We seemed to be on the verge of a fairly quiet week as far as football news went. Then Sunderland appoint Paolo Di Canio as their new manager after the sacking of Martin O’Neill and the press remained quiet no more. The furore around Di Canio’s potentially fascist leanings and the mixture of politics and football have contributed to journalists all over the country licking their lips, it seems that a major story has broken.
I know, never say never. It’s not over until it’s over etc, etc. But, just between me and you, I think Manchester United have won the Premier League this season. It’s not been confirmed yet, fair enough. Mathematically Manchester City (and a few others for that matter) can still end the season as Champions, but United’s 15 point lead with 11 games to go does seem unassailable. So, season over, right? Wrong.
Managers may come and go, but for the Scottish national side at least, some things remain the same – we’re talking here about a propensity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, however unlikely (or undeserved for that matter) the claiming of three points had appeared.
As Michael Owen announces that he will call time on his career at the end of this season the usual barrage of warm wishes and plaudits from his fellow professionals have been flooding in. But in my mind there are two quite contrasting ways to look at the career of Michael Owen and in truth I don’t know which one I feel is more appropriate.
It would appear that reports of Barcelona’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Many had lined up in recent weeks to suggest that the Catalan stars were on the wane, their superiority been called into question by a poor run of results, and apparent loss of form of their talisman player, Lionel Messi.