Are merged leagues the answer for Scottish football?

Graham Spiers asked last week if ''merged leagues are the answer for Scottish football''. I don't think that Scottish football can be fixed by one policy but, on balance, I'd say a merged league would certainly be one good way forward.

As Spiers points out that the Russian and Ukrainian FAs and also the Czech and Slovak FAs want to merge their league structures. Michel Platini, the President of UEFA, has previously called for a Balkan league and a merged Dutch and Belgian league. Spiers has claimed that the Bosnian and Serbian leagues are considering such moves whilst the Scandinavian leagues have already held talks and considered a prototype merged league. Imagine, for a second, if those leagues all merged. That would fundamentally change European football and continental football considerably.

Other leagues may be considering such mergers. There has been talk for years that the Maltese league should merge with the lower Italian leagues.

As European continental football and finance becomes ever more concentrated in a small number of clubs in a small number of leagues it is understandable why other leagues are considering ways to become competitive, more financially viable and more likely to compete with the powerful leagues.

Leagues merging would have profound effects on European qualification and European competition. It would also, potentially, lead to greater sponsorship and fan attendances as the leagues become more exciting and competitive.

It also would necessarily lead to more discussion of a British league. One of the issues, for many fans, of Rangers and Celtic joining the Premier League or Championship was that it was a strange move to allow two clubs to switch leagues (UEFA struggled with the merger of TNS and Oswestry Town merging after all).

With greater levels of league amalgamation across Europe, and with UEFA approval, we may see more Scottish clubs agitating to join a 'British league'. My guess is that as long as that would not compromise Scotland's status as an independent nation within the game (which it wouldn't - that's a red herring that the politically motivated like to chuck around without much proof and, even if it weren't, in an era of league mergers the idea would dissipate even further) then most fans and many clubs would be keen on such a move.

Clubs playing across borders are not new - Derry City play in the Irish league. Toronto play in the MLS. Berwick Rangers play in Scotland. Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham play in England. Wellington Phoenix play in the Australian league whilst some Brunei teams play in Malaysia. Monaco play in France. Mexican teams play in the Copa Libertadores. 7 Liechtenstein teams play in Switzerland. FC Busingen of Germany play in Switzerland. Anomalies exist and, if leagues begin to merge, new anomalies may be created.

It is not clear whether the merged leagues would see the Ukrainian league and Russian leagues swept away entirely or if two pyramids would feed into one new top division/top two divisions. Such modelling for a 'British league' would need to be discussed. As Spiers notes, Scotland needs radical solutions and Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts and Dundee United would surely fair financially better in a world where they were playing clubs with bigger grounds and more fans on a week by week basis. Celtic and Rangers would benefit as well but, at least, it wouldn't just be them. Would the English benefit as well? My guess is yes.

Assuming that UEFA did give its consent to merging leagues then it may be the case that a number of Scottish clubs would agitate for a move for a merged league. Let us hope that the discussion is had and the crippling voice of parochialism is locked in the broom cupboard.

RCM

The Left Back In The Changing Room Season Overview

Inspired by the round-up by Greg over at Dispatches From A Football Sofa I thought I'd put together my entire season's writing. I've missed out some posts - the very short pieces and the Sunday night treat series - but the rest of it is here.

It covers all sorts. Numerous pieces on the Golden Generation (Cole, Terry, Ferdinand, Gerrard and Carragher all have pieces about them) whilst politics come back time and again be it in the politics of the game or the intrusion of politics within the game.

Looking back I'm probably a little surprised at the range and disappointed I wrote so little. If only there were more time. If only my brain could think up more thoughts.

That said, I would like to thank all my readers, those who comment on the pieces (blogging is better with comments!) and all those who have inspired thoughts either here or on Twitter. I enjoy writing the pieces enormously and I always learn something from the views of others. I hope you enjoy reading the blog as much as I enjoy writing it and hope that you continue to do so for some time yet.

Have a great summer!

Your scribe,

Rob

August

In the heady post-Olympic days when for a few brief moments Britain thought it could beat the crisis simply by being bloody brilliant and jolly my readers returned for the usual mix of nostalgia, footballing politics and unfinished sentences.

First up, a piece on that hoary old candard: Where next for Joe Cole? We've been writing that piece for a decade now and probably will be for decades to come.

More happily for a Liverpool fan assessed Raheem Sterling after seeing him in the flesh at Hearts. That game also made me think about the Scottish Cringe.

September

The major news in football in September was the publication of The Hillsborough Independent Panel. Each revelation about the wicked competence of the authorities is more devastating than the last.

In the light of the FA's findings in the Terry case I wrote on him. Captain. Leader. Legend?.

Considering Joe Cole earlier in the season led me to think what happened to the other boys who were tipped for greatness and did not succeed. The Lost Boys followed.

I've long thought that Robert Baggio should be more highly rated and he was unfortunate to be remembered for the ''Kick heard around the world'.

October

As a teenager during the Big Breakfast years I couldn't resist this pun when considering Rio Ferdinand and his treatment by Roy Hodgson ''His name is Rio and he's watching from the stands''. More thoughts on Ferdinand followed later in the month.

There are many reasons why the Scotland team isn't as good as it used to be. I blame the fall of Eastern European communism in this piece. That said, I still called for Craig Levein's head in ''Time to say goodbye''. In happier news, I finished the month with some thoughts on what it must be like to be Lionel Messi's hero.

November

The field of candidates for the Scotland job left me unimpressed so I suggested Rafa Benitez for the job. Dear Santa. I also hoped that Scotland's interim manager had been a little braver than he was.

The most read piece of the year was one imploring people to ''Save our Hearts''. This was followed by a lengthy piece defending Steven Gerrard. After a discussion on what is acceptable at football grounds we finished on November with a piece asking which of football's laws should be changed.

December

Always a quiet month at LBITCR as it is dominated by the Bumper Christmas Quiz. All we had (bar the most popular quiz I've run so far) was a very short piece on Messi.

January

The fifth calendar year of the blog started a book review of ''Does your Rabbi know you're here?'' . This was followed by me imploring football fans to come up with better nicknames for footballers in Strangelove: Or why does Rooney should have a better nickname.

I returned to an old riff in why Liverpool should be a country for old men and, at the other end of the spectrum, pondered the future for one of the club's young talents in Danny Wilson's War.

An analysis of Roman Abramovich in light of Guardiola signing for Bayern Munich in Being Roman was followed by a defence of Ronny Rosenthal. I finished January with an analysis of what Victor Wanyama could offer to Premier League clubs.

February

The collective breath of the football world was held as Gascoigne seemed to be spinning towards, well, the unthinkable. He is a hero to my generation for all his faults and I couldn't help but write on Gascoigne.

For Liverpool fans, February was the month that Jamie Carragher announced his retirement and I analysed him in We all dream of a team of Carraghers. This was followed by some thoughts on the 1990s and why we overlook Jari Litmanen when we reminisce.

The most important moment in a footballing sense of February 2013 was Robbie Rogers coming out. I've talked consistently about homophobia in the game and a lot of thoughts sprung from that brave action from that brave young man. I revisited what was acceptable at football grounds.

March

An innovation from rugby 'Ref Cam' was profiled (we really need this in our game). I considered why we feel let down by Wayne Rooney despite his achievements. It all comes down to the expectation around him - a little like the Joe Cole thoughts that started the season.

Before the brouhaha I covered Di Canio's politics (and even got a now deleted tweet from Dan Walker) and, linking to one of my sporting obsessions, considered what a British and Irish Lions football team might look like. 

After England's demolition of San Marino, much guffawing on social media and plenty of calls for the most serene to be banished from the league, I wrote in defence of San Marino. Finishing a rugby based month I suggested we nick the Ranfurly Shield idea to reinvigorate football.

April

With Di Canio now in a job, I revisited his politics in Di Canio Part II. The news story of the month was Margaret Thatcher's death and I considered how the football world shall remember her (not well).

Nostalgia flowed like a Channel 5 ''Cocks and Clips'' show in The Classified Results whilst I went into some detail to what I should thought should happen to Suarez after his biting of Ivanovic in The Reds' Devil. Bluntly, the FA were making it up as they went along - as the piece shows.

Finally, yet again, I returned to battling homophobia in football and compared the 'Y Word' campaign to the bizarre (and thankfully aborted) anti-homophobia campaign from a few years back.

May

The first piece in May was a farewell to an adversary covering the biggest story of the footballing year in Fergie's retirement. Given Fergie's Manchester United career was saved because of a cup final win (after one of the great cup finals went to replay) it was appropriate we saw an invigorating FA Cup Final this year.

Returning to the theme of Liverpool signing older players I praised the signing of Kolo Toure. The year finished by the first two posts in a series on the Golden Generation (Part 1 and Part 2).

Love, or what you will,

RCM

The Golden Generation: Part 2

So why did the Golden Generation fail? Was it because the players just weren't good enough? Was it because they had poor managers? Were they unlucky? Was it just that they were good but others were better.

It's the strikers, stupid.

The English Golden Generation produced 20 players of supreme technical ability. Of those 20, at varying points in their career, around half could be considered world-class (Beckham, Campbell, Scholes, Lampard, Ferdinand, Owen, Gerrard, A. Cole, Terry and Hargreaves). Even accounting for different players peaking at different times few other teams had such well-stocked reserves.

In central defence, assuming all were fit, England could have chosen any of the following six

players: Carragher, Campbell, Ferdinand, King, Terry, Woodgate.

In central midfield, England were blessed with Hargreaves, Scholes, Lampard, Gerrard, Cole and Carrick.

The Golden Generation: Part 1

The end of this season saw the acceleration of the end of the Golden Generation. We aren't quite lowering the Union Flag in Hong Kong but it is getting closer every day. We'll see them play on for a few years yet but there is the sense of an ending.

David Beckham, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen and Paul Scholes all bade farewell to the game. No doubt they'll crop up again in our lives - in the cosy golf club of punditry or playing for their clubs six-a-side teams with ever growing bellies in some far off land - but never again in battle.

Each one one, in their own way, is poignant.

Beckham is the modern day Bobby Charlton. The player who personified the Golden Generation. The player who became for a generation of boy's the touchstone of being a footballer. In ten years time, dads will say to their kids ''that's a David Beckham free-kick'' in the same way that my generation's fathers who talked of a man who had retired many years before we were born. Beckham, like Charlton, was both under-rated and over-rated at the same time.

Paul Scholes the man who should have personified the generation. The man who those who really love the game will always see as the man we should have built the team around. The rest of the world can't believe we didn't.

Michael Owen was in terms of personal awards the highest achiever. It was he, not Scholes or Beckham, who joined Keegan, Charlton and Matthews as winner of the Ballon d'Or. Rarely can a player have achieved so much only to lose the majority of a decade. He was the boy we didn't want to grow up and, in hindsight, we were right.
Jamie Carragher, like Neville, managed to wring every ounce of talent and serve a club for a footballing lifetime.

We'll miss them all partly because they, and their brethren, have dominated English football for over a decade. We don't know what is coming next.

As with the Ferguson retiring, an era of British football seems to be ending. That era which started with the sun-kissed euphoria of 1996 and will end next year when England are knocked out of the World Cup.

Who are the Golden Generation?

Defining the Golden Generation isn't easy. Some argue that it should include Wayne Rooney (currently aged 27) whilst others may argue that, at its upper limit, we could include Steve McManaman (now aged 41).

If one were to include David James as part of the Generation (his career for England spanned most of the Golden Generation's era, after all) the inclusion of McManaman doesn't seem outrageous. Generational definitions are always messy but it is reasonable to suggest that a member of the Golden Generation would (or could) have been one of the younger members of the England squad at Euro 1996 or France 1998, will (if still playing) be one of the elder statesmen at the Brazil World Cup and will have played for England, and at a high-level, for a significant amount of time in between.

That moves us away from an age-based definition and towards a time-based definition which makes more sense. Under such a definition, James is in (playing for England between 1997 and 2010) but rules McManaman out (playing for England between 1994 and 2001). Fowler and Jamie Redknapp miss out on similar grounds. For all the brilliance of Fowler and Redknapp they seem to belong to a different generation.

So who is in? In my view:

1. David James 
2. David Beckham* 
3. Sol Campbell 
4. Paul Scholes* 
5. Gary Neville* 
6. Nicky Butt* 
7. Phil Neville* 
8. Jamie Carragher* 
9. Emile Heskey 
10. Frank Lampard*
11. Rio Ferdinand* 
12. Jonathan Woodgate
13. Michael Owen 
14. Steven Gerrard* 
15. Ashey Cole* 
16. Ledley King 
17. Owen Hargreaves* 
18. John Terry* 
19. Michael Carrick*
20. Joe Cole

There will be some debate. Should James make it? Should Carrick? Some will question if Carragher - for all his achievements - was truly part of this generation? Others will snigger at Heskey. Some will question Carrick on different grounds.

Some will argue that others should be included: Parker, Brown, Dyer, Defoe, Barmby and co. Wes Brown might reasonably be considered 'the one who got away' but the others never consistently felt part of the bunch we'd consider as golden. It is telling that Parker, who is only slightly younger than Gerrard, was heralded as a saviour at a time when others of his age were hanging up their England shirts with over 50 caps to their name.

A golden generation?

Many will consider the Golden Generation a misnomer. They will see those comprising the Golden Generation as failures because they never succeeded on the international stage. That is an unromantic, utilitarian and blunt view but a legitimate one.

It is my view that the Golden Generation are the finest England team since the 1966 side and, somewhat contentiously, arguably finer in terms of individual personnel. In the same way we can accept that the Dutch team of 1974 was finer than the Dutch team of 1998 or the Denmark team of 1986 was finer than their team in 1992, we should know that sometimes teams that don't win can be excellent and better than those that do. We know this but in England that day in July will dominate.

Three things mark out the Golden Generation.

Firstly, success. Thirteen of the above have won the European Champions League. Fourteen of them have won the league title. A number have succeeded for numerous clubs and in numerous leagues. In terms of European success only the golden years of 77-84 compare.

These players have succeeded, for over a decade, in an English Premier League laden with foreign talent. To shine as brightly as the likes of Alonso, Henry, Drogba, Ronaldo, Viera, and Bergkamp is worthy of note. Very few generations in English football history have had so much high quality competition. Fewer still have succeeded at high-level clubs whilst doing so. It matters to fans that English players are represented when the Premier League or FA Cup is being lifted. English players will continue to do that but I can't see the next generation of players being the men clubs build themselves around. They'll be the lads at the edge of the photo rather than the ones with their hands on the trophy.

Secondly, disproportionately, loyalty. Many of these are one-club men (Gerrard, Carragher, Gary Neville, Terry, King, Scholes). A handful more have played at two or three clubs but have done so for many years and are now synonymous with their clubs (Lampard, Ferdinand, Phil Neville). In an era of greed, that is to be applauded and makes them rather special.

Does anyone believe that Cleverley, Sterling, Wilshere, Welbeck and co will spend their careers at the clubs they are currently at? My guess is that the managers of the future will not rate them as highly as the managers rated the Golden Generation (and good managers did rate them - Ferguson, Mourinho, Wenger, Benitez, Hiddink etc).It is also interesting to consider just how long they were at the highest level.

Their greatest achievement, the apotheosis of the Golden Generation, was the 2001 game against Germany. That's over a decade ago. The squad that day included Gary Neville, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, David Beckham, and Michael Owen. Jamie Carragher and Owen Hargreaves were on the bench. Three of them are still playing at the highest level and two are still standing features 

Thirdly, technique. The likes of Beckham, Carragher, Neville, and Lampard were 'un-English' in their dedication to making themselves the best they could be and, who in Lampard and Beckham's cases, that translated into huge technical ability. Away from them rarely has English football been blessed with the technique of the two Coles, Gerrard, King or Scholes.

Highs and lows

The England team have rarely looked so fine in qualifying nor have they given such high points. The 1998 game against Argentina, the 5-1 against Germany, the Beckham game against Greece, the revenge game against Argentina. Moreover, whilst media pressure on them was relentless and hype was huge, it is testament to their ability that we think them a failure because they didn't win a tournament. Few in the world game think that their talent was lacking - that's quite something. They disappointed us, they didn't fulfil their potential on the international stage but it is important to remember they had the potential. Most do not.

The sun is setting on a group of players we were blessed to watch. We should be grateful. We won't see their like again. We will suddenly see how good they really were.

RCM

Kolo Toure and the need for experience

Another summer of rebuilding seems about to commence at Anfield. We are forever rebuilding, forever turning corners. It is like supporting an Escher drawing. Jamie Carragher has exited stage left whilst rumours abound over the future of Luis Suarez and Pepe Reina.

Brendan Rodgers has had two transfer windows with Liverpool and, so far, he's served fans up with a curate's egg. One very poor, one really rather good.

Last summer's buys haven't impressed. Borini has been unfortunate with injuries and there is some hope that, with his movement, he will have a better second season with Coutinho behind him. Any striker who doesn't score goals with Coutinho peeling the grapes and serving them up on a platter should hand in his shooting boots and walk to the knacker's yard.

If Joe Allen looked like an emperor at the start of the season (Liverpool fans cooed over those passing percentages) it has rapidly become apparent that he is running around in the nude. Other players have improved in their second season at Anfield after slow starts and it is hoped that Allen regains the composure he showed so often at Swansea. Rodgers like Allen and will want him to succeed with him at Liverpool. He's managed to coax better performances out of Downing and Henderson. Now he must do the same with a player he knows rather better.

The other signings last summer were more miss than hit. Assaidi excited us all in a fine half against West Brom but hasn't really been trusted since. Samed Yesil is one for the future whilst Liverpool fans who were crowing over the capture of Nuri Sahin on loan wonder what on Earth we did to a player who, on his day at Dortmund, looked sumptuous. 

Rodgers' sales were, by and large, correct even if there was feeling that he left the squad experience light and removed attacking prowess.

There were games this season when Kuyt (who left for £800k) and Maxi Rodriguez (who left for free) would have helped Liverpool.  To be fair to Rodgers, Bellamy wanted to leave and much as I loved him, and as fine as he looked in a pre-season friendly or two, we had to cut our losses with Aquilani. Charlie Adam leaving the club was reminiscent of the occasional one night stand where the slightly grubby man shambles out blinking into the sun amazed that he'd managed to go home with a supermodel. 

There's little doubt that Rodgers miscalculated at the end of last summer's transfer window which saw Carroll leave on loan but saw nobody enter the fray. Even before Borini's  injury problems, allowing three strikers to leave the club and only bringing one in left the club short. A manager should buy his replacements before he sells a player on. It also shows just how good Suarez was in those first few months of the season when the club relied upon him and a green Sterling for goals.

His winter dealings where rather better - Coutinho and Sturridge have settled well and been played a large part in Liverpool's better form post-Christmas. They've been so good, in fact, that the thought of Suarez leaving is no longer apocalyptic.

But what do Liverpool need this summer?

The conventional wisdom is that Skrtel will leave the club whilst there is a possibility that Coates may follow him. As Carragher has retired already that leaves Liverpool somewhat short in central defence and, even allowing for the possibility of Wisdom and or Kelly playing in central defence, it is obvious that Daniel Agger needs at least one new partner, preferably two and - if Coates also goes - a third.

Liverpool are known to be sniffing around Papadopolous and Llori both of whom meet certain FSG criteria for signings. I am not an expert on either. Beware of any ''expert'' on Twitter who claims that they know them.

The other name being bandied about is Kolo Toure.

If the club signs Toure they will, in my view, be completing a bit of a coup. Carragher's experience and nous will not be easy to replace but signing a player with experience in England, who has won league titles, and who is free seems a no brainer.

That defensive experience is extremely important and one that Liverpool would be foolish to ignore. The ability to influence a team from defence, the need for coolness of thinking, the importance of positioning and the ability to marshall a team when needs be are things Liverpool lose with Carragher and may gain (gratis!) with Toure. Liverpool need a man who is looking for an Indian Summer. Two years ago, I thought Arsenal had arrived at a Dave Mackay moment. This year it is Liverpool who are in that boat.

That isn't to say Liverpool might need other players. There is an argument that Liverpool need a central midfielder (Strootman or Wanyama). Others will argue that more firepower is needed up front either in the form of a winger or a fourth striker. The rumblings of whether we need a replacement for Reina or a very strong 2nd goalkeeper to challenge him are growing louder.

All that and more may occur. The squad does need new faces but it needs an old head too.

RCM

Monday Night Treat

A major piece to follow on the Golden Generation tomorrow but, in the meantime, enjoy some Georgi Kinkladze - what a player!



RCM

A reinvigorating Cup Final

Isn't the world a better place after a fine FA Cup Final?

I love the FA Cup. I always have. I always will. The years in which I came to love football - 1988 to 1991 - had a series of great FA Cup Finals. I've subsequently watched the 1986 final and heard  that, arguably, 1987 tops the lot. A generation of fans - aged 25-35 - saw final after wonderful final. Each entertaining. Each still talked about to this day. Each throwing up a defining moment in English footballing history.

The Houchen header, the Wimbledon humbling of the great Liverpool team, two Liverpool wins over Everton (including the final only a few weeks after Hillsborough where a city came together in an awe-inspiring way), Ferguson's first trophy after a rip-roaring 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace, and then the Spurs vs Forest final where English football history changed forever.

Even the semi-finals in those days threw up crackers - Palace beating Liverpool 4-3, Gascoigne's wonder free-kick against Arsenal, Hughes' volley against Oldham. As an aside, there's an alternate universe  somewhere, where Gascoigne was sent off prior to that tackle on Gary Charles and we have a glittering decade.

So I'm not part of that nauseating club who ask 'how do we make the FA Cup matter?'.  It already does matter. Happily after the reinvigorating final at the weekend more will be on my team than standing with the barbarians at the gates. It has probably enthused a generation of kids about the Cup.

The Cup has always thrown up such moments. Great finals. One-off spectaculars. Giant killers. Cup runs. It provides us with moments that the Premier League crowds out and cannot produce.

The grand old cup might have been tarted up with Budweiser ribbons, might have been devalued by having to compete against Premier League fixtures, the specialness of Wembley rubbed away by the money-grabbing administrators, and eclipsed by the money available elsewhere but it still works. Tarnished, undermined and mistreated by the FA and, still, it has the power to generate fantastical stories. Two fingers up to the blazer and the cretins.

We needed Ben Watson's header to give little old Wigan, pretty little Wigan, their first ever FA Cup. We'd had a run of fairly unspectacular finals since Liverpool and West Ham's ding-dong in 2006. A last-minute winner for a smaller club against the reigning Premier League champions was necessary. The backstory of Wigan's owner building the club from a fourth tier club having broken his leg in an FA Cup Final was, in its own way, beautiful. That could only happen in the FA Cup.

Generally, there is a lot of nonsense talked about the romance of the Cup but even the coldest of hearts must enjoy the spectacle of a team of amateurs walking out to play one of the biggest teams in the land. That's what football should be about. Those who want a European super-league generally support the clubs that might form it. They have no soul. They shouldn't be allowed near the game.

Havant and Waterlooville taking the lead at Liverpool, Woking's Tim Buzaglo's hat-trick against West Brom, Burton Albion drawing against Manchester United. That's the stuff that makes the heart sing. That's what football is. That isn't to say the league doesn't matter - of course, it does - but merely to point out that the FA Cup is part of our DNA. We should look after, we should cherish it, we should stop letting idiots mess about with it. As I've said before, the FA Cup is the exciting mistress. The league is the wife.

What we don't want is radical surgery. We don't want anyone with big ideas. We should just want a knock-out competition with the final played on the holy turf of Wembley at the season's end. Sing 'Abide with me' and the national anthem and watch a game of football before we all switch over for the County Cricket.

If we must tinker, my ideas would be to scrap replays (cutting fixture congestion and allowing a greater chance of upsets), no clashes with the semi-final weekend or final weekend (they should be unsullied) and - sadly - some level of incentive for the bigger clubs to take it seriously (either a big pot of cash or a Champions League place).

Well done Wigan. Well done Ben Watson, you magnificent bastard.  You've written yourself into English footballing history and made a lot of people (not just Wigan fans) around these islands rather happier.

RCM

Sunday Night Treat #6

Am not a great one for promoting kit and sportswear on the blog but I loved this advert from FC Twente using their legends to promote their new kit!

I'd rather like some UK clubs trying the same sort of thing for their kit releases in the future.

RCM

Farewell to an adversary: A Liverpool fan on Ferguson

Football can bring out the strangest of emotions.

When Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United won the club's 19th title my over-riding emotion was an odd sort of relief. For years, I had watched an irrepressible genius creep up on my team's record and my team was all but powerless to stop him. With the record gone, painful as it was, it didn't feel to me as if we were falling off a perch but rather that a black dog lifted from our shoulders. 

Many Liverpool fans today will be celebrating. Their nemesis, the hated red devil at the other end of the East Lancs Road, has gone. For many this is some sort of sign that the good times will roll once again. That the last 20 years have been some terrible spell and - with Ferguson leaving - the spell will be lifted and we will go gathering cups in May once again.  It is written. It is destiny. They believe it is inevitable the next manager will fail because the expectation is too great or because Ferguson was the difference all along. It is inevitable that Liverpool will return to their rightful place. There is little inevitability in football no matter how much we wish it to be the case.

I understand the jubilation. But I do not feel it. I hated Ferguson in my hot youth but that is what youth is for and, for me, is a diminishing memory. I used to hate his teams but this is not a hateful United vintage. These days, I respect and admire Ferguson. Those who do not respect him are the sort of people who do not really appreciate the game they profess to love. 

Rather than celebration a better word to describe my feelings would be a kind of solace. There is some kind of comfort to be taken in an adversary losing a massive strength but there is a sadness and a regret. I once wrote, paraphrasing Lennon, that life is what happens to you when you are watching Ryan Giggs. It is just as true with Ferguson. Life is what happens to you when you are watching Alex Ferguson win.

For a generation of football fans, there just isn't a time before Alex Ferguson. He has been a constant in our footballing lives. This is another nail in the cofffin of our childhood. For me, only Giggs and Tendulkar remain from my childhood. For United fans, a genius, a God. For the rest, a hate figure, an infuriating genius, at times a spiteful man, a hypocrite, a dour man but always - dagnammit - a winning one. He has been a colossus in English footballing life and one that we will all miss in time.

Don't believe me? Ferguson is the last of an old school of managers. Despite his ability to manipulate the media, despite his capacity to deal with the stresses of numerous tournaments and do so whilst keeping in check the egos of modern footballers, Ferguson has more in common with the likes of Busby, Stein, Shankly and Paisley than he does with most of today's managers. 

As he shuffles into retirement, he walks into a great bar-room debate. Is he the greatest ever manager? Some will argue yes. They will point to his breaking of the Old Firm with Aberdeen, that glorious win over Real Madrid with the Dons and his breathtaking achievements with Manchester United. They have a point.

Others will say Stein winning the European Cup with 11 men from Glasgow and his 9 league titles in a row or to the back-to-back European Cups that Clough managed with unfashionable Nottingham Forest win. Others still will point to Paisley's third European Cup as irrefutable evidence that Ferguson isn't quite there. This is before we consider the likes of Michels, Herrera and Happel or the multi-league genius of Mourinho. It is before we consider the greats of the past like Chapman. It is an impossible task.

It is my view that Sir Alex Ferguson is the greatest league manager that the world has seen and is likely ever to see. To those Liverpool fans spluttering into their champagne, it is impossible to think that we will ever see a manager win 13 league titles in the same league with the same team. It is impossible to think that another manager will be given the time, even if successful, to build numerous great teams. It is difficult to put those achievements into context. He is outsmarted, outfought and out-thought, some truly outstanding managers. In the league, at least, he is incomparable.

That isn't to gloss over his European record. All footballing careers end in some level of regret and Ferguson's will be that he doesn't have that third European Cup. No other manager has been given the amount of time Ferguson has to win in Europe. Much has been made today of Real Madrid having 24 managers in the time, Bayern and Juventus having 14, AC Milan having 13 and so forth. Given that advantage one would expect Ferguson - even with the difficulties of the 1990s - to have done better.

It is to Ferguson's enormous credit that his team has played more games - and won more games - than any other side since the reconfiguration of the European Cup. More than Barcelona, more than Real Madrid, more than AC Milan. If one lauds that achievement, and we should, it is only correct to ask why that has not been turned into a greater number of tournament wins especially given the continuity Ferguson has enjoyed.

Ferguson never created a team that truly dominated Europe or defined an era. None of his teams, wonderful as they were and dominant as they were in England, compared to Real Madrid of the late 50s/early 60s; the Internazionale of the mid-1960s, the Ajax team of the early 1970s, the Liverpool team of the late 1970s/early 1980s, the AC Milan team of the late 1980s, the Galacticos or the Messi inspired Barcelona team.
Now we know why Sir Alex Ferguson refused to give an interview after the Real Madrid match. He knew that his Everest - that third European Cup - had evaded him. If he knew then that he was to retire in the summer that would have hurt. He would have known that even regaining the title from those noisy neighbours and making it to 20 league titles for his club would be tainted in his own mind by that game against Real Madrid.

It must have been galling to see Barcelona - the team which embarrassed him twice - on the wane as he sat in Cheshire and only to see Bayern Munich soar to new heights. His Everest hadn't just evaded him; it seemed to be shifting ever further away. That these are the criticisms - that he merely did very well in Europe rather than define an era or win three European Cups - should stand as testament to him.

He didn't define English football in his time at Manchester United. He redefined it. Manchester United were a huge club before he arrived in post. A rich club which had seen manager after manager fail after Sir Matt Busby left. Ferguson took this team, this club that had broken so many managers, from sleeping giant to dominant power. Ferguson repositioned the centre of English footballing gravity. He is, in many ways, Manchester United's Shankly and their Paisley - the man who took them from the doldrums to greatness and the man who won a potload of gold. He did so by building a series of great teams (In my view, this side is a fine one but the finest vintages of Ferguson's time were: 1992-94, 1999-2001, 2002-2004, 2007-2009).

Any of those teams could reasonably be considered as one of the finest English league sides in history. If we flay him for not quite hitting the heights in Europe, we must praise him for his sheer consistency in domestic football.. We should praise him also for always looking to play football in an attractive way. Say what you like about him and his team but they usually put on a show that, once our partisan glasses were put to one side, we could enjoy. Too many managers these days think winning is everything. Ferguson was a winner, an obsessive about winning, but he realised that winning in style and to entertain the paying punters was important too.

Some say that van Persie was the difference this season. This is nonsense. Ferguson is the difference. He has been for some time. He would have won the league this past season with Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester City. It is difficult to say that any of the managers in charge at those clubs could have inspired this United team to a league title or, as it still may occur, to 90 points. Rarely, if ever before, has a manager's sheer force of personality and cunning won a team a league title. Will they win the league next year with Moyes in charge? My guess is no. If you disagree you can try your luck over at bwin.com/en/football/

Ferguson is a genius, a colossus of the game, a modern legend. He is, in the truest sense, a football man. A man who loves the game, who studies the game, who still - when talking about that Real Madrid game against Eintracht Frankfurt - has the awe-filled look of a boy falling in love with the game. A man steeped in the game.

He leaves his club with the biggest managerial decision of all-time. They have to replace a man who has redefined and dominated English football and who has developed a cult of personality over two decades. I don't envy the club nor do I envy the next man in the dugout. Few in football have the ability to challenge for four trophies at once whilst the world looks on. Fewer still can do so in the shadow of a giant. Almost all choices look bad this afternoon. Replacing an all-time great is never easy but never has it been so hard.

A good day for fans of my club but one that has made many of us ponder. Not many managers make us do that. Another testament, methinks, to that wily old man from Govan.

RCM

Reconsidering homophobia in football

Sadly homosexuality in sport is in the news again. One day, I hope, we'll get to the point where a player coming out isn't news. If a player decided to announce his or homosexuality we wouldn't even shrug our shoulders. We wouldn't even notice.

We aren't, however, there yet. For now it is news. That said, we have seen more sportsmen coming out in recent years. The most high profile, in the UK, of those was, probably, Gareth Thomas the Wales and British & Irish Lions rugby captain. Others included Steven Davies in cricket (where, happily, almost no one gave a monkey's) and in football Robbie Rogers came out only to retire immediately.

In the USA, yesterday, Jason Collins came out. Collins isn't massively famous in the UK but he is the first active male athlete to come out in a major US sport. That's pretty big. So big it led to a call from the President. Whilst we may all wish a player's sexuality wasn't news that led to a call from the President the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Collins coming out and the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Rogers coming out from footballers, journalists and fans makes it easier for whoever comes out next.

Naturally, given Rogers' retirement and the news of Collins coming out, has led to many in the footballing world consider: when will we have an active gay footballer.

I've written about this consistently since this blog started. Not just the Rogers piece but on a number of other occasions (covered here and also here). One thing I think we need is for the FA, the PFA and the Kick it out need to get some players involved.

Compare this Y Word Video:

With this anti-homophobia campaign:

The FA decided not to go ahead with this video. That was the right call.


As far as I am aware no anti-homophobia campaign has ever made use of high profile footballers in the way the Y word campaign did.

The Y Word campaign included Ledley King, Frank Lampard, Kieran Gibbs, and Gary Lineker are, or were, England internationals.

Lineker is a legend of the England game - the second highest goalscorer for the England national team, the main presenter on BBC football shows and a great player for Spurs.

King, at the time, was Spurs club captain which, given the use of the ''Yid Army'' chant by Spurs fans, was important. Lampard is one of the finest players for Chelsea and England in recent decades. He is one of the most recognisable players in the game. Gibbs is a young Arsenal player and, again, Arsenal have long had a large Jewish fanbase.  Zesh Rehman was one of the first players from a Pakistani background to play in the higher echelons of the English leagues.  (My views on the ''Y Word'' here. As an aside, if you want to read the history of Jewish football in England I cannot recommend Anthony Clavane's book ''Does your rabbi know you're here?'' highly enough).

From the women's game, Rachel Yankey is the most capped player in English football history (indeed, only Peter Shilton has been capped more times total). The campaign was produced by the Baddiel brothers one of whom is tied in to English football culture forever because of his cult TV show in the 1990s ''Fantasy Football'' and being the man behind ''Three Lions''. It just, to me, smacks that the bigwigs take racism, and anti-semitism, rather more seriously than homophobia. I can't imagine the FA, or PFA, or Kick It Out, ever thinking that a racism advert which focused on a man yelling racial abuse was acceptable or a good idea.

So why don't the FA follow the example of the Y word video. Get some big name players to talk about homophobia. Bring in Beckham, Gerrard, Ferdinand* or Terry (people of the stature of King and Lampard). Bring in Hope Powell. Wheel out an England legend from a previous era.

Clubs are doing some work but more can be done. Consider that only 29 clubs supported ''Football vs Homophobia''. Is it conceivable that any club wouldn't have signed up for Football vs Racism? Consider that my own team, Liverpool FC, were the first Premier League club to be represented at a gay pride event. That happened in 2012 (2012!) and no male players attended.

The ability of gay players isn't in doubt. It never has been. It's whether gay players can feel comfortable enough to come out knowing that, despite the overwhelming support, the culture of some fans, the attitude of some managers and the 'banter' in some dressing rooms makes their life needlessly difficult. Why come out in such a culture? That permeates football, sadly, and will do for some time. It permeates football worldwide - Marcello Lippi has made questionable statements on a number of occasions, numerous German players have said that players shouldn't come out because of potentially hostile attitudes (although Mario Gomez urged gay players to come out), and Luis Felipe Scolari, the current Brazil manager, has said that he would have thrown out of the team a player who he found to be gay. This isn't an English thing. That doesn't make things any better.

Players who wish to come out face any number of challenges. The FA and PFA could do rather a lot more to help them. It is time for big name players

RCM

* Ferdinand in particular given his use of ''faggot'' on air.