Tan Shows His True Colours

In an interview with the BBC Vincent Tan discussed the issues he has faced since arriving in the Welsh capital. From Malky Mackay to the kit change, the interview was a highlight reel of successive disasters since the Malaysian came in.

Has Tan been made a villain?

FIFA World Cup - Six Months To Go

There is now only six months to go until the FIFA World Cup finally arrives in Brazil. The stage is set, we know the 32 teams that will be in Brazil, what we don't know is where the matches will be played. The organization process has been a comedy of errors, leaving people worried if the stadiums will be ready in time. If there is one thing that the poor organization has shown us, it is that football fans can only focus on one badly organised World Cup at a time. Its been a long time since anybody mentioned the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

World's Best Derby Days

The first Welsh Premier League Derby was held this weekend with Cardiff taking the bragging rights, if you were anywhere near Wales this weekend you would think it was the only game on over the weekend. It was a huge affair in South Wales, and was built up all week as 'a tale of two cities', showing the differences between the two industrial cities of Cardiff and Swansea. Some people this week have even said that the Welsh derby is the best in the world, a difficult argument to win, because everyone believes that their teams derby is the best. So I'm going to have a look around world football and find this best derbies. This means the best football, the best atmosphere, stadium, everything that would make you want to go to that game as a neutral.

El Clasico on the Horizon

The first El Clasico of the 2013/14 season is on the horizon and it is one of the most anticipated for a long time. Both clubs have new star signings, both clubs have some of the best players in the world, but both have stuttered at the start of this season. Real Madrid have scraped wins against weaker opposition, lost to the city rivals Atletico Madrid, and drawn with Villarreal. Not the performances you expect from a team the size of Real Madrid. They lie in 3rd place in La Liga, with a chance to go level on points with Barcelona by winning at the Camp Nou. Although the Catalans occupy the top spot in the table, they haven't played brilliantly either. In their last two fixtures they have only managed draws against Osasuna and AC Milan. They seem to lost the cutting edge that has made them the dominant force in Europe over the last few years.

Could Qatar Possibly Be A Success?

It's popular opinion amongst the media to say that the Qatar world cup will unequivocally be a disaster. No one is looking at the other side of the argument, which it probably deserves as an event. I know that it is a completely different event, but remember amount of people who said that London 2012 would be an abject failure. It was actually one of the greatest Olympics in living memory, it is the popular option in this country to say something will not work. Qatar is a far different case of course but it once again seems to be the popular whinge, in the pub, on the radio, even interviews with club managers now. Although moving the World Cup would effect club managers, what interest have they got in talking about it. Does anyone seriously think that Sepp Blatter is going to listen to what David Moyes has to say?

Time to Look Outside the Top Teams?

There has always been a bias in the English national team for players that play in the traditional top four, this has now perhaps opened up to a top six in the last few seasons. The point still remains that the vast majority of players, come from Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or Tottenham. To an extent there is good reason for this, as you would expect, the best clubs have the premium English talent. But do they really? You would not say that the core of any of those teams is essentially English, barring possibly Manchester United. It is also an important factor that the English players in these teams simply haven't performed, even if we say that United do have an 'English core' it isn't one that you would particularly like to pick from. Young has been very poor this season, Ferdinand looks like he has lost far more than a yard of pace, Welbeck is still struggling for goals when given easy opportunities.

Is the Premier League Really the Best League in the World?

The organsisers of the Premier League in England have for years forced down our necks that the they have the 'best league' in the World. The question is how do you judge a league overall compared to the other leagues in the World? To save some time I have focused solely on Europe and the major European leagues, how do we decide which is the best league, do we use Champions League wins? If so Spain edges this contest over the last five years, although haven't won it since 2011. They have two wins while England, Germany and Italy have one each in the last five years.