Thank You Sir Alex

 Last night, I went to bed to thinking that Sir Alex would still be the manager of Manchester United when I woke up. These rumors have been around for years and you never thought that they were true. When I woke up this morning, the unthinkable had happened Sir Alex had announced that he was stepping down.

For the last two and a half decades, Sir Alex is the only leader that I have know. His passion for the club, his love of the game, and his energy where qualities that I respected. Fergie remembered the club history and held it close to his heart. He was not a here today, gone type of "Special One".

United was his home. He said he was going to do thing and he did them. Remember there was a time when the idea of United having more league titles than Liverpool, was some kind of sick joke. Now Liverpool are the joke.

On Sunday, Sir Alex will stand in the technical area at Old Trafford for the final time. At the end of the game he will pick  up his final medal and hold the Premier Trophy for the final time. I'm sure I will shed a tear watching from New Jersey and hopefully my 3-year old son will sit with to see the end of era.

Sunday will be the end of the era, but the end of the our club.

The future is now for some

During the course of the long holiday weekend I have been able to watch a couple of different soccer games and came away impressed by a pair of young midfielders.

On Wednesday, I watched United play Rangers in the Champions League and came away very impressed with Rangers six foot two inch 19 year old midfielder Kyle Hutton. Despite being the youngest player on the field, he played with a calmness that is shown only by older players. The Scottish midfielder is going to continue to grow and has the potential to be one of the best midfielders around.

Then on Saturday, I watched the Arsenal Aston Villa game and loved what I saw from Ciaran Clark (picture above) and also came away impressed. During the game Clark scored Villa only two goals in the 4-2 loss. Clark, who stands six foot two inches tall, is a commanding presence in the middle of the field to go along with the smallish Barry Bannan. The duo is going to team up for the next couple of years to give Villains face something to cheer about. Clark has played at various levels for England but has recently committed to play for Ireland at senior level. Clark has all of the tools to be a great box to box midfielder in the Premier League.

Both Clark and Hutton are tall figures and show that playing midfield is no longer a small man's game.
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Maybe its time

With Rangers getting closer and closer to almost becoming Leeds United, maybe its time for both Celtic and Rangers to run away from the Scottish Premier League and head for greener pastures. Rangers 's club's bankers Lloyds are owed £30million by the end of the campaign. With a TV contract that is nothing to celebrate the only way that they maybe be able to meet the payment is to sell half of the first team. Maybe its time that both clubs look for a new idea to generate revenue, something like the North Atlantic Soccer League.

The league, which has been rumored for sometimes, would include top teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Portugal and Scandinavia. The league would almost be like a smaller version of the Champions League.

The league would create some interest all of Europe. Traditional powers like Porto, Celtic, Rangers, Ajax, PSV would bring large fan bases and large of amounts of money to a league that would be interesting to watch. Under my proposal the 20 team league would consist of Rangers, Celtic, Sporting Lisbon, Porto, Benfica, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Standard Liege, Anderlecht, Malmo, Gotenberg, Brondby, HJK, and eight other teams to developed from a playoff.

Some think the creation of the league would kill the leagues in Portugal, Scotland, and Belgium, but that does not have to happen, if UEFA decides to give out spots in the Champions League to the winners of the leagues that are left behind and give a spot to the winner of the proposed North Atlantic League, it might all workout in the end.

Sure it might not be the best idea to soccer purist but its only a matter of time before something like this happens and before we turn our backs on the idea we have to look at what the impact will be and if UEFA handle it correctly it could be a win win for everyone involved.

The Champions League Playoffs are interesting

In some years the final round of Champions League Playoff can be almost a bore, but this year that could be different with one tie Arsenal vs. Celtic. The team that drops this tie could be in financial trouble. Both clubs count on the Champions League group stage money in order to fund their spending, so going out before that stage could be a mess for both. Rangers went out in an earlier playoff round last year and they are still trying to dig out from the lost revenue.

Here are some predictions for the playoff round:

• FC Sheriff v Olympiakos: Olympiakos
  
• SV Red Bull Salzburg v Maccabi Haifa: Red Bull Salzburg
  
• FK Ventspils v FC Zurich: FC Zurich
  
• FC Copenhagen v Apoel Nicosia: FC Copenhagen
  
• Levski Sofia v Debrecen: Leveski Sofia
  
• Lyon v Anderlecht: Lyon
  
• Celtic v Arsenal: This has PK written all over it, but I can not see Wenger going out at this point.
  
• FC Timisoara v VfB Stuttgart: VFB Stuttgart
  
• Sporting v Fiorentina: Fiorentina
  
• Panathinaikos v Atletico Madrid: Panahinaikos, the shocker of the round. Last years the Greeks booked a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
  

Some leagues are up and running, while others about to start. It feels like it has been a long time since we have all had club football.

The great wordsmith of the SPL

He might be in the hot seat at Hearts in Scotland by Csaba Laszio has quickly developed a reputation as one of the quotable managers anywhere in the world. Here are some samples of his great use of the English language, well Scottish that is:

• "I am not stupid. The fans hear Csaba Laszlo. They think 'Who? Ah yes, he kicked the Hearts record goalscorer'. Ugh...Uganda?! Where is Uganda?! Some people, if you ask about Kampala, he think 'this is a nice food!' but yeah, it's true I am not stupid."
• "If you see that your team plays this s**t like we did in the first half, you can just run out of the stadium and say 'it's Mothers' Day tomorrow' and forget about the football. But we are guys, we are at Ibrox and we are still in the first half. I wanted to kill some of the people in my dressing room at half time, but then I have to go to jail and we don't get a point! But the second half was sexy." - Csaba 21/3/2009
• "Always on the television is Rangers, Celtic, Celtic, Rangers, Rangers, Celtic and other teams only get on the television one or two times, but only if they play against the Celtic."
• "We didn't get any red cards, we didn't get any yellow cards and we didn't get any punishment from the referee for arresting the time. The referee never had the possibility to tell my players to go quicker. We used only the rules that football gives us.''

Rangers Fans Love their Soccer

Here is the deal of a lifetime: One son for one ticket to the UEFA Cup final between Rangers and Zenit. Now that is a deal that you can not turn down. I wonder how the boys mother feels about the deal or does she even know about it.

Thanks to The Guardian for the photo.

Bad Day on the British Isles

It was not a good day for the British Isles yesterday in Euro 2008 qualifying. Both England and Scotland had chances to move closer to qualifying for next year tournament, but were denied in former parts of USSR.

The Scots crashed out to Georgia 2-0 and I do not mean the University of Georgia.

While England let a 1-0 lead slip away against the Russian and lost 2-1. The three lions are going to need some help in order to make it to the big show.