Deadline Day: A Chairman's Limelight Moment

It's that time again!
A Football Chairman's day in the limelight

Okay, it's that time again. One of only two days on the footballing calendar where ever football fan in the land eagerly awaits the news of a star signing from Spain or a new undiscovered hot shot from the lower domestic leagues joining their beloved team. It's a day where no fan can deny not checking their phone, turning on the sports channel on the TV, and tuning into a radio station any less than at least once every hour, in the hope of news of a new addition to strengthen the ranks within their football team.
 There really is no day in Football quite like deadline day; the majority of events within the sport in the modern day and age are extremely over empathised and exaggerated by broadcasters and institutions alike, but deadline day somehow manages to over shadow and stagger the footballing world purely down to the deals being made, not what the media makes of them. It's because of this reason, and the fact that my team Leicester City are somewhat prolific this season in the transfer market, that I respect and appreciate the day. This is despite my disliking to the insane amounts of money that unfortunately come part and parcel with a 22 year old striker or a 30 year old defender upping sticks from club to club these days. Either way, without the manic nature of deadline day or with it, the money issue would not disappear, so I figure that its maybe best to leave that debate for another day.
   So what can we expect from this years Summer transfer deadline day? Nothing, in short. Year after year the outcome of this day completely shocks fans alike, with many educated predictions and tips proving fruitless come 11pm,and a few ideas deemed crazy at the dawn of day, becoming a unpredicted shocking reality.

Money Montage: Mega Bucks last gasp deals of the past

  For example, who could forget the successful last ditch efforts by Manchester City to steal Brazilian superstar Robinho from underneath the noses of London heavyweights Chelsea in 2008? Or the the hammer blow dealt to the Premier League by West Ham(pardon the pun),  in 2006 when the East London team emerged from the blue to sign the highly rated start of the future star Carlos Tevez? The deal was one that emerged as perhaps the most controversial of the 21st century, thanks to Tevez' huge impact at the Hammers and the legal implications that surrounded his shock arrival
 One thing that is safe to announce, is that Deadline Day has always been a key day in spotting the difference between a last gasp master stroke from a manager, or a desperate clutch for said player to be mearly added to the team without judgement.  Two key examples of this can be found with the deals that were struck for Fernando Torres' move from Liverpool to Chelsea last year, and Wayne Rooney's departure from Everton to Manchester United back in 2004. In the case, of Torres', many on lookers such as myself will acknowledge that come the end of last season, The £50 Million pound price tag that Mr. Abramovich paid Liverpool for the Spaniard, was money not well spent. In fact, after being fast tracked into Chelsea's starting XI for the entire second half of the season, Torres had managed to find the back of the net only once. To make matters worse, the player he effectively necessarily replaced, young English start Daniel Sturridge, had netted no less than 9 goals at Bolton Wanderers, after a loan move to Owen Coyle's squad last January. Maybe Torres' will come good this season, but surely no amount of heroics can now justify that horrific transfer fee...

Mersey Blue to Red Manc:
Rooney smashes Hat-rick on MUFC debut

   In stark contrast to the Torres saga that engulfed last January's transfer window, Sir Alex Ferguson's move to bring Wayne Rooney to Manchester United on the Deadline day of the Summer transfer window in 2004 was nothing short of, lets face it, a master class in how to nail what price and who. Rooney had emerged as the new star of English football under David Moyes's management at his home town club Everton, aged just 16 years old. After a number of quite frankly jaw dropping performances for the Toffee's, the summer transfer window commenced with clubs literally throwing money at Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright. After seeing off a £15 million pound bid from Newcastle United though, and after many rejected bids and intense negotiation, the superstar that we all know and admire now was signed for £20 million pounds; a figure that in today's footballing world, is something of a bargain considering what he has gone on to achieve and produce. On Rooney's debut for  Fergies' United, he put three past the Turkish Champions Fenerbahce in the Champions League.Watch and learn Chelski, watch and learn.
   By the time you've read this, 100's of transfers will have gone through, some you may be fully aware of in the top ranks of football, some from the lower regions that don't associate your club, maybe not. Each and every club chairman is the same though, in the fact that they know there sweet talking, negotiation skills, and bank balances, can help make or break there teams imminent season ahead.

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Spa: The best by far

Jewel in the crown: Wimbledon
is Tennis' annual time to shine.

There isn't a sport on earth that comes to mind as not having some form of blue ribboned event. The obvious ones come from the perhaps more popular sports, Football for example, enjoys the world best national teams battling it out every four years in the FIFA World Cup. Tennis has its own  'stand out from the crowd' event, in the form of the annual Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. Cricket in this country at least, has the Ashes test series against the Aussies every two years. Even in the lesser forms of sport with maybe not as big a fan base, have their own moment in the sun, with events such as the Tour De France in the Cycling world and the money swinging Grand National in Horse Racing both springing to prominence when it's their turn to grace the sporting calendar.
 The same can be said for Motor Racing to a certain extent, with the majority of petrol heads insisting that the most prestigious event on the racing calendar lies in the Monaco principality that hosts the Monaco Grand Prix, or the Sportscar endurance classic, the Le Mans 24 Hours. However, to anyone other than a crazed fan of the sport (cough *me* cough), these two events have a reputation of being dare I say it: boring. The narrow streets of Monte Carlo really do limit overtaking to an absolute minimum, and the 24 hour race at Le Mans may be considered 'extensive' by just about anyone.
  No, in my mind the most promising, exciting and unpredictable race on this years Motor Sport calendar is this Sunday's Grand Prix event: the Belgium Grand Prix. If you were to ask every driver in the Formula One circus of there the favourite circuit on the calendar, the general consensus wouldn't point to Monaco. It wouldn't even suggest any of the new, glitzy start studded Arab states that have recently  been welcomed onto the calendar courtesy of a healthy pay check. The answer in fact would lie with the Spa-Francorchamps track of Belgium, a nation that upon hearing, many will people will ask " Where? What?". However, besides the uninteresting exterior and sporting credentials that lie absent with the counties reputation, the little nation that neighbours the European powerhouses of France and Germany (west to east) boasts quite frankly the greatest Grand Prix circuit in the world today. Ahead of this weekends event kicked off in Practice session 1 & 2 today, Force India driver Adrian Sutil quite simply claimed that "all the drivers have a big smile on their face when they come back to Spa", and with the the strained personalities and limited expression that Formula One drivers sometimes project, that claim speaks volumes about the Belgium circuit.
 So what makes the track so special? Much like what Monaco so special, some would put it down to the scenery: The track is quite literally draped throughout of the depths of the Ardennes Forest, with the towering Greenery surrounding the entire 4.3 mile circuit. The on-board shots of the cars hitting 200+ mph on the tracks long straights in-between 'the sticks' really do provide a surreal appearance, compared to the more unfortunately favourable inclusion of flat run off area and conventional grandstands, that are all to common around the majority of most race tracks in the modern era. 

Sun cream or running stream?
Spa's unpredictable weather.

    Other fans that have fallen in love the circuit much like myself, will put it down to one factor that features in any race around Spa, and  is the number one thing fans look for in Motorsport as a whole: unpredictability. This is almost always in co ordinance to the spectacular weather conditions that Spa almost always enjoys; whether the weather is clear and sunny at the start of the race or not, it would take a brave man to bet against any precipitation making an anticipated appearance what so ever. So spectacular is the climate, that in various races over the years, team engineers,drivers, and other team personell have been pushed to breaking point with judgement call on tyre choice/pit stop strategy,by the tracks almost unique ability to have to completely different forms of weather at opposites ends of the track. This is caused in part by the mountainous surroundings of the Belgian circuit, but is also down to the shear length of the circuit, which is certainly not anything less than a mountain hike, standing at 4.3 miles. This natural factor has helped throw up some classics: the epic battle in-between Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton for example springs immediately to mind , and the mammoth 1998 pile up for example...

Stunning: The amazing Eau Rouge

Personally, it's the magic of the layout that makes Spa the greatest circuit in the world. The tracks famous third turn, 'Eau Rouge' is nothing short of stunning to watch, never mind to actually attack as an F1 driver at 145 mph. From a personal point of view, which is shared by many others, it's the best corner of any circuit on the calendar. However, the breath taking corners don't just stop at Eau Rouge; the sweeping left hand Pouhon turn in the second sector at Spa is a real tester, in terms of exploiting an F1 car's ultimate grip through a high speed complex, an area in which this years Red Bull has been seemingly invincible. The track also boasts two separate chicanes; after the immensely long Kemmel back-straight, the drivers arrive at the Les Combes chicane, shifting down from sixth gear down to third, prior to attacking the sequence of long, medium speed turns that follow the chicane. Perhaps a more pivotal chicane is the Bus Stop chicane, that on the modern layout, signifies the end of the lap, A perfect entry under braking and an apex-perfection ext can make or break a lap around the Belgian track.  

Unpredictable: Place your bets
 if you dare...

  So with the various culminating factors of the remarkable Spa-Francorchamps all playing host to what is almost always a classic Grand Prix, it seems somewhat hollow that the event is indefinitely overlooked in terms of being 'blue ribboned' by the fancy boats, money laden streets and beautiful girls that play host to the Monaco Grand Prix earlier on in the season. From a sporting point of view, this is tragic; it would appear that the surrounding features that come part and parcel with the Formula One world outweigh the important business being sorted out on the black stuff in excess of 100 mph. Would a football fan trade their season ticket at there beloved Championship/League One club for a match day ticket at Old Trafford? No. Would a tennis fan give up there seat watching an enthralling game at Wimbledon on the fifth court, to go and watch a processional 1st round game on centre court? No. These are prime examples of how sport should be, and are in worrying contrast to that of modern day Formula One. This sport should be respected and enjoyed utmost for the action on four wheels on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; not the off track action on the £1 million pound four courts surrounding the track. With so much intricate detail involved with the sporting side of F1, its a great shame that it is seemingly overlooked.





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Kasp's failed grasp, Forest last gasp

A late second half brace from Nottingham Forest earned them a draw at home, and with it  single point against local rivals Leicester City, after Foxes' keeper Kasper Schmeichel  conceded a late penalty and was later controversially sent off.

  In a game consisting of two teams, both low on confidence after previous performances considered way under expectation, the game carried with it an extra bout of pressure on the two opposing former England managers, in a league where a strong start can easily prove paramount come the end of the 46 game season.

Alive and Kicking: 2 in 2 games
for David Nugent.

    After a cagey start to the game being formed by both sides, it was the away team that prevailed as the leading force in the game; David Nugent going close with a strong header after some brilliant build play courtesy of the impressive Gelson Fernandes who soon cemented his place in the Foxes' team as the main orchestrator of chance creation. 

  After a spell of dreadful passing and possession, Forest were punished,  with Fernandes furthering his impact on the game by capitalising on a defensive mix up to send David Nugent through on offside, and Leicester into a 1-0 lead. 

  The home side were beaten between the posts again just two minutes later, as Fernandes himself grabbed a self-deserving goal after smashing in a second effort, seconds after his first shot was frantically denied by Forest keeper Lee Camp.

Like father like Son:
Schmeichel goes crazy

  After being booed off by a truly disgruntled home support, Forest started the second half with little improvement; a pedantic man may point out an increased pass rate around the middle third of the pitch, but certainly nothing in the way of attacking prowl. However, having introduced new signing Ishmal Miller alongside Robbie Findley at half time, and later introducing a Forest fan favourite in the form of Radoslaw Majewski , the second period of the second half belonged to Steve Mclaren's home side. Having won a penalty after City skipper Matt Mills was deemed to have handled inside his own area. Following Lewis Mcgugan's converted penalty kick, Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel was controversially sent off, after initially stalling the penalty kick, before afterwards suffering a 'heat of the moment' downfall in throwing the ball into the City Grounds' home fans.

Valiant Effort:
LCFC fell at the last hurdle

  The penalty kick and the sending off for Leicester's newly acquired keeper made the remaining 10+ minutes of the game extremely exciting, with Leicester bringing on second keeper Chris Weale, replacing Neil Danns, in preparation for seeing out the game with only 10 men. Sven Goran Eriksson reinforced his defensive stance on the game even further by introducing defensive midfielder Yuki Abe in the place of Andy King. 

  After effectively holding back the wave of red attacking their goal, Leicester continued to hold a narrow lead, entering the final 5 minutes of the game in stoppage time. The efforts of both teams were put to bed in the 94th minute however, as a bundled attempted save by Weale from a Forest corner allowed George Boatang to stumble into the ball at the back post, pushing the ball past between the posts and sinking the hearts of the 4,000 strong City faithful.

  So after an exciting 2-2 draw in between a still under performing Nottingham Forest, and the heavily altered, money rich local rival of Leicester City, the East Midlander's retired after the final whistle having gained only a point a piece. In a county famous for being the home of mythical legend Robin Hood, Nottingham Forest robbed from the rich, because they were poor. 

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Beyond Jeff Stirling and Chris Kamara...

Don't exactly jump out off the screen do they...

As the opening weekend of the Premier League season draws to a close, many fans both club-biased and neutral will enter Monday morning with a tinge of disappointment, after the majority of footballing displays on offer from this weekends Premier League schedule were generally quite lacklustre. In fact, if it wasn't Owen Coyle's Bolton ripping apart QPR 4-0 on the Londoners induction to the top tier, and the ever controversial Joey Barton and  debutant Gervinho seeing red (literally) in the Newcastle versus Arsenal match,  it would probably be safe to say that from a footballing point of view, this weekend has been one to forget.

Even as a 'sports' fan, I struggle to
appreciate any aspect of Cricket.

 For many sports fans, during the Sunday evening after a satisfying Sunday roast, the weekend's sporting events get a quick mental overview,and im certainly no exception. Unfortunately, due to the lacklustre football in the Premier League this weekend, it was more of an arithmetic session rather for me personally, in terms of football. So then I moved on to other sport events I'd watched this weekend: England's loss against Wales in Rugby Union was pretty bleak, the US PGA Championship had yet to get into it's stride, and despite the dominant performance against India in the Cricket, the match had been unable to personally penetrate my disliking for the game as a whole. How about the other second tier of English Football? Well Leicester lost 2-0 before my very eyes, so as a pretty disgruntled fan, that instantly put pay to that option. The excitement in the sport this weekend, actually lay with two wheel action...

Flying/Riding with the flag: Cavendish is the real deal

 Yes, as im sure any Sky Sports News viewer will be in the knowledge of, Mark Cavendish recorded yet another fantastic victory in his field of expertise aboard his road bike, in the London 2012 test road race in preparation for next years Olympic cycling  event. Cavendish, who is still without a 'trade team' in which riders compete within throughout the cycling season, is widely regarded as one of the finest British Sportsman of the current generation,  and widely tipped to be a frontrunner for an illusive gold medal in next years' Olympic road racing.

Moto 2 is the place for unrivalled two wheeled action/drama.

  However, despite another Cavendish special being dished up around the streets of London/Surrey, my highlight from this weekends sport lay in the Czech Republic, at the Brno Autodromo race circuit, where the Moto GP circus has been performing. It always amazes me how little sports fans generally know about Moto GP, it would seem that it is somewhat still in the shadow of Formula One in terms of exposure and popularity in the Motorsport world, which is a shame, seeing as the sport features three top class, fantastically exciting race categories with the top riders in the world. This weekend was no exception, with the second tier race category, 'Moto 2' , providing the main bulk of the action. Victory in the race eventually fell to Italian rider Andrea Iannone, after what can only be described as a mesmerising race full of incident, breathtaking overtakes, and a whole host of 'leather on leather' racing. The series' is basically packed full of the next generation 'Moto GP' riders, ready to replace household names such as Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo at the very summit of the Motorcycling world. Because of this, the races are without fail, brimming with action, excitement,and above all, havoc.With riders placing death defying overtakes on one another, pushing their respective machinery to it's very limit, fighting for points, wins, and most importantly recognition that secures the future their fledging careers. It's a joy to watch, or in some cases forces you not to, as a rider sticks a manoeuvre up the inside of the guy in front at 200+ kph...
 It's that gutsy determination and steely interior that the riders project out on the racetrack that makes the category such a brilliant watch for any sports fan.This along side the constant development race going on behind the scenes regarding the intricate,deadly fast machinery on which the riders board, really does make the Moto 2 race series' a 'must watch' event on any Sunday morning on which the event is in action.

Famous Culprit: Lazy Berba

 This 'determination' that makes Moto 2 so good, brings me neatly back to the subject of the Premier League, where such 'determination' is only really apparent with a minority of players, often from teams fighting for survival, nearing a seasons' conclusion. This is a great shame; not only is it visually apparent to paying fans at the matches, but it also blunts the football game itself, with no great sense of urgency or hunger for the three points that come along with a win. Once again, the situation regarding ridiculously large wage fee's comes into the limelight, with players seemingly sorted for life in terms of finance, maybe it's a simple case of the money going to their heads.
   So to sum up, after a disappointing weekend, with no great entertainment being offered from the Premier League, even on opening day, take time to find this weekends brilliant Moto 2 race, aswell as the 125cc race and Moto GP race itself, on Eurosport during the week or elsewhere, and im hopeful you'd find my elation and positive feedback above well and truly justified.

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Buy or Bust: Football's ugly truth

Oh the memories: Filbert Street.

Every one remembers going to their first football match right? I've been a Leicester City fans for nigh on ten years now, and as much as I can remember last weekends opening game win against Coventry City, I can also remember  my first ever game watching the foxes: weeping in the stands at City's old stomping ground Filbert Street, on the back of a 3-1 loss.  In-between these two largely contrasting games, I've experienced  Leicester's roller-coaster journey throughout the last 10 years, from the dizzying heights of the Premier League Summit, right down to the depths of England's third tier level of football, League One. It struck me whilst awaiting kick-off at the weekend, that I had very rarely looked back on my time as a Leicester City fan, and with this I remembered all sorts of controversy and magical moments, yes that's right, even at Leicester...

Big Build, Big fee, little goals.

  After a while I got thinking about the various players to have been in and out of the club, the likes of goal machines such as the international superstar Emile Heskey and Adi Akinbiyi (hope my readers appreciate sarcasm), alongside players that went on to become established Premier League Stalwarts such as Wolverhampton Wolves'  defender Richard Stearman, and the ever 'popular' Robbie Savage, whether it be for Blackburn  Rovers or Birmingham City. Then there's the famous arrivals at Leicester City, whether it be the arrival of established Premier League striker Yakubu during last years Championship campaign, or the arrival of at the time, Derby County's team captain Matt Oakley, halfway through the Ram's ill fated Premier League season and the Foxes's similarly ill fated  Championship campaign under Ian Holloway  in the 2007/08 season. With all these various arrivals and departures exiting and entering the glass doors at  Leicester's King Power Stadium (formerly the Walkers Stadium), comes the influence of money on such moves. After the foxes' big spending during this seasons summer build-up, and with the large amounts of money regularly mentioned in and around transfers on a day to day basis in the media, anyone would be forgiven for quite frankly taking the fee's involved for granted. However, it hit me square the face the other day that the money in football, is quite simply ridiculous.

Children literally in Need,
overlooked by footballs greed.

  In order to get your head around it, it takes some sort of comparison to money in the world outside of football. So lets take a figure well documented year in,year out: The Children In Need fundraiser total. Last year, the charity managed to accumulate a brilliant £18 Million pounds thanks to donations and charity events; an impressive figure by any means. As is well known, that money is spent on helping to provide health and infrastructure to those in need living in third world countries, pre dominantly in Africa. Now back to the world of football: Leicester City's owners have so far pumped over £20 million pounds into their newly acquired club, with £15 million being spent purely on transfers (and that's without even considering wage fee's agreed when bringing big name players in...). Quite frankly, it acts a perfect example to the morally wrong and politically crazy society we live in. Despite this, the money side of football is generally ignored in terms of being outrageous, something I've recently come to realise as being nothing other than outrageous...

Adiós: Cesc close to departing the Gunners

  Lets take it up another notch: In today's news, the main headlines have obviously been dominated by the on-going public disorder surrounding cities and towns throughout the nation. In the Sport press however, the transfer saga regarding Arsenal's influential captain Cesc Fabregas has once again gained stranglehold of the top story slot, with a deal thought to be have been agreed between Arsenal and Barcelona in the region of £30 million, with up to £6 million pounds extra being given in performance add-ons.  Should this deal go through, the grand total of expenditure in this summers transfer market will pass the staggering, £300 million pound mark. This struck me as significant in relation to the devastating riots happening across the country right now, but specifically to one quote I heard on BBC News last night when keeping up to date with the nationwide destruction: "The damage caused by the riots could cost the tax payer up to £100 million". This figure stands at a third of the grand total that has been spent solely on bringing new sets of legs to clubs around the continent. When put into perspective like this, the issue escalates from  being 'outrageous' to quite simply disgusting. Oh, and guess what the second headline was on tonight's news unless you already know? The 'worldwide economic crisis'. How ironic.

  Money has spiralled out of control in the modern game to a point now where fans no longer consider it as 'money'. It's seen primarily as a figure used to describe a players ability and quality. Football as a sport is tainted beyond belief, to a point where its rotten, yet the media and in fact even the government choose to ignore the quite frankly crazy situation.

  So whilst families and businesses are destroyed on the streets of North London and elsewhere in the nation, you can bet your last penny that as we wake up to tomorrows inevitably shocking news headlines, Mr.Moneybags at the King Power Stadium and his fellow smug  rich friends at the helm of other clubs will be creating other headlines,funding a bid for one or two more humans, instead of helping save the lives and lively hoods of thousands.

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Welcome To The Championship

This weekend marked the return of the eagerly anticipated Championship season; arguably the most competitive and toughest league in Britain, with a clear group of 7+ sides all going to toe to toe at the bookies for promotion this year. With the ever present quality of the past Play-Off bound teams such as Cardiff and Nottingham Forest,    and teams such as Hull City and my own Leicester City with there radical pre-season team chopping and changing, the league looked set to be to be a somewhat free-for-all. In fact, even now that the first games week has passed, I still struggle to describe it as anything different to that.

Centre of attention: McCleish's move to Villa

 One of the interesting points this year even more so than other years; is the instatement and in some cases, reinstatement of clubs entering the Championship. From the heights of the Barclays Premier League, fell the household name teams of League Cup winners Birmingham City, the ever popular Ian Hollaway's Blackpool team, and the the team relegated under the most unpopular potentially in the nation, West Ham United. All three of these clubs have been in the limelight pre-season, perhaps most noticeably with Birmingham, as their previous manager Alex McLeish made a well publicised local-suicide attempt in moving to cross-city rivals, Aston Villa. Perhaps more significant than McLeish's resignation and Chris Hughton's appointment, were the developments at Upton Park, with the replacement for Avram Grant being confirmed as the proven manager of Sam Allardyce.

Parker: Heart of the Hammers wasn't beating

     All these changes therefore, make it ever more surprising that both teams, despite new managers and a raft of player additions, were both defeated by Championship regulars, Derby County and Cardiff City over the weekend. Okay, so in West Hams case, it may have been desperately unlucky to have hit the post and had  a goal line clearance go against them prior to a 90th minute goal by Kenny Miller. But still, the Hammers surprise defeat and Birmingham's low rate performance against a newly revamped Derby, have come somewhat as a surprise to me, as well im sure as many other Championship pundits and fans. The demise of these two teams weekend, therefore brings me to the team so desperately unlucky to succumb to relegation last year: Blackpool. Despite a well oiled performance by Nigel Peasons Hull City at their KC stadium, the tangerines style of passive, fluent player and ball movement ensured that Hollaway's men got off to a winning start upon their return to the Championship, courtesy of a fantastic strike by, in my opinion a highly under-rated striker, Gary Taylor-Fletcher.
   Okay, so bare with me here, I am going somewhere with this; more surprising then the defeats of Birmingham and West Ham, maybe the fortunes of the newly instated teams from last years League One: Brighton & Hove Albion, Southampton, and Peterborough United. All three teams recorded opening day victories, going against expectation in many cases, and causing cause for concern for managers throughout the league. So we'll start with Brighton: a team I personally tip for making the Play-Off's this year thanks to the momentum carried forward from their domination of last years League One campaign and the signing of 30 goal a season striker Craig Mackail-Smith, They had gave there new home at the AMEX Stadium a fitting fighting first win victory, thanks to  two late strikes from Brighton's Will Buckley.
  Despite losing Mackail-Smith to Brighton over the Summer, Peterborough also got off to a winning start against  Crystal Palace, with Darren Ferguson's men similarly coming from behind like the Seagulls to win 2-1. After conceding to a 33rd minute strike from Palace winger Sean Scannell, Posh  replied in the Second half with goals from Grant McCann and David Ball securing victory for the Championship returnees.

Both vocally and physically, Gradel was powerless

 Team of weekend without a doubt had to be Southampton, beating a Leeds United team who are regarded by many as favourites  for Automatic Promotion this year, by a convincing score line of 3-1. The goals were equally as impressive: Dean Hammond's long range finish being shortly followed by a just as impressive finish from Adam Lallana, all before half time. After the break, Southampton added to their tally courtesy of a neat finish from David Connolly, who  made it 3-0 to a team who looked calm, cool and collective in each third of the pitch throughout the match. Maxi Gradel's consistent moaning throughout the game eventually earned them a late penalty, which the Ivory Coast winger converted to make it 3-1, and that's how the game concluded.
 It maybe extremely earlier in this years Championship, with little to be taken away from the opening weekend of football, but one thing that I realised whilst watching a dull spell during Sunday's game at Upton Park, was the shear difference in the English football League ladder: during the past three seasons, promotion winners from League One have been able to at least feature in the Play-Off's of the Championship the year after, with Norwich going one better and gaining Automatic Promotion last year, at the first attempt. So what about teams being relegated from the Premier League? Remember Burnley? How about Portsmouth? Oh, and then there was Hull; all demoted from big shots in the worlds largest league, down to nothing more second rate Championship clubs. Middlesbrough also follow this trend; in fact the only team that comes to memory would be West Brom: the nations number one Yo-Yo team in terms crossing the bridge from Championship to Premier League, and visa versa.
 So, all thats left to say is: Good luck Blackpool, West Ham, And Birmingham. You'll need it.

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