Here’s a stat for you (and after all, who doesn’t like a good football stat!?), have a look at the current Premier League table and take everyone from 4th place and below. They are ALL closer to bottom of the league QPR than they are to top of the league Chelsea. There, let that digest for a moment.
We all know that the Championship is a hugely competitive league and this translates to the attendance figures that it gets. Last season it maintained its position as the 4th best attended division in Europe, with an average of 16,647 fans turning up per game. And the team with the highest occupancy rate across the football league was AFC Bournemouth at 91%.
It seems that the England football team are going through a bit of a popularity crisis. Well, the England men’s team are anyway, but we’ll get onto that later. Can it be true? Is interest in our national team at an all-time low?
Ask any football fan within these islands (and beyond for that matter) who they consider to be the best Scottish manager of all time, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the shortlist will contain the usual suspects. Unquestionably, and understandably, said list will feature Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein and, more recently, Alex Ferguson.
Professional footballers are not role models for young men, regardless of what the FA thinks about Rio Ferdinand. Well, generally, they're not very good ones at least. So all credit to Saido Berahino, who's dedicated his first senior England call up to his mum…