It seems like only yesterday when Italia 1990 took place, probably the first World Cup that could honestly begin to claim it was a global spectacle. As if by magic, the Cameroon side that qualified for the 14th World Cup were able to explode all over the world and show people that African international football had arrived. It wasn’t that previous qualifiers from Africa hadn’t given a good account of themselves, Algeria in 1982 were cheated out of qualifying for the 2nd round. They’d just not been consistent throughout a tournament.

1990 changed all that almost immediately. The World Cup traditionally opened with the defending champions playing in the first game, and Italia 90 was no different. It was expected to be a turkey shoot, as Argentina faced Cameroon on June 8th in Turin. After 90 minutes, African football had come of age thanks to Omam-Biyik’s 67th minute header condemned the holders to a 1-0 defeat. It was a result that made football fans the world over sit up and take notice.

Other than the win, the game featured quite possibly one of my favourite ever tackles in a game of football. Suddenly, anything was possible and Cameroon would have an adventure that almost reached fairytale proportions. It would be the story of the 1990 World Cup and especially thanks to one player it would live on in the memory long after the finals had drawn to a close. Cameroon’s fantastic run was built on a foundation of pace, strength and the lethal finishing of a 38 year old journey man striker called Roger Milla.

Milla had been a striker of average talents that had plied his trade in the French First Division throughout the 1980′s but by 1989 had moved the the French island of Réunion to take up a post of player coach for St.Piere. His French club career had seen him play for Monaco, St. Etienne and Bastia amongst others, but had retired from international football. The country managed to talk him back for a 3rd World Cup and he was instrumental in the achievements throughout the World Cup.

After dispatching Argentina, Cameroon beat a well fancied Romanian side 2-1, with Milla getting both goals before a final defeat came against the Soviet Union 4-0. It mattered not, they finished top of the group, even with a negative goal difference, but found Colombia in the next round. To all intents and purposes, the dream would surely run out of steam against another South American side, but after 90 minutes the games was level at 0-0. Milla had come on as a substitute and they were hanging on.

Suddenly in the second half of extra time, Milla came alive, scoring 2 goals in 2 minutes, the second one that will haunt Rene Higuita, Colombia’s iconic goalkeeper for the rest of his life. He came sprinting from his goal to try and play sweeper, dallied and Milla robbed him, ran on and slotted the ball in to the empty net. 2-0, game over, the legend of the Indominatable Lions was made in those minutes. Colombia stole a late goal but to no avail, they were out and Cameroon became the first African country to make the quarter finals.

The next match will live long in my memory, mostly because of how much England struggled, despite taking the lead through David Platt. Cameroon’s movement and pace had unsettled England to the point that they were 2-1 down, once again with Milla taking centre stage. Coming on as a substitute he set the first with a beautiful pass and was brought down for a penalty, which was converted to put Cameroon 2-1.

England were facing the exit but with 7 minutes remaining Gascoigne played Lineker in and a rash tackle gave a penalty away. Lineker, ever the predator, scored and in to extra time we went. It was then that the Cameroonian legs began to tire and the English pushed on for a winner. Both sides had been involved in extra-time tussles, but Cameroon seemed to be feeling the effects more. A carbon copy pass from Lineker once again invited a rash challenge and once again the result was the same.

It was an effort too much for the Lions to try and pull level and England’s experience told as the clock ticked down to the final whistle. They were out, but to a man, every fan in the ground and stood and applauded the Cameroon team as they waved Italia 90 goodbye on a lap of honour. They had come so far, achieved so much and won so many admirers for the passionate way they played the game. African football grew in stature that month in 1990 and all football fans around the world should be thankful for Roger Milla and the Cameroon team that won Italia 90′s hearts.

Ever since the World Cup draw was made back in December, all eyes in the United States have been on the first game in Group C. The match against England is widely anticipated in America, but here it’s just another group game. There’s not the same level of excitement, sure England fans are looking forward to it, but because it’s the first game, not because we’re playing the United States.

Everything in England is geared to the tournament finally getting underway. There is no real sense of trepidation or concern for the game against the USA. Don’t mistake that lack of fear as arrogance, it’s simply that there is no real rivalry for England fans to gauge their feelings towards the USA on a football basis. We don’t view the first opponents in that way, we don’t have any footballing history against America.

The view over here is that we’ve been drawn in the easier side of the draw and our group could have been a lot worse. Looking back, it’s probably viewed as the easiest group we’ve had since 1986. Yet that should serve as a stark remainder of what can happen if you take your eye off the ball. A group containing Portugal, Morocco and Poland was viewed as a matter of course for qualification and it simply seemed a case of who would finish second behind England. How wrong those feelings were.

England were drab and lifeless in the first game against Portugal and deservedly lost one nil. England have played Portugal several times since then and are still awaiting another opportunity to end a run that now stretches to 44 years since the last competitive victory against our oldest allies. The next match saw England once again fail to produce and were in danger of imploding, Bryan Robson injured and out of the tournament, Ray Wilkins sent off and 0-0 draw against Morocco left qualification in the balance.

Everything was on the last game, against Poland but the team had been altered due to the loss of Wilkins and Robson and the failings of Mark Hateley up front. The rest as they say is history, with Gary Lineker’s hat trick catapulted England through. It’s certainly not a situation that anyone in the UK sees repeating itself this time in South Africa. Confidence is high amongst the fans, but the ridiculous tub thumbing bravado of the Eriksson years has settled away to something more reflective, more assured, more believable.

The usual four year worrying about key players has also subsided, concerns remain against several members of the squad, through form, injury and personal worries that dogged certain members this year. Yet for all that, most England fans are already plotting England’s opponents in the Second Round. Will it be our old nemesis, Germany, or the hard working Australians or as some experts predict, the dark horses of Ghana. Any of those permutations is already being discussed and dissected.

That’s not to say they’re right in thinking that, but that’s football fans the world over, daring to dream. The players will be under no doubts or allow dreams to cloud the thinking. Capello will have them facing each game and each opponent one at a time. There will be no excuses for getting ahead of themselves. As a USA fan, you may be thinking this is all rather conceited and arrogant. I assure you, it isn’t. No-one is expecting another 1950 and we all know enough about the US team, the key players and the tactics, that surprises like that warm Brazilian day on June 29th won’t happen again.

The defeat is now classed as so long ago by the media, that it doesn’t allow the option to stir up the primal need for revenge that say matches against Argentina, France, Germany, Scotland and Portugal brings. Even allowing for the 2-0 defeat in Boston back in 1993 fails to raise the hackles of English fans. That period of failure is written off as the “Graham Taylor era” and no-one likes opening that particular box back up.  Wedged between the semi finals of 1990 and 1996, it’s glossed over at any given opportunity. It’s not that England fans don’t care or feel the result is a forgone conclusion, they just expect the team to win.

Some parts of the media will try and stir it up, get some anti-American feeling going, but in general, it’s not there to stir and I feel it’s vice versa. I couldn’t have met a friendlier bunch of people when I was in the States, I really like the place and the people. It suited me. Honestly, I could think of nothing better than living in either Florida or California, I’d love to live the States. I’d bite your arm off to live there, I really would. Especially now that football is growing as a sport.

What has surprised me are some attempts at belittling England, such as the laughable comments that England had an easy group to get through. Despite the excuses being made for Croatia having two players missing, which I think certainly overplays the amount of ability and influence Eduardo has on the national side, beating them 4-1 away and 5-1 at home is not something to write off so easily. Croatia were on a 14 year unbeaten home run. 14 years, now come on surely that deserves a little credit? No, well disputing that as two excellent results is pointless.

Just because we’re not banging on about the game doesn’t mean we think less of the USA as a footballing nation, or that we don’t rate the team, the talent and tenacity are clearly there. It doesn’t mean we don’t view the USA as a threat, we do. It’s just that as with Algeria and Slovakia, the team are expected to win. Nothing more, nothing less. Me, I’m expecting it to be the toughest game of the group stage and I do honestly hope the USA get through to the second round too. It’ll be tough, but it’s certainly an easier group than you got saddled with last time.

No-one is taken the USA lightly, don’t judge us on our media and some of the chatter that descends through the Internet, like a room full of monkeys tweeting. Talk to us, ask us what we think, don’t make outlandish sweeping statements about how crap England are just to get a reaction, that’s just juvenile. We see enough football to know when someone’s talented.

We were all impressed at Landon Donovan finally having a productive spell in European football, we know what Clint Dempsey offers the team. We know Freddy Adu has dropped off the edge of the world by getting too big for his boots. We’ve seen some of the best players the USA has produced week in, week out in all our leagues. Don’t mistake our silence or reticence for arrogance.It just means we quite like you and surely that’s a good thing isn’t it??

Leave me your comments below, or you can find me on twitter.com/paulbestall where I can talk football all day.

Don’t panic, I’m not going to go all Oprah on you all, but I’ve got a confession to make that a man of my age can’t hide. Every 4 years, the World Cup comes around and over here in Europe we’ve a company called Panini who make sticker books for most major tournaments and leagues. Since the 1980′s I used to collect them until about 1988 until the surly teenager in me decided I was far too mature to muck about with such childish entertainment. No more swapping  Ian Rush for Gary Lineker in the school yard, oh no. I’d got beer, music and girls to keep me interested instead.

I know in the States that the big thing for junior sports fans is trading cards, which have only recently taken off here in the UK, so I’m unsure as to what anyone based in North America will make of them or even know what they are, but in Europe they’re big business. Yet, since the 1998 World Cup, I’ve always bought a Panini World Cup sticker book. I can’t help myself and I got the latest one last week. No really, I did.

Of course these days, the Internet is here and I can trawl through cyberspace laughing away at some of the ridiculous haircuts, mustaches and kits of yesteryear. There is such a wave of nostalgia for these sticker books that I’ve even seen articles from Germany discussing the way players used to look, which you can read at Bild’s website here and see if you recognise any of the names mentioned!!

It’s just weird that here I am with all the modern entertainment I have at my disposal, from my X-Box, to Digital TV, DVD’s and my I-pod that something so basic, so simple should still have such an emotional attachment to me. On the Guardian website the other week, someone sent in a link to this fantastic site which has scanned the entire Italia 90 sticker book online! A virtual reality treasure trove of memories, both good and bad of such an amazing tournament.Have a scroll through it, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

That was probably the catalyst for me to delve back in to trying, once again to complete the album, which I know now I won’t do, even though I tell myself I shall. It’s amazing that something so trivial can transport you back to a more innocent time and looking back you can see so many names that have drifted away in to the depths of time.

Grown men all over the UK have started to secretly pretend they’ve got kids now to try and cover up their sticker based addictions, as this current thread on a Crystal Palace message board proves. I am not alone in my addiction, though I doubt I can seek counseling over such vices but it’s nice to know I’m not the saddest man out there. After purchasing my latest sticker book, I was disappointed to only get 2 England players out of 70 stickers which means of course that’ll keep buying them! The seminal British magazine When Saturday Comes has also seen some of its contributors weigh in with some memories of those days too. An amusing discussion is still trundling along here.

For me, it’s a fundamental part of the World Cup experience for fans over here young and old and even now, nearly 30 years on from my first sticker book, Espana 1982, it’s heartwarming to see the Panini World Cup sticker book on the shelves in stores. It’s one of those things that sets the clock ticking down towards the kick off to the tournament and with it, a little bit of me thinks back to those faraway days of swapping stickers with school friends.

Fans of English soccer in the United States have everything they could possibly wish for: All Premier League games shown live through television and the Internet. A daily UK sports news program from Sky Sports. Matches shown in HD, when and where available. Ways to get around the BBC blocking radio commentaries. And an Internet that is thriving with discussions of every facet of the Premier League you could possibly wish for.

Except, there’s still one thing missing. The final thing that would make the English soccer experience in the United States complete. It’s Match Of The Day.

BBC’s Match Of The Day has been on air since 1964 and, even 46 years since it’s launch, still has an important role in influencing the opinions of soccer fans throughout the British Isles. But just as it’s required viewing in the UK, the program would be a perfect fit for the United States.

Here’s why:

The United States has one of the widest selection of Premier League games (and other leagues) in the world. However even with 20 hours or more of live Premier League games shown on US TV each weekend, there’s a massive gaping void when it comes to highlights of the games and the goals.

Take, for example, the average of seven Premier League games that are shown live on a typical Saturday across ESPN2, Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Soccer Plus and FoxSoccer.tv. You have to be a hermit to watch all 14 hours of Premier League action on any given Saturday. If you began your viewing at 7:45am, you would have to watch the 7 games one after the other (thanks to the help of a DVR player) with no break until the DVR finished showing you the last game at approximately 9:45pm that Saturday. That’s practically impossible even for the most hardcore soccer fan.

Imagine it’s a Saturday and you spent a couple of hours watching the early kick-off game on ESPN2. But for the remainder of the day, you had errands to run, chores to do and a family to spend your time with. After returning to your home by late afternoon, your obvious inclination is to find out what the results were from the day’s games and to watch the highlights. If you want to do this, your options are:

1. Watch the games you taped. You can fast forward through each one, or skip to the end to see the goal highlights. But it’s messy because it takes a lot of fast forwarding and rewinding and you completely lose context out of what happened in the games,
2. You can watch Fox Soccer Match Day on tape (from Noon to 12:30pm ET) and see goal highlights from some of the games shown on Saturday morning but not all of the highlights will be revealed due to some of the games being shown on tape delay later that afternoon on Fox Soccer Channel,
3. You can visit a website such as 101 Great Goals and watch highlights from each of the games. While the experience is pretty good, it ruins the element of surprise because you’ll know what the final results of the games were before you click on the links.

While the third option is the most comprehensive in terms of guaranteeing you’ll be able to watch highlights from each game, the videos are technically illegal in that the company who has the rights to show the game highlights legally online if Fox Soccer Channel.

On a Saturday, there is no legal option to watch all of that day’s highlights in one program either online or on television. Again, I repeat, there is not one legal option. You can either stumble through the three options above or wait until 24 hours later to watch the Sunday night show, the Barclays Premier League Review Show.

If it was a weeknight, you could wait until 10pm to watch Fox Soccer Report. But soccer fans in the United States are left stranded on weekends in the States.

In a random tweet I posted on Twitter earlier this week, I asked EPL Talk followers whether they’d watch an American version of BBC’s Match Of The Day. Out of the 57 responses I received, the vast majority were in favor of the idea. However, the more I thought about it, the more I thought it would be better to just have a network air the original Match Of The Day program live on US TV rather than to create an American version of it.

I believe if Fox Soccer Channel acquired the TV and online rights to BBC’s Match Of The Day program, it could make a mint. The program would be a must-see for fans of Premier League clubs each Saturday afternoon and could be shown live at 5:30pm ET which is exactly the time the program airs on British television (10pm UK time). The program would fit nicely into Fox’s schedule right after the 3:30-5:30pm ET Serie A game ends.

It’s not just the highlights of the day’s Premier League action that makes Match Of The Day a must-see program. It’s also the analysis, no matter how good or bad people think it is, that is offered by the BBC pundits as well as the genteel Gary Lineker, as host, who is impossible not to hate.

One of the reasons why Match Of The Day would be popular in the States, other than providing excellent highlights, is that it has a magical appeal to the program because it’s been forbidden for so long. There’s a mystique around the show because Americans have heard Brits romanticize about it for so long. Plus, because it’s currently not legally available for viewing in the States (thus enhancing the mystique), many soccer fans end up getting it illegally through P2P file sharing such as BitTorrent.

While Match Of The Day may encourage some soccer fans to watch fewer live Premier League games on Fox Soccer Channel, there will still be many fans who prefer to watch live games in their entirety while others will prefer to watch a highlights package. Plus, the program would be the perfect gateway for new soccer fans to get initiated into the English variety of the sport and to encourage them to watch more games on Fox Soccer Channel.

I’m sure that although the TV rights to BBC’s Match Of The Day don’t come too cheaply, it would definitely be worth Fox Soccer Channel’s time to do their due diligence necessary to see how much it would cost and how it could frame advertising around the program. Because the BBC doesn’t feature any advertising, Match Of The Day runs 80 minutes without any commercials. While this may seem like a problem for Fox, I see it as an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to beam a one-of-a-kind highlights show that soccer fans would be very passionate and loyal about. The program could be “Brought to you by [insert advertiser's name here].” What an opportunity to position one sponsor as the “one who brought Match Of The Day to you.”

It’s time for Match Of The Day to come to the United States. That time is now.

Tomorrow sees that magical mark of 100 days until the 19th World Cup begins and the chase for places outside of the main names is really beginning to hot up. Fabio Capello will probably have a definite idea of around 10 names who will certainly be on the plane to South Africa injury willing. James, Terry, Ferdinand, Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Rooney, Defoe, Milner and Beckham will probably be certain of inclusion but for once, the rest of the squad would seem to be all to play for.

Over the next few days, I’ll be casting my eye over some of the outsiders and squad players who will be hoping to be involved this summer and make a real name for themselves. Some may be reliant on players failing to recover from injury, some will be hoping to force themselves in to the reckoning and some will fall at the final cut off point. I’ll be looking at who and where the chances apply and why I think they should or shouldn’t go to South Africa.

Suffice to say, several positions have opened up through injury and whilst no-one wants to miss out, sometimes injury can allow players who may not have been chosen to push forward into the squad. England, in recent big tournaments has seen certain players stamp there mark on big tournaments for differing reasons.

John Barnes in 1986 and 1990 saw both sides of the coin. An electric substitute appearance against Argentina in the 1986 World Cup was well remembered, Barnes’ absence through injury in 1990 saw the side progress to the semi-finals. After years of sub-par England performances, the 1990 World Cup was the nadir for his international career as the fans grew tired of his failure to replicate his phenomenal league performances at international level.

Peter Beardsley also saw his international stock rise in 1986 and formed a fabulous partnership with Gary Lineker, but only with England facing expulsion in the first round. After replacing Mark Hateley in the starting line up against Poland, Beardsley never looked back and slotted in for the next 5 seasons.

Mark Wright, for many, England’s stand out centre half in the run up to 1986, missed the tournament after breaking a leg. His replacement, Terry Fenwick is not favourably remembered by many England fans. Wright would show his true quality in the 1990 tournament, scoring the goal that allowed England to progress into the knock out stages and continue to play until injury finally caught up with him.

David Platt was another who made a name for himself through the misfortune of another. A peripheral player, it was Bryan Robson’s injury against Belgium that saw Platt write his name in England’s history, with a winner in the last minute of extra time in the same match. That effectively ended Robson’s international career, whilst Platt’s reputation went through the roof.

David Beckham will always remember 1998 in France for all the wrong reasons, but pushed those memories to one side when he scored the winner against Argentina in 2002. Beckham, at the time, was playing his best football of his career, probably since that sending off in St. Etienne. That red card made him the player he became in my eyes and pushed him upward towards the iconic status he holds in English football these days.

Overall though, the next 3 months will see several players try everything in their power to make that final squad of 23 that will embark to the base of Rustenberg in June. There are spaces in the England team, no doubt about it, perhaps more than we can think of right now, but I honestly think 8 squad places are up for grabs and I’ll cover who I think can make it over the next few days. Please leave me your comments and thoughts on who you’d like to see in Fabio’s final 23.

South Africa 2010

Almost twenty years ago England went to Poland knowing that a draw would qualify them for Italia 90. A backs-to-the wall performance and the magnificence of Peter Shilton ensured they had their point and the team then went onto reach the semi-finals of the tournament that arguably saved English football from itself and ultimately elevated it to today’s dizzy heights.

Were it not for the crossbar however that Poland hit in the last minute with the superlative Shilton well beaten, England would have lost that night and not have qualified for Italia 90.   There would have been no glorious semi-final defeat, no tears from Gazza and the EPL might never have been born. Yet lady luck was smiling on England that night and here we are some 20 years on with England once again on the brink of the finals of the World Cup.  Like Bobby Robson’s team, England remain unbeaten throughout their qualifying campaign but there is unlikely to be a repeat of that night in Chorzow where England had to get a result as their campaign for South Africa draws to a close.

Should England fail on Wednesday they have a second and a third stab at qualification against the Ukraine and Belarus respectively in October although in all likelihood their passage to South Africa next summer will be sealed with those two games to spare.

There’s something about a do-or-die game however that somehow makes it all seem worthwhile. All those weekends where the EPL comes to a grinding halt and all eyes are fixed firmly on the England camp seem to frustrate fans and managers alike but when it all comes down to one night, it serves up a starter that wets our appetite for the main course of the Finals themselves next summer.

In years’ gone by, as well as the nail-biter in Poland, England supporters have endured the catastrophe in Rotterdam in 1993, the miracle of Rome in 1997, David Beckhams finest hour in 2001 although last time around in 2005 it was something of a damp squib as Sven’s men actually qualified for Germany on the back of a Dutch victory over the Czech Republic.

Of course the misery of failing to qualify for Euro 2008 is still relatively fresh in people’s minds and whilst you could argue that England have come on in leaps and bounds since that horror show in 2007 – ironically also against Wednesday’s opponents Croatia – it could be argued that international football is steadily falling down the interest radar. Of course everyone loves the World Up but the whole qualification process? It just seems inconvenient particularly to fans of the Bloated Four although it must be said but when it is their teams that are pretty much decimated by international call ups you can maybe see their point.
There was a time when England games seemed to really matter and they would capture the imagination of the English public in as much as they seemed to unite the football world but now they seem nothing more than a little sideshow than needs to be gotten out of the way before everyone can back to the real deal of the EPL.

With two huge games coming up on September 12th (Man City v Arsenal; Spurs v Man Utd) when the league resumes it is sometimes hard to get too excited about the international scene but come next summer no doubt even England’s biggest critics will be on the bandwagon although it is fair to say that the EPL has become the be all and end all of football in England and sadly that seems to include international football as well.

As far as Capello is concerned, well all he has done really is take the same group of players and taught them how to win again in a not too dissimilar way that one of his predecessors Sven Goran Erickson had England playing. It’s not pretty but it is effective – albeit against mediocre opposition it must be said.  Indeed, perhaps one of the biggest reasons for England’s recent winning streak is not necessarily the new manager but the standard of opposition in their group. You can only beat what’s in front of you and England has obviously done that but without really making anyone sit up and take notice. There’s still questions about the left side of midfield, there’s still doubts about Gerrard and Lampard in the same team and whilst those issues have been part and parcel of the England set up for years it seems there’s now doubts about just who is the first choice goalkeeper and just who should partner Rooney up front if there is to be a partner for him at all.

The warm up game against Slovania on Saturday will merely be a taster for the big event on Wednesday with Capello hoping above all to avoid any injuries to his squad so he may play his first team.  Looking at the team that faced Poland in 1989 what Capello wouldn’t give for the likes of Shilton, Bryan Robson and Gary Lineker to be lining up for him.  Indeed it makes the mouth water doesn’t it?  Gerrard and Robson together in the middle of the park?  Rooney and Lineker up front?  Maybe England would even progress beyond the Quarter Final stage and maybe even…nah, it wouldn’t be the same without a heartbreaking penalty shootout loss would it?

Poland 0-0 England
11 October,1989
Stadion Slaski, Chorzow

Peter Shilton [Derby County]
Gary Stevens [Glasgow Rangers]
Stuart Pearce [Nottingham Forest]
Desmond Walker [Nottingham Forest]
Terence Butcher [Glasgow Rangers]
David Rocastle [Arsenal]
Bryan Robson [Manchester United]
Stephen McMahon [Liverpool]
Christopher Waddle [Marseille]
Peter Beardsley [Liverpool]
Gary Lineker [Tottenham Hotspur]

Pundits, some played football once upon a time you know..

 Am I the only person who is sick to death of having the league table flashed up at every opportunity? Am I the only person sick to death of hearing ‘If Liverpool win today they will go back above United’ (despite the fact they will have played more games)?  And last but not least, am I the only person who doesn’t need to hear about Alan Shearer’s ‘monumental task’?

Of course these issues are among the most intriguing. However when watching Match of the day etc, you would think the relegation battle has been won/lost every single weekend. Newcastle are the perfect example of this. They have five games to go (of which three are at home) and yet every week it would appear that the Toon Army’s current ‘messiah’ has already fallen. Now bear in mind they are four points behind Hull City with a game in hand before facing Portsmouth at home on Monday night. Should the Magpies win this they are a point behind City with another twelve points to play for.

No one can deny that the current relegation battle is a fascinating, dramatic and enthralling one, but there is a considerable amount of football to be played yet. It is also very likely that we will witness another final day of the season crescendo at that end of the table like the one involving Sheffield United, Wigan and West Ham. But for the love of god, why must every single point be the resurrection of a team’s survival hopes or the Coup de grâce? Yes Lee Dixon, Gary Lineker et al, every point lost is more sand into the bottom dome of the hourglass. BUT there are six teams realistically fighting to stay out of two relegation places - all of which have at least four games/ twelve points to play for. Add to that the even West Brom are not even down yet and we’ve all accepted they are dead in the water, it makes the constant analysis of the table ridiculous.

Here’s an idea for the pundits, go into huge detail about the drop-zone when a team can be relegated the following WEEK and not in four games time!

Now, when thinking about the other end of the table, I go to bed at night and suffer from the following three Premier league induced sleep disorders:

1) Images of the table before and after every Manchester United or Liverpool game BURNED into the insides of my eyelids - Who cares when United kick off half an hour after Liverpool anyway? I might be interested after BOTH teams have played.

2) The lack of peaceful silence in which to drift off into a delciate snooze because I can still hear echoes of Martin Tyler and Andy Gray from Sky Sports to the tune of  “Well that three points for Liverpool piles the pressure on Manchester United who face Portsmouth at Old Trafford this evening” or how about ” A win for Liverpool today will take the Reds back to the summit of the Premier League table, meaning United MUST  win to keep ahead in this extraordinary title race!” Yes guys, we know this and do not need to be informed of this twelve times per day. Additionally - title ‘race’ is only going to be particularly interesting to us neutrals if United actually drop points – they have won their last four games in the league . Perhaps not at their best - but win their game in hand and they could be six points clear.

3) Last and certainly not least, ‘The War Of  The Words” between a certain Scot and a particular Spaniard. Who ACTUALLY cares about the overweight David Guest look-alike having a handbags at dawn with a man who thinks every controversial decision that is ruled in his team’s favour is ‘about time because we never get these decisions etc’ - We’d rather watch some football please.

So a final word, YES it is the pundit/journo’s job to hype things up so they can sell airtime and newspapers but must we be saturated with constant analysis from people who have never even managed a successful side?

Everton have reportedly dumped Umbro as their kit manufacturer and have replaced them with Le Coq Sportif beginning with the 2009/2010 season. Also reportedly gone are kit distributors JJB who are being replaced by Kitbag instead.

Everton have developed a love hate relationship with Umbro over the years. Umbro has been Everton’s official kit manufacturer for 1974-1983, 1986-2000 and 2004-2009. The delayed release of the new Everton home shirt this past summer must have been the last straw for the club and its fans. The shirts were delayed by Umbro until late July because of quality control issues experienced in the Far East where the shirts were made.

A good indication that the rumor may be true of Umbro being dumped in favor of Le Coq Sportif is the fact that Everton’s online megastore have slashed their prices for their home, away and third shirt by 60% from £39.99 to £14.99. This is absolutely ridiculous. The third shirt was only released on October 7!

When Everton wore Le Coq Sportif kits from 1983 to 1986, it coincided with the club winning a ton of silverware. During this time, Everton won the First Division (1984-85), the FA Cup (1984), Charity Shield (1984 and 1985) and European Cup Winners Cup (1985).

The Le Coq Sportif years at Everton are synonymous with some of the club’s best players in recent memory including Gary Lineker (pictured above), Graeme Sharp, Gary Stevens, Kevin Ratcliffe, Trevor Steven, Peter Reid, Kevin Sheedy, Andy Gray and Neville Southall.

The only two Premier League clubs who currently wear Le Coq Sportif shirts are Manchester City and Stoke City. However, Manchester City look likely to sign a deal with Puma for the 2009-10 season and beyond.