For the last nine months, I have become engrossed in soccer; specifically the Barclays Premier League. Thanks to NBC Sports and Pro Soccer Talk, I am getting my fill of Premier League coverage, and I have to say, I am truly enjoying this season. With compelling battles at both the top and the bottom of the division, every game is important. On a recent trip to Texas, I was very upset that I couldn’t watch the Liverpool/Manchester City matchup. Also, with a World Cup on the horizon, and now even taking in MLS matches, my love of soccer (or football as its known just about everywhere but in the States) has grown exponentially.
The big story in the BPL this week was the firing of David Moyes as manager of Manchester United, the biggest and most famous club in the League. Moyes had the misfortune of following a legend in Sir Alex Ferguson, who was one of the greatest winners in all of sports. Among the many problems that plagued Moyes while in charge, his primary failing was that a team that won the Premier League title the season before performed well below expectations of the fans, the board and many pundits. As a result, United sit in seventh place, nowhere close to fighting for another league title, and also out of the top four spots that guarantees a place in the UEFA Champions League, the lucrative competition of the best teams in Europe. Add in the milestone losses that United suffered, especially at the fortress once known as Old Trafford to the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Everton and Newcastle United. Being punished twice by city rivals Manchester City and Liverpool were no help, and the last loss to Moyes’ old club at Goodison Park was the death knell.
I may be a newbie to English club football, but even I know that Manchester United was looked at as the New York Yankees of the Premier League. And in firing Moyes, United even looked like the Yankees of the George Steinbrenner era, sending a manager to the bricks not even one calendar year into the job. It remains to be seen whether United will replace future managers the way Steinbrenner did, where the man in charge of the ballclub would change almost as often as vehicles drove through toll plazas on the highway. I was of the opinion that Moyes deserved to have more time to get his own players in, particularly if he was no fan of what was left behind when Ferguson left. Apparently, there was not enough time in the world for the Glazers and the board to keep him on to see if he could turn things around, given the losses and the drop in the standings.
I’ll be watching with interest who next fills the chair at Man U on a permanent basis. But in the meantime, I’ll still be enjoying these last three weeks of Premier League football. Can Liverpool hold on and claim the title that almost no one except their supporters-and I’m not even sure they were on board from the start-picked for them to win? Or will Manchester City pounce if or when the Reds slip? Or will Chelsea, now with their own title chances out of their hands, somehow finish on top? And at the bottom, which three teams will fall out of the League in the the 2nd division? The drama promises to be heart-pounding and exciting as the season comes down to the last few games. And I’ll be right there, watching as many matches and reading as many articles as I can.
