Just Fab-ulous!

Whoa! Bad nights sleep last night. Never mind the fact I've been sleeping on a blow up mattress with a broken sleeping bag for the last couple of weeks. But last night, when I eventually got to sleep, my mind wandered and I start dreaming, well it was more of a nightmare, after United's dreadful performance, and may I add, Sunderland's excellent one, I was thinking of when United last played so poorly. Suddenly it came to me, that horrible night last May! The night of Iniesta, of Messi, of Xavi, of Guardiola, the night of Barcelona. They were awesome, and in my nightmare I saw them all celebrating with the trophy in hand. And suddenly I shot up, wide awake, and in a cold sweat, it was horrible.

It got me thinking about all walks about football, specifically I was thinking about Barcelona, about the midfield with Xavi and Iniesta and how good a pairing they are, last week I wrote about two good midfielders and their passing ability, there isn't many better than the Spanish duo though.

And then I got to thinking about England, who play Ukraine this weekend- a game I won't be watching due to the farce that the match is only being broadcast online for a fee- and how the last time England played particularly poorly they came up against the same duo. By the way these three paragraphs are all just leading up to the actual thing I'm writing about, which hasn't even been mentioned yet! The point is that Barcelona's youth academy is awesome, has already produced Iniesta, Xavi and Messi into their first team and will also be responsible of Bojan when he eventually breaks through. "So what?" I hear you cry! You already knew all this

But think again, who of you watched Arsenal's match on Sunday? There was a man on that pitch, only just a man, who ran the game like someone of many more years experience, at the heart of nearly everything his team did right against Blackburn was yet another Spanish central midfielder, one of only 21 years of age, one who, had history played out differently, could have been in central midfield back in May for Barcelona, of course Cesc Fabregas.

Fabregas was simply awesome against Blackburn. The passes were sublime, coming straight out of a text book and onto the foot of a more advanced player, usually leading to a goal or at least a shot saved by the excellent Paul Robinson. Fabregas is 21, just 6 and a half months older than myself, which is both scary and unfair. He has been handed the captain's armband very early on in his career and though it is far from the best part of his game it is unfair to judge him on it and he can only grow into the role.

The squad around Cesc is young and inexperienced and, certainly Premiership wise, he is one of the most experienced players in the squad. Having a player of Andrei Arshavin's quality will only help to mould the Spaniard into a better and better player. A match winner he most certainly already is, the curling volley against Blackburn proved that he has the goals in his arsenal (pun intended) to win any match. If Fabregas can add a little more consistency into his game, something that will no doubt come with age, then he could become one of the best players around, if he is not already.

It is this last sentence that must frighten Arsenal fans. Not because he is frighteningly good, or because they're scared of great footballers, after all they've already had one of the best players to have graced god's green earth play for them (Thierry Henry before you ask) but because he may become one of the world's best playing for the club you might say he was born to play for, Barcelona.

Being one of the best in the world you expect to win trophies, Arsenal are trophy less since 2005, not good enough for one of the "big four". Arsenal have also recently been the most likely of this quad to fall out of said quad, although maybe not this season. The fact remains though, without trophies both Cesc and the man who has changed the face of Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, will eventually decide that the Emirates is not the place to ply their trade, for the latter it may mean retirement. If Wenger does not retire then there is a chance Fab could follow the Frenchmen but Cesc may leave sooner than that with rumours of a return to Catalan unwilling to go away.

I for one, surprisingly enough, hope he stays in England. It's nice to have the greatest players on earth playing in front of our eyes week in, week out. The Spanish league can't measure up for all round brilliance, even with this seasons additions of Kaka, Ronaldo and Xavi Alonso (yet another world class Spanish central midfielder- hardly fair). Don't get me wrong, the Premiership will still be great to watch without him, but you can't say the same for the brand of football his team play. Arsenal are brilliant to watch, in both their positives and in their failures. The loss of Cesc will not be the end of their lovely football, but the loss of Wenger will be, and once Cesc is gone there may only be a matter of time before the Professor is gone to!

Passing the Test of Time

C.S Lewis once said that “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” For the 'old men' of the Premier League apparently you start living them again once your old as well.

Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are 34 and 35 respectively, in the young mans game that is Premier League football this is absolutely ancient. No doubt that the youngsters of today's game with all their trickery and pace have brushed passed these old veterans showing them how far football has come since their heyday of the mid to late 90's! Or not!

While players such as the Brazilian Anderson and the Portuguese, successor to Ronaldo, Nani have struggled this season, the godfathers of the current United team have really shown the way. On Saturday against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium, a tricky place to go, Scholes had pulled all the strings in the first half but the forwards had no luck in breaking the Stoke defence. Meanwhile prowling on the touchline was Giggs, one week on from his match winning performance in the derby game. Nani had been the picture of inconsistency, going from lovely runs to pointless step overs in an instance.

It has been difficult for the young Portuguese winger since joining United, and even more so now he seems to feel pressured into replacing the now departed Ronaldo. After 55 minutes of doing his best to replicate his countryman on came Giggs as Nani's replacement to prove it should be the timeless Welsh wonder he replicates. Within 7 minutes it was Stoke 0-1 United, and inevitably Giggs was the provider with his ball into Dimitar Berbatov to score.. Just 16 minutes after that and it was game over! Stoke 0-2 United, and again Giggs with the ball into the box, this time for John O'Shea to head home.

Two quotes jumped out after the game to truly tell the story.
"They (Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes) are both great players but Scholes was magnificent. He (Paul Scholes) was the best player on the pitch by a country mile. Then Giggs makes the two goals." That by Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager who you felt could have gone on about Scholes's contribution for hours.

The second came from Phil McNulty, who perhaps best described why Giggs is just so good and Nani is far from it.
"Let's hope Nani was taking a note of how Ryan Giggs set up Dimitar Berbatov for his goal. Football is essentially a simple game made complicated by players like Nani." Never has much a truer word been said.

How many times have the ginger maestro and his Welsh compatriot been retired by some critic or other. Scholes especially has had a hard time of it the last few years. Injuries have kept him out for long periods of time, worries were especially high a few seasons ago when he had double vision and dizziness for months people feared for his career. Back he came the season after, playing a massive role in getting United to the Champions League final with an awesome goal against Barcelona in the Semi final. Again last season people were questioning how much longer Scholesy could continue, overrun and losing possession more in some matches than he had in whole seasons previously. Now suddenly he has returned to his best once again. United have only lost once away all season, against Burnley, and who wasn't in central midfield to keep possession that day? Paul somebody or other!

Surrounded by a team that is growing in confidence and experience Scholes and Giggs do not need to supply the pace, there is plenty of that. Nor do they need to throw themselves round the pitch; though Scholes still does, rarely winning the ball of course, for that there is Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher. Instead Paul and Ryan can concentrate on winning games and in helping others take the limelight with goals they are instead stealing it themselves.

Down in Sunday League it is the opposite. When some players come back old and injured they cannot handle the pace. Delusions of grandeur are also commonplace in Sunday league, mix in the two problems and you have a player who is a waste of space. Even more annoyingly someone who argues their way into a team, and then is awful. Thankfully said person is now out of the team and has retired himself, he is no Scholes, no Giggs, he is barely worth typing about. After a two week break we sadly succumbed to a 5-1 loss against a weak side, manager and player errors a like caused it but we'll be back, unfortunately after yet another two week break.

Back to the good old duo! What is perhaps most telling about them is that Sir Alex still plays them both. He is not one for sentiment, when you're past it you're past it! And remembering the amount of times these two have been written off they mirror their boss, down and out for one minute, world beaters the next- they may not quite be his children but in footballing terms they may as well be! All this without a backflipped celebration in sight!

The Pride of Manchester!

It's so difficult to describe that it makes it easy! I am of course talking about yesterdays amazing derby! And I mean that it made me so speechless the only way to describe it is "it left me speechless", well not quite, for the first time ever I got to watch a derby with my dad, who supports Manchester City couldn't exactly stay silent could I?

Fortunately for me, my dad agreed, United deserved their victory, or perhaps more they just didn't deserve not to win. Helped by some shoddy City defending yes, but without the shocking mistakes that were at fault for two of City's goals they'd have been well out of it!

Perhaps the point is to look at City after this game more than United! We know what Manchester United are capable of, from Rooney's slick skills and cool finish for goal one, my how he's growing in stature from match to match, we also know that one on one in the box you always want the ball to be at Michael Owen's feet, unless you happen to be Shay Given. But it is City who we learnt most about this weekend.

Hold on City fans your team is about to be complimented! Your players were outstanding, OK the defence might need a kick up the backside, apart from Kolo Toure who looked pretty good other than defending at set pieces. The main thing to look at is the City side of 12 months ago. Would they have lost that match 4-3 with the last kick of the game? No! They would have lost 4 or 5-0, OK they may have got one.

Shay Given was outstanding, if Michael Owen loves playing against him then he's probably given Dimitar Berbatov one or two nightmares, Gareth Barry looks every bit as good as he does for England in his City shirt, Carlos Tevez was at his damn near best and was unlucky not to score himself late in the first half. Of course there was also Craig Bellamy, in the team only because of injuries and suspensions, Mark Hughes nearly ended up grateful for that boot to the face last week, Bellamy was near impossible to play yesterday, helped out slightly by Rio but nevertheless the Welsh strikers performance was over shadowed by only one other- and he really is the Welsh master. I don't know what vintage wine from Wales is like but based on Giggs' performance it must taste bloody good!

Remember aswel City were without two of their superstars, the man who kicked it all off last season Robinho and the man who, according to Sir Alex, is City's best player, Emmanuel Adebayor. How much difference those players would have made on this occasion is debateable but certainly these are players who will make a difference in many matches this season and suddenly City, after two good displays against two of the best in Europe, will have to be taken seriously. Look at another team looking to break into the top four this season, Spurs, they have wilted against both United and Chelsea.

Of course it wasn't all good for City, despite coming along way their defence was still pretty pitiful. I personally thing Wayne Bridge is average at best, and regular readers know my opinion on the overpriced and average Joleon Lescott. Micah Richards had a bad game but if he can get back to the player he once looked like he could be Micah could still find he may have a seat on a plane to South Africa next summer. Another man not covering himself in glory after yesterday was of course Mark Hughes. I can understand his frustration but he must know that the extra two minutes were there for a reason, and not just because they were at Old Trafford and United were looking for a winner. Never mind the fact City also could have used those two minutes to find a winner there's also the fact that "The 4th official has indicated there will be a MINIMUM of four minutes added on time" Nuff said!

As for Sunday League football, well there was none this weekend unfortunately, although that gave us all time to recharge the batteries and watch the derby so no bad thing.

One last note to go with an article that appeared in the Times on Friday! As it said "Birmingham remains the UK’s second city in population alone. In all other respects, next to our kid, it’s bobbins." After yesterdays brilliant derby, Manchester may well just becoming England's first city- in football alone that is!

Excuse My French!

Oh how I laughed! Just a few days after the transfer window closed shut, with not a lot of buying or selling from Chelsea, the shock news was announced on Sky Sports News. Chelsea have been banned from making transfers for the next two windows, meaning no new players for the London side till January 2011. Come on who of you out there, as long as you're not a Chelsea fan, didn't snigger. Mainly because since the Russian revolution down at Stamford Bridge your team has probably either lost your best player to them or lost out on a top player to them. Suddenly that won't be happening for a while and they'll have to make do with their current squad.

OK, I say make do! But let's be honest for a second- Cech, Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Drogba, Anelka- love them or hate them, that's the team as a whole or singular players, they're bloody good!

Back to the issue at hand, no doubt many shared my initial reaction, and then after some thought, many probably also shared my next feelings. These were ones of some shock and slight bemusement. Firstly because the charges towards Chelsea are very serious, the term 'tapping up' is thrown about so often in football, especially round transfer window time. But the use of the phrase 'inducement to breach of contract' is new and seems to hold more weight than mere chatting to an agent. I am of course no legal expert but to me it seems Chelsea are in big trouble. The second reason for bemusement or perhaps worry is a selfish one of course, ie. "If Chelsea have been caught out for this, what about United".

SHOCK! Just a day or so later and United had been accused of the same thing, minus the FIFA ban, United are in the same or certainly a similar position! And behold another French team at the heart of it. Now I'm generally not one for conspiracy theories but I can't help but start thinking something fishy is going on. Lets not forget it's not long ago since Eduardo was banned for two matches for his diving expolits, hardly something that never happens in world wide football yet a ban against a player for an English team. And what's this, now another English team, specifically Manchester City, have been accused of the same thing. I know it's getting a little silly now. Oh yeah forgot to mention IT'S A FRENCH TEAM!

You might be getting the picture here! Mr Uefa, or Platini as he was once known. Used to be a very good footballer, he's probably still better than plenty around today. But that's besides the point! We've already learnt in the past that world class footballers don't always make the best coaches or managers but I'm starting to think they don't make the best administrators either. I'm not soley blaming him for all the accusations but it seems that ever since he's got into power Michel has been on a one man tirade against English clubs. Sorry you're right! Mr Uefa has his pal, Mr FIFA! Yes everyone's good friend Mr Sepp Blatter, how could we forget him. Platini and Blatter doesn't quite sound like a law firm but it does sound like a disaster for our beautiful game.

Down in Sunday League football we don't have such issues, after all a transfer just requires the player, his current club secretary and new club secretary all signing a form and £5 admin fee. Easy! Meanwhile results have been interesting to say the least. Following the opening day loss came a midweek match with Crumpsall, if you've forgotten, this is the team who we usually beat in frendlies only to lose not long after in a league match. So after a 6-3 win in a friendly 8 days earlier I wasn't the only one shocked to see another 9 goals fly in. Although this time all 9 went to Sporting JLGB! Yes a 9-0 victory to make our negative 4 goal difference into a positive one just a few days later. And 6 goals came in the last 25 minutes. Then came the third game in a week and once again Freddy Road to take on Republic of Mancuina, an average team but a beatable one. Although not on this occasion! After the first 43 minutes were 0-0 with Sporting the better side an injury to our goalkeeper and a slip in concentration was pounced on and Mancunia led 1-0 at the break. The added to their lead late on as we looked to find an eqaliser, still though we ended the week with a positive goal difference!

Of course there's always some comparisson with 'real football' and our football! Down in our league it might not be an administrator but certainly one man, a referee, trying to ruin our fun. We had a run in with this ref last year, and despite our team trying to put it behind us this man in black clearly can't. This week he reported us to the league for kicking off 2 minutes late, this man is pathetic! Sorry it needed saying!

Right so I'm off to play some 5-a-side football and tomorrow to watch England qualify for the World Cup by beating Croatia, hopefully Defoe starts! And I'll finish this week by watching the English Premierleague! That's before Platini gets his hands on it anyway!

Nobody's Climbing Through This Window

BANG! Window shut my friends! And what a dramatic day it was, David James didn't go anywhere. Nicky Shorey didn't go anywhere. David Bentley didn't go anywhere. Frank Ribery didn't go anywhere. Martin Petrov didn't go anywhere. Mathew Upson didn't go anywhere. OK you get the picture, it wasn't very exciting at all, in fact one of the most exciting pieces of news was that Patrick Viera had 3 days off from Inter Milan and took a trip to London, but club wise, he didn't go anywhere.

So despite many a phone calls, and lots of dramatic music, by the boys, and ladies, at Sky Sports News, the end of that busiest of days that is transfer window day, finished with a whimper and no sight of a Robinho or Berbatovesque deal that we were treated to last season. We just spent the day praying for some Middle Eastern take over of say for example Burnley. Obviously with the window closing at 5 p.m we lost 7 hours of last minute transfers, although judging by today it's a good thing.

Anyway you're probably wondering when I'm going to get round to talking about each clubs transfers, well I'm not so ha! Instead I've put together my squad of transfers; the good, the bad, the downright odd. I've got my starting 11 and my subs.... So here goes; (team from right to left)

Joe Hart; Goalkeepers were hard to come by, and this is the reason you'll notice there isn't a goalkeeper on my subs bench. Hart has moved to Birmingham on loan to get first team football, and who can blame him. The superstars of Manchester City have Shay Given in between the sticks and sitting on the bench won't help the youngsters chances of making the World Cup squad.

Glen Johnson; This man's transfer cannot go unnoted. Finally allowed to make a real impact at a big 4 club several years after he was one of the first players involved in the Abramovich transfers. And at the beginning of what will be a long season Johnson already looks every bit the England player he has become. £17 million might seem a lot for a right back but come the end of the season his early impact may make a huge difference to Liverpool's season

Sol Campbell; At 34 the ex Spurs and Arsenal play would not have been the oldest football in top flight football by a long way. And as good old Harry said if he had been at any club other than Spurs he would have signed the ex England man. So if Harry would have, and as we're led to believe, many other Premiership managers wanted to sign Campbell, why did he end up at League 2 Notts County. Obviously because of Sven Goran Eriksson and his new role as Director of Football there but still this is a loony transfer for a man with 73 England caps and who would surely on an off chance still be looking to add to them.

Robert Huth; Down with Middelsborough last season and snapped back up to the Preniership with Stoke in August. Another ex Chelsea defender and one who, along with Sanil Tuncay's transfer from and to the same club as Huth, really showed the ambition that Tony Pulis and his Stoke side have. Not only in climbing the table but looking to add style with Tuncay, Pulis is looking up and only up, teams as high up as West Ham better look out the Potters are coming!

Joleon Lescott; The third most expensive defender ever? Yes that's right, Alessandro Nesta, Rio Ferdinand, Joleon Lescott- the quality gets lower as you go down that list I know but at £22 million pounds the ex Everton man's fee was ridiculous. Applause to David Moyes for wanting to hold onto him and for finally letting him go for enough money to rebuild his defence. And laughter to Mark Hughes for suggesting Lescott is the best defender in Britain- why the £40 million approach for John Terry I wonder.

Cristiano Ronaldo; What to say about this man. Will United miss him? Yes! Already shown it in the loss to Burnley. Now offence to Burnley but Ronaldo would have found something, someway to unlock the Burnley defence. Never mind the fact that Michael Carrick missed a penalty, United's former number 7 would not. Maybe it's not the selling of Ronaldo that has truly effected the United side maybe it's the true lack of a replacement.

Xabi Alonso; If Glen Johnson has added a lot of creativity to the Liverpool flank then the sale of Xabi Alonso to that small Spanish side in Madrid has taken almost all of their central creativity away. Sounds ridiculous with a team with Stevie G and Mr Torres but Gerrard drives the team forward rather than sprays the ball around from deep and 'El Nino' only creates in the final third. Alonso's replacement is untested in English football and currently still injured. Alberto Aquilani your new city needs you.

Fabian Delph; Stand up! Take your rapturous applause! Why? Because this man agreed to go to Aston Villa, and when Manchester City came to no doubt give him more money he still signed for Aston Villa. His old club Leeds United should also take a bow for doing the same. OK I know, me talking about City's money is getting boring. But I simply mean it's nice to see a youngster with some professionalism. More to the point young Mr Delph is English and may have ended up ruined at City. This happened back at Chelsea with Scott Parker, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Glen Johnson to name but three.

Damien Duff; Another player who went down with a North East side last season. Straight into the Europa League with Fulham. Duff has played for many years in the Premier League for clubs with differing fortunes, from a struggling Newcastle to a title winning Chelsea and a European battling/relegation fighting Blackburn side. Fulham will be better for his experience and silky smooth skill and Duff will be better for not being in the Championship.

Emmanuel Adebayor; Partially so City fans stop shouting at me for being anti-City but mainly because, as we've already seen, a happy Adebayor in the right surroundings is a goal scoring machine. Don't be surprised to see this man's name above the top of the top goal scorers chart, even with the African nations coming up. Furthermore his previous club, Arsenal, may end up missing him and end up outside the top 4, although on current form that's not likely.

Darren Bent; Last time young Darren moved clubs he was more expensive that Thierry Henry, this time round he's not caused such a stir which may well just suit him. Not only that but Bent will now be getting games on a regular basis, something not true at Spurs, and last time he got games was at Charlton where funnily enough he also got goals. Time for an England call?

Substitutes

Sebastien Bassong; When your main defender is injury prone to the highest degree it's a problem. When your top 3 central defenders are injury prone and out the first games of the season you've got a massive problem- enter Bassong!

John Terry; OK so he never went. But as one of the longest running transfer saga's I think he deserves a place on the bench. The England captain might also want to make a call to Mr Hughes to thank him for his new £8 million-a-year contract.

Teemu Tainio; Not a world beater but a steady midfielder. Tainio's inclusion doesn't come from the club he joined on loan Birmingham, but more that by leaving Sunderland temporarily, the club only have 6 recognised midfielders which could be a problem.

Stephen Hunt; Another season in the Championship would have been unfair on the Irish winger although he will need to play well to stop his new side, Hull, from relegation this season. Already a goalscorer this man can be dangerous.

Niko Kranjcar; Harry magic on the last day of the window. We may have been expecting more, like Martin Petrov, but this Croation midfield dynamo will have to do for Spurs but will be instrumental with Modric out for two months.

Michael Owen; It's still a little hard to believe the ex Liverpool man is at Manchester United. Had a slow start but so have the whole of his new team, when the Champions get into third gear and above the goals will come for Owen no doubt, but will Capello notice?

Jozy Altidore; Must be a nice feeling when you're the managers first choice signing, don't ask Jozy though. After Phil Brown was turned down by Michael Owen, Marc Antoine Fortune, Fraizer Campbell, Daryl Murphy and no doubt some others I've forgotten, he turned to the American youngster, those rejections could turn out to be the best piece of business for Phil.

Now for the exciting news! Sporting 1-5 South Manchester. We lost first up but we'll bounce back no doubt. It would sound like a mauling in real football but this is Sunday league and it was quite a tame score. The height advantage to them was a real factor as most of our goals were conceded at set pieces, fortunately we have some of our bigger players to come back so no need to worry just yet.

One final word this week, and it comes a week late maybe. Last week, in those scenes of utter hideousness at Upton Park as, and I refuse to call them football fans, the morons who follow West Ham United and Millwall ran onto the pitch, and attacked each other and the police outside the pitch causing havoc, one young man stood playing football like normal. But it wasn't like normal at all, Jack Collison played with more bravery than most of us could imagine to pluck up in the most serene of circumstances never mind in the cauldron of hate in that stadium that night. Sometimes in life football is insignificant but we can only tell by actually playing!

It's Football Gav, But Not As We Know It!

This weekend's biggest match will be huge and as is often the case it comes from Manchester. No you silly people, nothing to do with Manchester United vs Arsenal- it's all about a match that will take place on Sunday morning, not far from Old Trafford actually.

Yes ladies and gents, it's time for the MJSL to kick off its season. There in the picture is where it will all take place, underneath the lovely skyline of Beetham tower is the hallowed turf of Frederick Road, Salford. Beautiful isn't it. Actually I've been slightly lying to you, the picture shows pitch 3 and the most important match will be on pitch 2!

The team I've been telling you all about for months finally get their first taste of football since April. First up is a friendly on Wednesday. Sporting JLGB (that's us) take on Crumpsall. This is an annual friendly that Sporting usually win only to lose during the season to Crumpsall. I suppose I should fill any of those who don't know in on the details.

Only a few years ago Crumpsall FC were the worst team in the league, maybe second ahead of the 16 year olds in Maccabi 6th. They played bad football and had bad players. But suddenly they became good, much adulation goes to Zevi Saunders, their manager. Crumpsall's style of play isn't always pretty but it is effective (I realise Sunday league football isn't usually pretty but still). Now with better players and an effective way of playing Crumpsall have become a very dangerous side, reached several finals and picked up silverware. Unfortunately for the team, they have lost several players from last season and will line up on Wednesday with an almost unknown starting 11. No matter the outcome the rematch comes just over a week later. To be precise it's Crumpsall vs Sporting JLGB in the league 8 days after the friendly, don't be surprised to hear two completely different results.

After the friendly and before the league game against Crumpsall, Sporting start their league season against South Manchester Maccabi. Once again Freddy Road hosts this one with Sporting hoping to kick off their season in style. South Manchester are a slight unknown quantity. A team who change quite a few players every season, firstly some of their players will be off to university around the country and secondly rumours abound that they have picked up several ex Crumpsall players, though this could be true of several teams in the MJSL, just not Sporting. Our matches against South Manchester are often eventful, although to be honest there isn't often an uneventful match with us. Last season though we only manager to play one match against them as the second match was cancelled because they couldn't get enough players together, that's how scary an opposition we are.

Now I guess I should tell you about us a little bit more. Sporting JLGB are about fun and winning, although the winning is sometimes harder to come by. Led by our manager Gavin Sharpe the boys enjoy nothing more than getting out onto the pitch on a Sunday morning and giving it their all, often in a vain attempt to win. On paper we're a much better side but we let ourselves down with the odd implosive performance, argument on the pitch- comes with all being friends, and our general fitness is generally awful! Having said that we also play some really attractive football, as far as Sunday League goes anyway. As mentioned some weeks ago this season we have a kit sponsor and this will help us survive, so thank you to CliveAnthony Residential Lettings (http://www.cliveanthony.co.uk/) (01617961000). I know it's a shameless link but I don't care. The guys there are really nice and care a lot about the project at Sporting JLGB, they don't imagine for one minute that we'll generate millions for them by being on the front of our shirts but they care about us and that's what matters.

The MJSL is where we ply our trade. It's of course not the most glamorous league in the world, it's not even the most glamorous Sunday league in Manchester but we love it. The MJSL houses just 11 teams but it's a fun league to play in and it cares about its teams. We only hope this season we can win some silverware and end the team's run of forever.

Normally I like to do a comparison between the Premiership, or whatever I've written about, to our Sunday League side, and this week I'd like to do the opposite, but I think this would take away from the message I'd like to convey. There is no comparison, for the boys who play this is of course the closest we'll ever get to the Premiership, a referee, an official competition. But as much as it is the closest, it is also, fortunately, nothing like real football. Down in the MJSL, at Frederick Road playing fields, not many people care what's going on, and in a weird way we're quite happy about that because we care, we know the magic that takes place. So here's to Sporting JLGB and a wonderful season ahead.... SPORTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!!!

Going to the World Cup? I think he Defoe should be!

Un-fancied newly promoted side beat Champions, failing Arsenal batter Everton, ball nestles in the bottom corner of the net but the goals not given, a team winning 7-1 lose their manager to the side they beat, forgotten England man scores twice against Holland and then a hat-trick against Hull, Birmingham and Portsmouth nearly under new ownership, cracking goals from Rodallega and Assou-Ekotto to name but two, a League Cup draw that sees West Ham play Millwall in the next round- My how I wish the football season would get exciting sometime soon, there's just nothing going on at the moment!

The list above provides many talking points that I could dig into- Who United need? Why Arsenal still need to buy or Why Everton should sell Lescott? Is goal-line technology needed? Why would you move to Norwich? Can any one save Portsmouth? Will anyone survive Milwall vs West Ham! But it is the man who has scored 5 times in 3 games so far this season that intrigues me most. Enter Jermaine!

Some weeks ago now I blogged about the England team and it's need for a hero, one willing to put his body on the line, it was slightly tongue in cheek, I would never hope to have an England hero only on the basis that he's almost constantly injured. But the point remains the same if the 'Golden Generation' are to grab the FIFA World Cup Trophy at their last attempt then they really will need some inspiration from somewhere.

There is obvious choices amongst the pack, I don't need to introduce you to Messers Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Terry, Cole (Joe or Ashley). In fact many of the starting line up already have their place. But now the World Cup is well and truly a squad competition, 11 Lions and 11 kittens will just not do, Mr Capello will be wise to avoid the next Walcott fiasco, sorry Mr Wilshere maybe in 2014.

Before the season started the search for the other 11 lions began in earnest. Of course those all but on the flight wanted to give the newbies something to do, so they purposely went 2-0 down against Netherlands and let Defoe, Cole, Wright-Phillips, Carrick and Milner really work for their seats. And they did! Milner is a player who has done a lot at international level long before making his full debut, after all the man has more U21 caps than any other England player ever. He is also a man whose best position is probably wide right, it's a good job for him England don't have Walcott, Beckham, Wright-Phillips, Lennon who can all play there...oh wait! But in all seriousness Milner is a player who could and should find his way to South Africa as a man who can play anywhere across the midfield and even upfront. Player's with versatility, especially those with the ability to go upfront, are key, especially when you remember the lack of options in that position 3 years ago.

Other than a goalkeeper, it is the striking department that is England's main worry. After Rooney you would find it difficult to find a definate choice to go to Bafana Bafana. We know that Capello likes a tall man for Rooney to play off, and he likes Heskey to be that man, but even the ex Liverpool player is only pencilled in. Heskey's main opposition will come from the ever growing (in stature rather than height) Carlton Cole. Finally Cole is showing the promise that he had all those years ago at Stamford Bridge and if his form for West Ham continues from the back end of last season he may well find himself in the starting line up for the World Cup. Another man looming large though is Darren Bent, just signed for Sunderland, the ex Spurs striker will flourish with regular first team football and could just overtake Crouch and Heskey in England's pecking order, he may have to wait for an injury to get himself in the squad in one of the matches before the squad announcement though.

The position of 'Not Rooney' is perhaps even more interesting. This is of course the man who can come off the bench when Rooney is not playing well or is producing too much red mist, or who perhaps will start if England's talisman is injured. I'll give you the contenders- Gabriel Agbonlahor, Michael Owen, Jermain Defoe, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young. Those are the main one's, and it's slightly depressing reading- don't get me wrong all very talented but not a great list, and here's why. Agbonlahor has done very little, other than looked impressive at times his figures aren't great. We know Capello does not like Owen, this may change during his time with United and you can never count out Owen, but you can't count on him either. Young and Walcott will possibly already be at the World Cup as wingers and of course as I mentioned earlier, the ability to play in many positions is very useful. And so we're left with Defoe- amazingly talented, and a man who will score goals, it is now up to the the ex West Ham striker to play well for Spurs and keep Capello thinking about him. How he wasn't taken to the World Cup three years ago is ridiculous, this time round though, he may end up being the explosive weapon England so desperately need.

And so, 10 months early, here's the England squad of 23 I'd like to see on that plane!

Foster, James, Green

Ferdinand, Terry, Ashley Cole, Johnson, Bridge, Lescott, Upson

Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Milner, Ashley Young, Walcott, Hargreaves, Carrick

Rooney, Carlton Cole, Bent, Defoe, Owen

If Mr Hargraves would like to get fit and stay fit and Mr Capello would like to read my blog then maybe I'll get my squad... Of course you lot won't agree, so let me know who you'd take!