The biggest shock in football history...

...dodgy voting, traditional methods, and the battle for the top four.

1) The biggest shock in football history?



Notable historical football achievements were discussed this week.

The Guardian website recently asked the question, "Would Leicester winning the title be the least likely thing you've seen in football?"  Fans were quick to suggest other major footballing achievements against the odds, including:

i) Spurs winning the FA Cup in 1901 as a non-league side.
ii) Notts Forest winning promotion in 1977, winning the league the following season, then winning the European Cup the season after that.
iii) Denmark winning the Euros in 1992.  They originally didn't even qualify and only received a spot at the last minute when Yugoslavia were disqualified from competing.
iv) Greece winning the Euros in 2004.

However, the biggest shock of all was posted by one Newcastle fan with a sense of humour who remarked, "I once witnessed Newcastle score away from home." #jokebasedintruth

2) Football Corruption

There's been a lot of alleged dodgy voting going on within FIFA over the last couple of decades, and this week FIFA finally admitted to corruption and vote buying ... but only because they want the bribe money back! #couldntmakeitup  Of course, given their track record, FIFA have definitely proved that they can be trusted to definitely ensure the money definitely goes to help grass roots football like they claim. #subtlehintofirony

On the subject of dodgy votes, last year's Argentinian FA Presidential election also had a whiff of dodginess about it.  The presidents from 75 Argentinian football clubs voted in the election, so it was quite a surprise when the result was a 38-38 tie! #unusualmaths  In typical football fashion, no re-vote has yet taken place and instead the current president has simply remained in power. #seppblatterwouldbeproud

3) Are the old ways are the best?

I mentioned last week that I don't understand the modern day obsession with squad rotation and alleged tiredness, and the BBC website highlighted a loosely related observation regarding Leicester's success which deserves repeating...

"Leicester are doing it the old-school way. Hard as nails centre-backs, 4-4-2, playing the same team every week. They aren't ripping up the rule book, they've just gone back to English football in the 1990s."

Too many managers nowadays try to be clever.  Ranieri has shown that sometimes the simple way is the best way.  Stick to a straight-forward formation and just pick your best side for every match! #keepitsimple

4) The battle for the top four

Leicester's amazing season has taken some of the spotlight off West Ham who's own impressive form has put them on the fringes of for the Champions League places.  However, depending on results in Europe, 4th place might not yet be enough to guarantee a Champions League spot...

The new qualification rules mean the Champions League winners and Europa League winners are automatically guaranteed a spot in the Champions League the following season.  So if both Manchester City were to win the Champions League and Liverpool were to win the Europa League #unlikelyiknow then that would allow only 3 more teams to qualify (UEFA now allow a maximum of 5 teams per country), so the team finishing 4th in the Premier League would miss out. #spurs2012  It's safe to say that Man City, Man United and West Ham fans probably aren't too concerned about this possibility, but it's something to be aware of. #permutations

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