The first soccer post on Busted Knees takes a look at another exciting year in the world’s top football league and hands out some awards, too.
Biggest Surprise: Fulham FC. The last 4 seasons Fulham has finished at 13, 12, 16 and last year 17, having only won 8 games. This year, the team clamped down on defense big time while scoring timely goals and ended up finishing in 7th spot and guaranteeing them a spot in next year’s Europa Cup (new name for the UEFA Cup, the league below the Champion’s League). That will give them some more money to play with too since they now take a share from the TV revenues UEFA will give it out to participants. Fulham should add a true goal-scorer to add to their strong defense and they could repeat this season’s accomplishments.
Biggest Disappointment: This one is a bit of a tie between Newcastle United and Portsmouth FC. Portsmouth had finished last year in the 8th spot and got in to the UEFA cup thanks to their win in the FA Cup, and this year strengthened the squad with the additions of Peter Crouch and Jermaine Pennant (Liverpool) along with a handful of other players. By midseason, manager Harry Redknapp had left for Tottenham, taking top scorer Jermain Defoe with him and owner Alexandre Gaydamak was ready to sell the team along with the most expensive players (he sold Lasanna Diarra to Real Madrid for 20 million pounds). Portsmouth finished the season in 14th place, didn’t come close to repeating last year’s success, and look to sell off even more players this summer. Newcastle, on the other hand, had been dropping in the standings for a few seasons, and this year was the final hit; after 16 seasons, Newcastle has been relegated to the 2nd division of English football. They also have ownership and roster issues, so it will be interesting to see if they lose some top players this summer as well.
Most Valuable Player: This is very tough because I absolutely hate Manchester United and most of their players, especially Ronaldo and Rooney, who together combine to make the biggest asshole athlete this side of Kobe Bryant – they’re exceptionally talented yet everyone but their own fans despise them. Compared to last year, Ronaldo wasn’t as good as himself while Rooney had the same tally. Instead, I’m going to be a homer and give the award to a much more deserving (and likable) player. Steven Gerrard has been the face of Liverpool for years now, and this year he took the team on his shoulders, scoring a career high 16 goals and adding 8 assists to keep Liverpool in the title hunt until the last week of the season and ensuring that the Kop faithful still believe in their team. When the rest of the team felt the pressure, Gerrard kept his game up and led Liverpool to their best season since 1990; next year, the league is Liverpool’s
Side Notes: This summer will be very interesting for the big teams in England. Mother Goose Hiddink will leave Chelsea as manager and the rumor mill says Italian Carlo Ancelotti will take over in his stead. Some players are also likely to leave and as usual Chelsea will be spending some cash on new talent. Christiano Ronaldo is again linked to Real Madrid and might finally take their big money offer; Man U has already offered to buy Franck Ribery from Bayern in case that happens (and people wonder why we hate them). Carlos Tevez will be a very interesting name to watch because he is basically a free agent – no team owns his rights and he can go anywhere they are willing to pay 20-25 million pounds. Liverpool were so happy with their result this year that they are looking to strengthen the squad all around in order to break Manchester’s grip on the league title. Finally, Arsenal had an abysmal year and the fans seem to be fed up with Arsene Wenger’s lack of spending, so look for them to shell out some cash on a big name or two, especially if Adebayor leaves as expected.
- Doron
