The Iron Curtain has been well and truly drawn

Cast your mind back to the 1990′s. Serie A could consider itself, along with the Premier League and La Liga, the strongest competition in the world. Over in Eastern Europe, free from Communism, the Russian league was still rife with corruptness and of a low standard.

Fast forward 15 years and the tables have turned, with the future of Wesley Sneijder evidence for the change in fortunes of club football in both Russia and Italy.

The Dutch playmaker is being linked with both Zenit St. Petersberg and Anzhi this summer, a deal that would have been laughed at only a few years ago.

Serie A is still attemptng to get back on the straight and narrow after the seemingly never ending emergence of match fixing scandals, whereas it seems with every passing term in Russia, better players and larger financial packages are being brought into the Premier Division.

It wouldn’t be a massive surprise if the Holland international completed a move to the colder climate, where he would join stars such as Christopher Samba, Alan Dzagoev, Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto’o.

The Russian Premier Division is an emerging force, don’t be surprised if ten years from now it is seen as the strongest league on the continent. With the national team following suit.

@paulhill3

The FA Cup will continue to remain a British institution

With the Euros now well and truly over, our attention shifts to the domestic season, with a host of South West clubs set to be part of the FA Cup first qualifying round draw on July 6th.

However, a continuous school of thought amongst a number of personnel in the football world seems to be that the cup has lost it's magic.....never.

The FA cup is a British institution, when a football fan thinks about it a wave of nostalgia floods through their brain. Famous memories have been cemented into the minds of every supporter, no matter what level of the football pyramid their team are based, and as every season comes and goes, more of these defining memories from the competition are created and make their way into the history of English sport.

Gerrard and Cantona’s sensational last gasp wonder strikes in the 1996 and 2006 finals, Gigg’s goal of the decade against Arsenal, Non-League Exeter holding Man United to a draw at Old Trafford in 2005. These are just four examples of the hundreds of events which will be etched into the memory of many a fan. Even cup narratives most of us were not around for, such as the ‘Matthews Final’ in 1953 are passed on through generations as if they were a family heirloom.

The debate centering around the importance of the cup was triggered in 2000 when winners of the previous season Man United, decided to not enter the competition. Although some may have seen this as the beginning of a downward spiral, it instead gave evidence to show that the football community still held the prestigious tournament in held regard, and were disgusted that British football’s most famous club would just dismiss it in order to play a few money spinning matches against second-rate Australian and Mexican sides in the Brazilian sun.

Since then, the new century has illustrated that the cup is still as popular as ever. In 2010 the highest average attendance was recorded on third round weekend since 1980. On top of this, remarkable cup upsets continue to defy the form book and general rules of ability, with Premiership side Newcastle going down to recently promoted League Two team Stevenage. Even Man United, enemies of the cup 10 years ago, have unintentionally given the competition some propulsion in the last two seasons, by being victims of a cup upset to Leeds in 2010, and by contesting a close match with Non-League Crawley Town this season.

Even those not born in England are aware of the importance of the cup to and it’s ability to capture the public’s imagination. Ex- Chelsea boss, Carlo Ancelotti explained how he was giving the briefing about the cup’s prestige as soon as he arrived in the country: ‘The first thing that the club said to me is that the FA Cup is not the Italian Cup, the club want to win this competition, just like the Premier League or the Champions League. It’s the same. We want to do the best.’ he said.

So then, there is no doubt that supporters of the 759 teams which will enter the FA Cup this season will have experiences to look back on, these will then will evoke fond memories of this period in their life. This is what makes the FA Cup a timeless competition, and one which manifests itself into the identity of football in this country.

As Sepp Blatter and his gang of ageing FIFA cronies attempt to do anything ‘legitamitally’ possible to alter the sport for financial gain, the Football Association Challenge Cup will remain intact and will never lose it’s magic.

@paulhill3

AVB is the perfect fit for Spurs

A simple abusive tweet or maybe an offensive profanity are the usual choices for fans who don’t agree with their club’s manager. Football phone-ins and armchair pundits may go into overdrive at 5pm every Saturday as well.

This was not the case for a young Andre Villas-Boas however. Back in 1994, a 16 year-old Porto mad AVB couldn’t believe his luck when the club’s head coach, Bobby Robson, unloaded his belongings into the same apartment block as him. Another thing he couldn’t fathom was why the Englishman was restricting goal-scoring machine Domingos Paciencia to a few substitute appearances in the first team.

It was at this point that the unseasoned Iberian teenager wrote a few words down on a piece of paper that would change the entire direction of his life and future career.

Too shy to confront the legendary English boss to his face, AVB wrote a letter outlining his displeasure of Robson’s team selection and stuck it through his letterbox, an action which as he sealed up the envelope, effectivley also sealed the fate of his life.

So impressed by the young Portuguese boy’s piece of writing and ideas, he confronted and then told him to back up his theories with stats. The pubescent lad duly obliged, with an in-depth analysis of the club’s next few games.

The sheer attention to detail and knowledge shown by Villas-Boas overwhelmed the future Knight Bachelor, who then offered him a job as a trainee with the club’s youth team. He then encouraged him to go and take a coaching course, where he eventually obtained a UEFA Pro Licence.

AVB’s career was a constant upwards trajectory from then on, as he worked his way up the hierachy in the coaching sytem at Porto, before becoming a mainstay in Jose Mourinho’s backroom teams at Chelsea and Inter Milan, which were then followed by successful managerial roles and Academica and Porto.

This then lead to his first spell in London with Mr.Impatience himself, Roman Abramovich, his only real sticky patch in what has been a meteoric rise so far. There is no doubt the 34 year-old had a grand plan, a plan that involved a vast re-generation of the Chelsea squad. An idea the Blues supporters and management needed to understand and allow him time for. Sadly, that was not the case, but if he takes over at White Hart Lane today don't be surprised if Spurs mount  a serious charge on the Premier and Europa League this term.

@paulhill3