Football, no not that
American rubbish where the ball never touches a foot (except when they have a
rugby football style kicker), but the real game, the world game, the "
Beautiful Game".
Like most males in the world, I am a fan, or rather I have a team which I want to win (in almost any manner), and then there are all the other teams which I fear, detest, laugh at or mock depending upon the the threat they offer to "My Team" (Which is obviously "
by far the greatest the world has ever seen").
It is now coming to the end of the football season in England and thus to "Squeaky Bum Time" (A term first coined by
Manchester United manager
Sir Alex Ferguson, which is defined as "
the tense final stages of a league competition, especially from the point of view of the leaders", and in England its a tenser finish than usual in many of the leagues.
With only three or four games left to play the title is now down to two teams, Manchester United and
Chelsea, who play each other in what is likely to be the title decider next weekend.
Its also the start of the European Cup semi-finals involving Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Barcelona, so its a veritable two weeks of "Squeaky Bums" for the followers of those clubs. My allegiance is to Man Utd, so its more with dread than anticipation, that I 'look forward' to the coming three weekends, when a seasons striving either ends in glory or in ashes.
Of course, there is even more at stake at the bottom of the Premier league, or for the teams fighting for promotion into it, so I should be happy that my team is not in those positions, but I contend that the tension caused by the 'fear of failure' when you reach the very top, is just as bad as it is for relegation candidates (although I accept that the consequences are not as far reaching).
Just for interest here's the top and bottom of the Premier League (with 3 games to go).
Top:
Team P GD PTS
1 Man Utd 35 54 81
----------------------- Champions2 Chelsea 35 36 78
Bottom:
Team P GD PTS
15 Sunderland 34 -19 36
16 Bolton 35 -20 32
17 Reading 35 -28 32
----------------------------------- Relegation Point
18 Birmingham 34 -13 31
19 Fulham 35 -26 27
20 Derby 35 -59 11
And fighting to get into the Premier (with 4 games to go).
Top:
Team P GD PTS
1 West Brom 44 31 77
2 Stoke 44 13 75
------------------------------- Promotion Point
3 Hull 44 18 72
4 Bristol City 44 -1 71
5 Watford 44 7 69
6 Crystal Palace 44 12 68
------------------------------- Play Offs
(one team from the four gets promoted after a mini knockout cup)
7 Ipswich 44 8 65
8 Sheff Utd 44 5 63
9 Wolverhampton 43 1 63
And a quick mention of the Scottish Premier League, where my mate Kevin's team Glasgow Rangers, are suddenly in a last minute fight, after it looking like a walk over a week ago.
1 Celtic 34 53 77
2 Rangers 31 48 75
The games in hand should be enough, but teams sometimes just collapse, and Rangers have started to look tired, especially as they are still in the UEFA cup (The lesser European cup competition) where they have reached the semi final stage.
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