Why I’m a big fan of the championship and who will win it all this year?

 

The Championship is such a hard league to predict. Form really does go out the window when you are thinking of who will win it all. Teams that have been relegated from the premiership can really struggle with the demands of this league and there are always a few surprise teams that punch above their weight. Last season it was Leeds who ran away with the title. Bielsa’s men were fantastic winning the title by 10 Points, Scoring 77 goals and conceding 35. Brentford narrowly missed out on automatic promotion and lost the Playoff Final to Fulham. With the season starting just a few weeks ago Brentford are still favorites to get promoted even with the loss of their star man Ollie Watkins to Aston Villa for a fee of 27 million. Other promotion favorites include all the premier league relegated sides Watford, Bournemouth and Norwich. However for me I think if Brentford can hold on to Benrahma they will got promoted. Watch out for Swansea and Blackburn they will definitely be in the mix for promotion. I’m looking forward to seeing how Jamal Lowe does in this team.

The championship for me has to be one of the most exciting leagues around the world. The teams play a whopping 46 games. Their bread and butter is midweek to weekend games thrown in with cup competitions along the way. Any side can make a run for the playoffs or even the automatic spots for promotion with 10 games still left to go, I don’t think any other league can offer you that type of excitement especially when the reward is the premier league. 

The Barcelona Revolution Part 1

 

It's been a crazy 10 days for Barcelona. Messi the star, the legend, announced that he wanted to leave his beloved Barcelona. This had been something that had been brewing for years. However in a massive twist it was announced just two days ago in an interview that he would be staying, what a remarkable turnaround. This was all down to Barcelona playing hard ball and being firm that the release clause in his contract was still valid.

Messi's team believed that he could leave on a free transfer. However in the interview Messi said that "the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million clause, and that this is impossible."

Messi said that he did not want to take Barcelona to court and thus would remain for the 2020-2021 season. 

In this struggle it was not just Barcelona who agreed that the clause must stand but La Liga as well.

Back in 2017 when Messi signed a new deal, there was a clause that stated that he could leave the club for free at the end of every season should he wish. He had to inform the club in May at the end of the season and the club would then release him to leave. Due to COVID-19 the season finished in August instead of May so Barcelona believed that the clause did not stand.

Messi has been thinking of leaving for some time, over the years Barcelona have seemed to digressed. They lost out the La Liga title to Real Madrid. It's not been since the 2013-2014 season where they have missed out on the trophy. Their record in the champions league over the last couple of seasons has been poor. Their have been loses to Liverpool, Roma and then the cruising defeat to Bayern Munich. They've also been hit and miss with the managers that they have had since Pep Guardiola left. 

The new manager of Barcelona Koeman has a huge task on his hands. He has Messi for this new upcoming season but can he convince him to stay for longer than that? Can Barcelona win trophies for next season? Which players will come and go all remains to be seen.

Euro 2020 delay is England's gain

I remember writing an article in August 2016 (Check back http://simply4sports.blogspot.com/2016/08/) four years ago and I was super annoyed being a passionate England fan it was frustrating and embarrassing to be knocked out to Iceland. Full credit to Iceland they deserved there win and everyone fell in love with their thunder clap but what I could not excuse was the manner in which we played. We had been out thought and out fought in all manners of the game. We can go on and on about the stats 68% possession, 7 corners, 18 shots on goal. We deserved to get knocked out. Iceland lost to France in the quarter finals who made it all the way to the Final.

Fast forward four years on and things look completely different. Due to COVID-19 the euros have been delayed but this could be a blessing in disguise for this team.

There are so many talented youngsters who are coming in who would benefit from an extra year of first team football. Sancho has burst on to to the scene at Dortmund as well as Phil Phoden, Greenwood, Saka and Ben white (on loan at Leeds last season)

It's been a while since I've been this excited for a international competition. 

In all areas of the squad I see interesting options. If the young players can develop I believe we have a good chance of winning Euro 2021. 

Prediction for Euro 2021 minimum Quarter Finals if we fulfil our potential we are winning it for sures!