Sportsballshop Football Thoughts

I was kept awake last night. I just couldn't switch off. For hours i lay there thinking of how the football season could pan out. With so many variables it is both exciting and nerve racking at the same time. The 2011/12 Premiership would appear to be a 3 horse race, with Man City, Man Utd and Spurs all in contention. We have already spoken of how City might find it difficult to stay the pace and how Balotelli could either wreck or secure the Premiership for the first time. We still think United will end up on top, as many of their injured players are either returning to fitness or form. With Spurs though, they have already pushed harder than we could have expected. Their season could however, be changed today, as we await the verdict from Harry Redknapp's trial. With Fabio Capello voicing his anger of the removal of the captains armband, from John Terry, by The FA. It is evident that the press and certain quarters of The FA, are raising their campaign to have Capello removed from the hot seat. If they succeed, Redknapp will be the obvious choice as his replacement but, only if a not guilty verdict is returned from Southwark Crown Court. The FA are desperate for him to come out as a cleared man, as they have no viable alternative to succeed Capello following the Euro's, this Summer. If proven guilty, Redknapp will lose his chance to become the England manager at any time in the future. He may even be asked to stand down from his post at Spurs. If found to be not guilty however, the world is his oyster. We also turned our thoughts to how only 2 managers have lost their job this season, in the Premiership, Steve Bruce and Neil Warnock. At this point, in past seasons, at least a quarter of the teams had changed manager. This year however, the chairmen seem to have exercised caution and patience, before changing the man in charge. We were sure there would have been 2 more during the transfer window, with Blackburn and Wigan both being prime candidates. But with the economy as it is, maybe the football chairmen are sticking with their current leader to save a multi-million pound settlement deal. Remember how important it was to get Villas Boas to the helm at Chelsea, it cost them £30 million. These were costs associated with paying off the outgoing manager and his current contract, maybe that is why Abramovich is sticking with him now. Time will tell, whether they have made the right decision but, we do think it is refreshing that football managers are being given more time before the trigger is pulled.