap away from the rest began to decrease... gradually. In the end, they may have won it anyway. But because the competitors were still persistant in trying, we - as the viewers - were entertained in a season where it WASN'T Man United winning it all again! Infact... they failed to win even a single trophy for all their efforts last-season! Stars like David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, and even £28.1m Argentine star Juan-Sébastian Veron clearly couldn't cope with the changing ways with the English Premier Division!
What a year it was for the teams at the top...!
But the Premiership isn't all about winners. As some of you may well know from past experiences (any 'Palace or Bradford fans out-there?), things can get just as nail-biting at the bottom-end of the table with 3 teams scrapping to stay-up year-in, year-out.
Last-season may have been no big-surprise to us (really!) when we saw the 3 names who were destined for the First Division. OK, so seeing Leicester City there may have surprised us all, but when a "bigger" Premiership side like Leicester City gets caught-up in a last-gasp `Relegation Battle`, it makes that section of the league something you really want to pay attention to - even if you're not a fan of the Fox's!
And with West Ham United rooted to the bottom of the table so-far this season, I think it's fair to say that we can only expect things to be just as thrilling in only another few months time this season. Especially if Terry Venables' Leeds side DO fall into the trap too!
English Football isn't solely based on the Premiership though - although it really does count for a lot of what our game is really all-about.
There is the FA Cup of course - and that kicks-off for us this very week with a whole-host of `lower league` teams coming face-to-face with the likes of Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea. Every-year, this is a competition to look-forward to greatly as there's always one non-league side who'll come-up against opposition from a higher league and knock-'em-out like they've been playing these kind of teams all-season!
Last-season saw Arsenal not-only complete their second `Premiership-and-FA Cup Double`, but just like in the year before when Liverpool won it, Man United DIDN'T! Seeing them sent-packing thanks to a `controversial` Paulo DiCanio strike for West Ham really got things going as Liverpool and Arsenal soon became the favourites, and met in what was to be a highly-entertaining cup final in Cardiff.
And then there's the Worthington Cup aswell... Now it may not be quite-like the FA Cup in so-many-ways, but we do often see more-than out fair-share of cup-upsets early-on too, with a ticket into Europe awaiting the eventual winner. More than anything, this competition acts as a chance for the "smaller" Premiership teams to get into Europe from the even the wrong-end of the table. But it's still entertainment to watch all-the-same!
After reading through all that you may be wondering why I'm focusing so-much on the English-side of *British* Football when there are a few other nations to look at too. I could look at the Scottish Premiership, and tell you about how it was a close season-long battle between Celtic and Rangers, with Henrik Larsson topping the scoring-charts.... AGAIN! But that's just it... There are only ever 2 possible winners in the SPL, and it doesn't even take a football fan to know who they are!
Welsh Football? Frankly, I don't know diddly-squat about anything that goes on with the likes of Barry Town, Aberswyth, and Ebbw Vale. And in our 3 Football League Divisions we have the likes of Wrexham, and both Cardiff and Swansea City battling-it-out for supremecy in foreign land. And with the Premiership around, why should I care about Welsh Football when it's a place that never seems to get any recognition either, year-after-year. The same applies to local football within both Northern and the Republic of Ireland. OK, so only one of those may actually be part of the UK... But the fact is that we don't want to be stuck at home watching Cork City and other "amateur" sides when Man United and Arsenal kick-off at Old Trafford at 3pm!
With the English FA Premiership around, we here in England have never been bothered about what's going-on around us - not even with the SPL since it became so dull! It hasn't been a great year for Britain's other Premier Legaue's, so perhaps something needs to be done about that?
One things you cannot ignore the other nations for is the progress they have made as national teams on the international stage.
England, for a start, have had a fantastic time since Sven-Goran Eriksson took-over. And we also had a great World Cup in Japan and South Korea... Even if we did get knocked-out perhaps too-early thanks to a Ronaldinho strike that will haunt David Seaman for the rest of his international career. But we did manage to bust those ghosts that were haunting us from France '98 with the excellent Argentina game, and we showed favourites like France and Germany that we were a force to be reckoned with (even if we did't get to play all of `the best`). And after a year like 2002, I know find it hard to believe anyone who says that England will fail to reach the next World Cup Finals, or even the European Championships in 2004.
Fancy seeing Ireland over-there too! That was something that came as a huge shock to anyone with their eye on the summer's tournament. And when Roy Keane silenced the world with his dramatic exit from the competition - before it had even started - the critics had already written Ireland off from even passing the Group Stages!
But they did that! And better still, they even did it against the likes of Germany - just like they did against Holland and Portugal in the build-up to the competition. Spain may have sent them home soon-after, but you can't help but still feel that the Irish deserved to win that game, and to perhaps have gone-on even-further... MUCH-further!
Scotland may have failed in qualifying for the World Cup, 4 years after France '98, but with the arrival of Germany's former-head-coach things have been starting to go their way, and with the likes of Billy Dodds and Barry Ferguson in their side, it looks like Scotland may once-again be on their way to the finals.
The same can be said for Mark Hughes' Wales too. They also failed to come anywhere-near reaching the Middle East, but with players like Ryan Giggs, Simon Davies, Craig Bellamy, and many-other young, rising-stars in their side, they've been able to impress their fans in other ways - like that unbelievable win against World Cup-Favourites Italy recently! The future looks very-bright for Wales, and I can really see them going quite a long-way after a great year like this one.
On the non-playing side of football we've seen some good developments too. The once "shambles" Wembley Project seems to be back-on-track, so within another 5 years-or-so we may finally have our own national stadium, instead of having to borrow Cardiff's impressive Millennium Stadium.
Adam Crozier may have left the FA and concerned almost everyone envolved, but at least Mr.Eriksson has shaken-off the alledged rumours and will be seeing in the new year as England manager, for a little-while-longer at least!
But with the collapse of ITV Digital, many clubs up-and-down, and around Great Britain are on the brink of extinction, while others a free to just spend-as-they-like, with not even a little thought or consideration for those really in-need.
A positive look-forward to Football in 2003 for me then (even if Arsenal are currently sitting-pretty ontop of us all)! The Premiership may have just crossed the half-way mark, but to me, it's only really beginning! The FA Cup starts soon, the League Cup Final approaches, the Title Race begins to really take-shape, and only the real contenders emerge in the Champions' League in the battle for the European Cup.
I wish you all a Happy New Year for Football alone!
This year's been a real `blast`, yet I only see things getting better...!