For only the second time in five years with a handful of games left end the season in the Barclays English Premiership, like a bolt out of the blue, a creeping sensation of anxiety rents the air enervating every fan of the English top flight teams locked in the battle for the league trophy. In the past, the Stanford Bridge pensioners left little to the imagination that they were in cruise control. Usually with four or five matches to spare, the trophy was in the bag. Manchester United had equally been strutting their stuff is similar fashion for some years now.

Last season was the first time we really witnessed waiting till the final day of the season to see who wins the title, Man U of course. The recent feats (seemingly impossible prior to the match by popular belief) of Liverpool and Fulham drubbing Man U has spectacularly opened up the league to be won by any of Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea or even if only crazily, by Arsenal. It has been a most interesting and captivating season for the English top flight league so far. Liverpool emerged from the shadows of its ghostly premiership past, tossing aside its underachieving toga in the league and finally gave the viewing audience and fans all over the world something to relish or think about. In similar fashion, Aston Villa gave Arsenal a scare for the final Uefa Champions league spot holding firmly onto it until recent poor form made them lose it. Overall arguably, the fans and audience the world over, were treated to the best or memorable games ever to have been played in the English Premier league since its inception.

Chelsea and Arsenal, two formidable teams may not be at their best though, nonetheless, they no doubt threw in some great performances to wet the great game’s fans appetite. To the point at hand now, who wins the Premier league trophy come May, Man U or Liverpool? The guess is that Man U or Liverpool it is. A consensus of pundits’ opinion though emphatically gives it to Man U. I would beg to differ on this. I recall that the same pundits had awarded the trophy to Man U no less than a month or so ago, hinging it on the facts that the team had a seven point lead and traditionally finish strong, had the best defence in the league and is impenetrable with the solid partnership of Vidic and Ferdinand; not to forget the ageless heroics of reliable Edwin Vander Ser.

In the lead to the tearing apart of the theater of dreams by a resurgent and confident Liverpool side intent on reviving its faint title hopes, no one but a few optimists (Liverpool fans) thought or believed Man U could or would be beaten at Old Trafford. The rest now is history. Man U severely received a lesson and bagged dangerous suspension for the player in the heart of its defensive solidity. I was therefore appalled when prior to last weekend’s defeat at Fulham, the boring pundits maintained that Man U would bounce back as the Liverpool defeat was no more than just a blip, that the team would get it right. Did it? No. A set of analysts actually tagged the Liverpool defeat as “Liverpool delayed the inevitable”, really? Man U in its next match got whipped by an average Fulham team which needed points to chase European qualification and so on the night, was fantastic, coming from a team that has conceded back to back defeats to Man U and shipped in a total 7 goals against Man U.

Still the pundits believe that Man U will win the league, I wonder how? I believe that a crisis of confidence is on at Old Trafford as the two back to back defeats, the first in about four years is causing and will indeed cause the team serious loss of confidence at a critical stage of the season. Even if it is not publicly acknowledged, it is clear that Sir Alex Ferguson is undergoing a nervous shock which has no doubt spread through the team. Otherwise, how do one explain the goal line ball handling by a seasoned and experienced Paul Scholes, or Rooney’s childish tantrums? Nervousness of course. Also, I think the pundits appear the more scared of Man U not winning the trophy than Man U itself. Firstly, what effect does anyone expect a drubbing (1-4) at home, to have on a seemingly perfect team (if you believe the pundits that is) to a title rival? Man U isn’t invincible as we have seen.

As an Example, the exciting and seemingly unbeatable Barcelona team drew one and lost two consecutive matches to Real Betis, Espanyol and Athletico Madrid in that order in the space of three weeks. In short for three straight weeks, Barcelona drew one and lost two top flight matches allowing the seemingly dead title challenge from Real Madrid tagging twelve points behind, to be revived as Madrid capitalized to win back eight points cutting the points deficit to four points at the time.

The simple lesson in this is that Man U has pressed the panic button and I don’t expect it to clear immediately until after about three more games if they can get straight wins. Anything less will definitely see Liverpool eclipse them for good. I don’t think Chelsea has any strength left in them for a fight, they are good for third though. We also shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that every team in the league now are playing for something. To avoid relegation or to take European places. Those teams will fight and play Man U with more conviction than they’ve mustered for years just because they are engaged in chasing immortality (to be remembered for something…) The best way now appears to contribute by ending Man U’s title dreams this season, in the course of their chasing glory of just staying alive.

Franco Olasite.

By Dapo Ajala

So Tottenham Hotspur have handed over a dossier to the Premier League (PL) to back up their complaint regarding Manchester United’s pursuit of star striker Dimitar Berbatov. Interestingly, the North London club are claiming a year’s worth of evidence has been handed over in an attempt to prove that United have contravened relevant PL rule(s).

I am not a legal expert and shall not pretend to be one but logic rather than a degree in Law is probably enough to make one’s mind up on the matter. The relevant sections and clauses within the aforementioned rules are as thus (stay with me as we trawl through this document please):

 Rule K3

“Any Club which by itself, by any of its Officials, by any of its Players, by its Agent, by any other Person on its behalf or by any other means whatsoever makes an approach either directly or indirectly to a Contract Player except as permitted by either Rule K.1.2 or Rule K.2 shall be in breach of these Rules and may be dealt with under the provisions of Section R.”

 Fear not, Rule K 1.2 basically says that a club has liberty to approach a player with a view to negotiating a contract provided the contracted player’s club has given written permission to the approaching club. Rule K2 applies where the contract of the player concerned is coming to an end, and is therefore not applicable to Berbatov’s and Keane’s case. Section R is about the punishment if rules are broken, let us leave that for now.

 So PL rules tell us that Emeka, who plays for Mushin United may be approached by Ipaja Rovers, provided Mushin United gives written permission to Ipaja Rovers. PL rules (K6) also prohibit Emeka and/or his representatives from (directly or indirectly) approaching Ipaja Rovers without a written permission from his current employers.

These were the same set of rules Jose Mourinho, Chelsea, and Ashley Cole fell foul of; leading to a financial rap all round for the accused by the powers that be.

Let’s not forget that an old boys’ culture exists in football where these rules tend to get circumvented but its ok provided no one has evidence. For one to be accused of “tapping” and suitably punished, you have to be caught with your hand inside the cookie jar rather than someone simply noticing that a cookie has gone missing. Humans will always attempt to bend the rules; it is in our competitive nature, it can even be fun at times to do so provided you don’t break the rules.

 Recent reports have irked fans all over but this is causing the uninformed football fan to be unable to discern between a manager saying he’ll like to add Dave to his squad and the manager actually meeting Dave in a pub car park without permission from Dave’s club.

Freedom of speech exists after all and despite what Sepp Blatter says, it is obvious to the sane man that that there is no slavery in football and people can express wishes as they like.

“Robbie is a great player. He’s sharp around the box and is a great finisher,” were quotes attributed to Liverpool’s Jermaine Pennant regarding Robbie Keane. “With Torres up front as well, it will be a great partnership. They could be as good as anything in the Premier League.” This is no worse than a manager uttering a similar statement regarding a player contracted to another club.

 Now let us consider recent shenanigans recently reported in the press and generally classified as “public courting”. Football’s well-loved gum-chewing OAP, Sir Alex Ferguson allegedly made comments reported in some of the leading British newspapers as “We have made Tottenham an offer on Berbatov and we have good expectations that this deal will go through.”

This came a few days after the Manchester club previously stated that they had “made a bid for one player who would enhance us a great deal”, saying he had “good expectations” a deal could be struck. Note the difference?

 Latest reports now reveal comments attributed to Alex Ferguson were apparently made during a routine “meet the fans” session. The Scandinavian supporters’ club put 2 and 2 together and assumed the old chap was talking about Berbatov, hence publishing the quotes the British press have bandied around and generally hailed as “cool confidence”.

 This could have been filed under the “general transfer gossip” section provided Ferguson has not now been accused of “sheer arrogance” and being “hypocritical” by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

Levy’s hurt and outburst can be understood since he’s representing a “smaller” club and effectively feels bullied by one of the big boys; hypocrisy charge of course is related to Real Madrid’s bullying of the Manchester hierarchy earlier in the summer.

To make matters worse, this has all happened in the same week where murmurs from Liverpool suggest that arguably the best front partnership in the Premiership (albeit for a team that struggled badly last season) is about to be destroyed in a manner not dissimilar to your big brother “accidentally” stepping on your best-ever favourite train set.

 In Levy’s case, the poor fella can see it coming and yet knows there’s nothing he can do about it, especially since the players in question have reportedly told the club of their wishes to move on to other pastures. He can only do what’s best for the club and make sure potential buyers cough up as much as possible.

Interestingly, no quotes have actually been attributed to Robbie Keane in this saga but we have constantly heard snippets from Berbatov’s agent throughout last season and it is no surprise his tactic is finally working in engineering a move away. Spurs fans will no doubt be disappointed, Robbie only just declared at the end of the previous season how much he loved the club…what a difference a summer break and a wedding makes.

 

The section referring to Public Statements (K8) is probably the bone of contention in this case:

“A statement made publicly by or on behalf of a Club expressing interest in acquiring the registration of a Contract Player or by a Contract Player expressing interest in transferring his registration to another Club (or club) shall in either case be treated as an indirect approach for the purposes of Rules K.3 and K.6.”

Simply put, Emeka making a public statement of his desire to transfer his registration to Ipaja Rovers would contravene rule K8, or would it? If only Man U did actually mention a name! It seems as long as no names are mentioned, you can say whatever you want.

Liverpool’s all-summer courting of Gareth Barry is another interesting situation but as far as can be postulated, certain forms of official bids and requests have actually been exchanged albeit mostly ending in Liverpool being told to get lost or pay over the odds. Fair to say that Liverpool have done nothing wrong (within the PL rules) in this instance.

Real Madrid’s open courting and disgraceful attempt to destabilise Cristiano Ronaldo all summer is beyond the remit of this article but would easily be filed under “annoyance and daftness” rather than be considered a case for tapping. How many times has the Spanish club been told that the boy is not for sale? Senor Calderon even went as far as publicly declaring that the boy just needs to say he wants to leave, and then Real can make the necessary steps to put in a bid.

What about the great one’s recent statement? “For Lampard, it will be easier to play with Chelsea until the end of his contract rather than break it now, all of a sudden,” the new Inter boss told reporters this week. “It seems to me difficult for him to be able to come here now, it’s easier that he comes next season.” Even if Inter were a PL club, Jose would not be breaking any rules since lardy Lamps has only 12 months left on his contract and as such clause K2 doesn’t apply.

My old tennis coach use to tell me to do to the other players exactly what I don’t like being done to me, which usually was someone testing my backhand groundstroke; it sure hurts more when you’re being beaten at your own game and what comes around goes around!

Based on the evidence on display in recent press alone, I can predict United and Liverpool will not be found guilty of any wrongdoing; especially if the bastion of one accusation is based on an inexistent quote

In my mind, it is simple; I would not send out my CV to other companies to seek better employment if the code of conduct I signed up to explicitly says that I should not consider such naughty ideas. If I do and get my hand stuck in the cookie jar then that’s obviously my fault.

Everyone knows the score - football needs to grow up and everyone should stop whingeing.