Speculative Punts: Premier League Review 2012/13

This Barclays Premier League season has already been exhaustively reviewed by greater minds that I, so, in a moment of supreme unconventionality, I have decided to post a brief review of next season...

May 22nd 2013:

As Eddie Newton prepares to lead his Chelsea team out onto the Wembley turf, for their second Champions League final in two years, it is worth us taking the time to look back over what has been another extraordinary season in the Premier League.

And let us begin with Chelsea, and their interim manager's meteoric rise: the season's unlikely success story. If the cameras were to pick out Newton physically pinching himself on the touchline on Saturday evening, it would not come as a surprise.

For a start, Chelsea's failure to beat Bayern Munich in last season's final had left the club facing up to the unpalatable prospect of Thursday nights on ITV4. But when the Greek champions, Olympiakos, were forced to withdraw from the Champions League - following a financial meltdown in their home country that left them unavailable to pay their players with anything other than pieces of scrap paper with Euro symbols drawn on them - Chelsea won the lottery of Europa League qualifiers to join Tottenham, Arsenal and both Manchesters, in the world's premier club tournament.

It was stagnant league form that did for Roberto Di Matteo, as much as anything else, and when a delegation of Chelsea executives were unable to persuade Pep Guardiola to cut short his sabbatical, Newton was installed as interim manager and charged with reviving the clubs short-term fortunes. League form stabilised, and fifth place was secured, but it was in Europe that Newton's charges really excelled.

Roman Abramovich's stated goal since buying the club has been to win this competition. Could Eddie Newton, of all people, finally be the man to deliver European glory to his Russian paymaster?

And how will John Terry feel, missing his second Champions League final in succession, after elbowing Tottenham's Emmanuel Adebayor in the semi-final first leg. Despite his entirely convincing protestations that he had merely raised his elbow in order to cup his ear - so that he might better hear the instructions Newton was shouting to him - and that Adebayor had run into his arm (breaking his nose in the process) in a deliberate attempt to get him sent off, UEFA did not see fit to rescind the card and he will, yet again, miss out the opportunity to lift the trophy he has coveted for so long.

If Newton is perhaps manager of the year, then Manchester City are surely the team of the year, after deservedly winning the title by six points. Their spending in the summer surprised many, again topping £100 million, but their neat circumvention of FFP by securing a new £200 million shirt sponsorship deal - with an Abu Dhabi investment company in no way affiliated with Sheikh Mansour - ensured Roberto Mancini could strengthen as he saw fit.

The footage of Carlos Tevez dancing on a mocked up grave, marked with Sir Alex Ferguson's name, on the concourse outside Eastlands, took some of the shine off City's celebrations, but Tevez's spokesman insisted that the player didn't understand what he was dancing on and in no way meant to cause any offence to a man he deeply, deeply respects.

Player of the year is surely Robin Van Persie. The Manchester City forward forged a prolific partnership with the dynamic Sergio Aguero, which made City the top scorers in England, and won the Dutchman Europe's Golden Boot. His picture perfect, game winning volley against former club Arsenal (from a misplaced lofted back pass from Alex Song) was as spectacular as it was galling for supporters of the London club to witness. At least Gunners fans could console themselves with the fact that he didn't really celebrate the goal. And third place in the the league, of course.

Van Persie's volley was not destined to finish up goal of the season, however, as Peter Crouch scored a back heel from forty yards, for Stoke, away at Norwich. He insists that he meant it.

A close second for player of the year must be Andy Carroll, the highest English scorer in the league. Kenny Dalglish signed six wingers in the January transfer window, in the hope of providing the Geordie show pony with better service. Unfortunately, none of them could cross the ball, least of all Stuart Ripley who is well into his forties. Dalglish denied charges that he was out of touch with the modern game, but was forced to change his system somewhat. As a result, a revitalised Steven Gerrard was pushed out wide, and he provided the majority of the assists for Carroll's goals.

Liverpool finished ninth in the table, which is sure to disappoint some fans, however another victory in the Carling Cup final ensures Dalglish will keep the job for life. Mike Newell is rumoured to be a summer transfer target.

Tottenham enjoyed a good run in Europe but disappointed in the league, finishing a lowly sixth. Speculation about Harry Redknapp replacing Roy Hodgson as England boss seemed to unsettle the team, and their league challenge fell away. England's World Cup qualifying campaign has certainly faltered, but sections of the media seem intent on driving Hodgson out of the job regardless of results and it could be that, come August, Spurs will be looking for a new manager. It appears certain now that Gareth Bale and Luka Modric will leave White Hart Lane, so even if Redknapp does stay, he will have much rebuilding to do.

Sir Alex Ferguson is sure to have a busy summer. Mind you, that is what most pundits thought last year and very little business was done. His arthritic midfield is in desperate need of new blood. It seems he has persuaded Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes to stay on for yet another season, but their effectiveness has been diminished by age. Michael Carrick remains a shadow of the player he never actually was but did appear to be for some time. Anderson is still injured. Ferguson insists there is no value in the market, but Newcastle and Everton's transfer dealings continue to suggest otherwise. He still rates Park Ji-Sung.

Michael Owen seems to be destined to leave United after he, like Anderson, spent almost the entire season injured. The former England man made only one substitute appearance, in the club's final home game, which led to the United fans chanting "Are you Louis Saha in disguise?" at him for the full 17 minutes he was on the pitch.

Second seems a reasonable result for Manchester United, given their squad, but how much longer will the formerly outspoken Wayne Rooney tolerate the club's perceived lack of ambition in the transfer market?

Alan Pardew's French revolution continued to bear fruit, as Newcastle secured fourth place ahead of Chelsea. They will be praying, like Spurs last season, that Chelsea do not win the Champions League and take their place in next year's competition. Pardew himself spent much of the year ruling himself out of jobs that most pundits felt that he wasn't in the running for.

At the bottom of the table it is with a heavy heart that we bid farewell to West Bromwich Albion and their manager Alex McLeish, who has now guided west Midlands clubs to relegation from the Premier League on three occasions. Aston Villa last year were, of course, very nearly the fourth. Rumours continue to circulate that he is a Walsall fan.

West Ham are again relegated and, in a bizarre twist, "Big" Sam Allardyce and Steve Kean will swap places, just as they did last season; Kean having marshalled Burnley to the summit of the Championship following his sacking at Christmas by Blackburn Rovers. Anthony Modeste, Burnley's top scorer, will be a forced in the Premier League next year. Definitely one for your fantasy league team.

QPR are also facing up to a season in the Championship, however Mark Hughes was not proved wrong in his bold statement of last year that the club would "never face this situation again in my time here" following his sacking back in January.

Abramovich's Power Play Bucks The Trend For "Flat-Packed" Stadia

On Friday, Chelsea launched an audacious bid to make, what would undoubtedly be, the most significant acquisition of the Roman Abramovich era.  The club have offered to buy Battersea Power Station, the grade-two listed landmark on the banks of the Thames, with a view to developing it into a 60,000 seater stadium.

For a number of years Chelsea have been looking to increase their match day revenues.  The Emirates Stadium, home to London rivals Arsenal, has a capacity of over 60,000. Manchester United's ground, Old Trafford has a capacity of 76,000.  Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home since 1905, is much smaller in comparison, having a capacity of only 42,000.  More seats means more cash; a simple equation.  With seeming little potential to develop Stamford Bridge further, Chelsea have been looking into the possibility of relocating to a new stadium, and had previously expressed an interest in purchasing the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre.

With the implementation of UEFA's “Financial Fair Play” regulations looming on the horizon, the need to balance the books has never been greater for the west London club, who have essentially been bankrolled by Russian oligarch Abramovich's billions, since his takeover in 2003.  When the FFP rules are in place, clubs will not be allowed to repeatedly run at a loss.  (Stadium development is exempt from FFP rules, meaning clubs are free to invest in infrastructure.)  Maximising ticket revenue is, therefore, crucial to cementing the club's position in the upper echelons of European football.

In the last twenty years, many English clubs have found that they have outgrown their stadiums.  Others have found that time has simply caught up with their grounds; they have become tired, dilapidated.  Despite the years of history, these clubs have had no choice but to move.

This has given rise to a phenomenon that I believe is a blight on the modern game in this country: the “flat-packed” stadium.

The great stadiums have character: Anfield, Old Trafford, Goodison Park, White Hart Lane.  Each has personality, each is different.  There are quirks, irritations, obstructed views, but all of these things add to the distinctness of the ground, and have contributed to building the identity of the club that plays its football there.

So many of the new stadiums that have sprung up across the country lack character; they are devoid of personality, and, worse, they all look the same.  It looks as if the plans have been drawn up by the same architects (in some cases they have) and there is a “mass-produced” feel about them.  Take a look at pictures of the King Power Stadium, Pride Park, the Riverside and St. Mary's and you'll see what I mean.

Football clubs are important to the towns and cities they call home, and their stadiums are local landmarks.  Clubs have a responsibility to contribute to their home towns aesthetically as well as commercially, and too many of these new grounds do not fulfil that brief.  They are “off the peg,” “flat-packed” stadiums, placing function and - you suspect - profit above all else.

Often, moving to a ground with no history presents an opportunity for a club's board to generate income from the stadium's naming rights.  Sometimes the club's owners do not even wait for a move.  The Premier League “tour” now takes in the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, the Sport's Direct Arena, Newcastle and the Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent, amongst others.

Championship club Leicester City are becoming serial offenders.  Their home for more than a hundred years was Filbert Street.  Then there was the Walkers Bowl.  Mercifully, that quickly became the Walkers Stadium.  Now, less that ten years on from the move, it is the King Power Stadium.

Again, this only serves to weaken a club's identity.

Incidentally, Mike Ashley's move to re-brand St James' Park the Sports Direct Arena was so ill conceived, you suspect it must have been motivated by a certain malevolence, once again sticking it to the fans who abused him, despite the millions he had invested.  After all, it has generated no income – Sports Direct being Ashley's own company - and is a decision so unpopular with the fans that surely no right minded company would want the bad publicity that would go with taking on the deal.

Of course building a stadium is expensive - no one would dispute that - and the more ambitious the design the more expensive said stadium will be.  (Liverpool discovered that when spending £35 million on architects' fees, for the Stanley Park stadium that never was.)

But surely some compromise could have been reached, so that we did not have to suffer these bland, 30,000 seater clones.  You could walk into most of the new stadiums in this country, and, if the seats weren't painted in the colours of their club, it would be hard to tell them apart.  In a tribal sport, where the identity of your club is so important, that simply cannot be right.

When the decision was made not to incorporate the twin towers of the old Wembley into the new stadium's design, it was deemed crucial that an alternative was found; something distinctive was required; something unique that denoted that this was Wembley, this was the national stadium.  The impressive Wembley arch was conceived, now a point of interest on the west London skyline.

Which brings us back to Chelsea's bid to develop Battersea Power Station.  Without doubt this would be the most exciting and innovative stadium design in the country.  The power station itself is already an iconic building.

Not only would this move give Chelsea an identity - and perhaps help them to engender the sense of history that many say that they lack - but would provide the city of London, and the country as a whole, with one of the most architecturally exciting and attractive stadiums on the planet.

Manchester v Manchester: Tevez the catalyst as City close in on the title

The "Blue Moon" is rising and Manchester City took one giant leap towards their first Premier League title last night, with a deserved 1-0 win over their bitter rivals, at the Ethiad. It was a muscular performance from an athletic City side, marshalled by the division's outstanding defender, Vincent Kompany, who went some way to cementing his burgeoning status as a City legend, when he headed in the winning goal on 45 minutes.

City's form began to falter in March, when they lost to Swansea and drew with both Norwich and Sunderland, allowing Manchester United to usurp them at the top of the table. A 1-0 defeat to Arsenal followed at the beginning of April, and it looked as if the title race was all but over. But they have rallied in recent weeks thanks, in part, to the return of the want-away Carlos Tevez, from his five month sabbatical.

Many questioned the wisdom of bringing back a player who was seen as a divisive figure, Sir Alex Ferguson himself stating the belief that it was a "desperate" move. How would the squad react? It was suggested that it weakened manager Roberto Mancini's position, who - in the aftermath of the Munich game and Tevez's apparent refusal to play - had publicly stated the Argentinian would never wear a City shirt again. There were clearly dangers to allowing Tevez back into the fold; it was a move that could have backfired.

But it didn't.

Since returning to the side, Tevez form has been nothing short of astonishing, when you consider how long her had been out of the game. In eight appearances - several of those as substitute - he has scored four goals and created three more for his team-mates. But his impact cannot just be measured in goals and assists.

Last night, City had a drive that United lacked; they played with pace, verve and took the game to their opponents. Tevez typified this. He was seen battling for the ball on the edge of his own penalty area, cutting through the midfield with direct, powerful runs. His energy is infectious, his work-rate outstanding; he has been the spark that has reignited City's title challenge.

For Manchester United fans it was an evening of disappointment; less at the result, and more at the performance. Many have criticised Sir Alex Ferguson for setting up negatively. With the inclusion of Park, it had that look of a side set up not to lose, a tactic Ferguson has employed to good effect in many crucial Premier League clashes and European away games, over the years. But United simply didn't have the legs in midfield to match City's purposeful work on and off the ball. If Scholes is to be the fullcrum of your side at 37, you must surround him with players with pace and energy. United did not do that.

Park is a spent force; he was poor. Giggs lacks the drive of old. Carrick is a good player but has never been particularly energetic. What United wouldn't give for a player in the mould of Yaya Toure.

Again they missed Darren Fletcher, sidelined with an incurable bowel condition. Rumours are circulating today that he is set to retire from football. If true, that will only serve to heap more misery on the Old Trafford club, who you feel are moving towards a crossroads. The squad needs to be refreshed. The first team - with the exception of Wayne Rooney - lacks the outstanding talents that City possess. The question remains: will Ferguson be given the money to overhaul his ageing squad, or have the Glazers - as many fans fear - bled the coffers dry?

There is still some way to go in the title race, and Mancini, perhaps picking up on the characteristic pessimism of many City fans - born out of years of disappointment - maintains that United are favourites. But City are surely in the driving seat.

Nasri and Tevez are hitting form; David Silva and Sergio Aguero are recovering some of theirs, after mid-season dips, whilst Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany continue to impress.

Their fate is in their hands and, on the evidence of last night, Manchester City look in no mood to be denied a first Premier League title.