So as the dust settled and the smoke of Guus Hiddink's cigar cleared it was clear for all to see... the season was over! Not just here but everywhere, in Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland and Portugal, all over Europe seasons were coming to an end, be it leagues or cups that brought down the curtain. For some of the world's most famous and legendary players it was game over for good, as in Italy, Pavel Nedved, Luis Figo and most legendary of them all Paolo Maldini, retired. Heroes of their clubs and countries 3 men modern football could truly be proud to call it's own.
They'll no doubt be some one on Sky Sports News telling us exactly how many months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds till we next see the likes of Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard (we always go on about foreign players I thought I'd go a different way this time) but why should we care. Firstly we'll be seeing these three, and the other non-injured England players, twice in the next 10 days in World Cup qualifiers, first a horrible trip to Kazakhstan and then a home match against Andorra. Secondly who needs these overpaid and under performing (not so much since Capello but they've still won nothing with him) England seniors when we've got the overpaid but pretty good under 21s (still won nothing but we seem to think they're better) battling it out with the rest of Europe's kids to become the best under 21 team in our fair continent.
The third reason we shouldn't listen to SSN's detailed countdown to the season, which of course is so important to them because they don't have this weeks internationals, is that the best part of the season is about to begin, in fact in its own right this time of year is a different season... SILLY SEASON!!!! It began in earnest this morning with the news that Carlo Ancelotti has become the new Chelsea manager. But with Sunderland yet to have a new manager in place, though it may be that Wigan swap places, thus the Latics being the ones looking, and of course Celtic also looking for a man to beat Rangers, the managerial merry-go-round is far from over. But managers are pretty boring, it's all about who they want to buy that excites us all. The most intriguing of team will be the usual suspects no doubt.
Chelsea's millions along with their new manager and new direction has them linked with Kaka, Pirlo, Aguero, Adebayor, Tevez, Ribery and Villa, to name just a few. Manchester City's billions have seen them linked with far too many to name but pretty much everyone from Messi to Sidle is being linked. City are made more interesting by the fact this is their second season with money, and one where most have none, but their first in which they already have a squad with several quality players. It is the Chelseaesque balancing act that they must begin, where to buy quality players for big money without forgetting about those we already have. The must improve the defence, but what of those they have already bought such as Zabaleta and Bridge, those promising but inconsistent youngsters Richards and Onuoha or team captain but highly frustrating Richard Dunne.
Sunderland and possibly Portsmouth owned by new foreign money will be keen to push away from relegation candidates to mid-table or possibly a fight for Europe. Of course the newly promoted sides will look to spend some money to avoid relegation, but not so much as to bankrupt the team as they fly back down the leagues. Fulham will buy to prepare for the Europa League, but as usual will teams like Aston Villa really fight to win Europe's poorer competition, or will they keep dreaming of a top four finish. Liverpool and Arsenal, along with the already mentioned Chelsea will hope to buy big to catch Manchester United. Having said that, for all Arsene Wenger's brilliant management, buying players to catch the champions is not his forte, he will need to lose his stubbornness and buy experienced players. United though, whilst some thought will be on the chasing pack don't fool yourself into thinking Sir Alex will buy to keep them at bay, more likely it'll be to chase Barcelona.
In the world of Sunday League transfers and transfer budgets are not amongst our greatest of worries. For a team who's season ended playing wise several weeks ago a line was drawn under the sand on Sunday night at the end of season awards. A goalkeeper and a left back won the awards for the best players and rightly so. But it's not the awards that really mattered last night (they matter more today), but it was the joy of seeing some friends get together, party and thank thier manager for his hard work, a little like the Chelsea boys and that smoking Dutch man.
Oh yeah, I nearly forgot our friends at Sky! One last reason you shouldn't care about the countdown. And this might sound strange from such a massive football fan, is that we can celebrate the fact there's no more football. Open a beer, toast your team, sit back, relax and watch the beauty of Roger Federer's tennis or a Lion's rugby union match or of course that very British thing an Ashes's summer. Football will be back, but for now let's forget it!
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