New Year. A wet fa*t of a climax to the party, massive hangover having spent too much money for everything, back to work after a day off.

The New Year period is hardly one of God’s miracles, although it’s not all bad. I’m naturally optimistic about the year ahead, and hope it will be better than the last. 

The world certainly does not seem to be slowing down, and sport (as a representative of society as a whole) seems to change a lot quicker these days as well. On the football front, 2008 will be the year that never was for the ‘Golden Generation’, who will doubtlessly be sunning it in the more exclusive parts of the world this summer - 18 months after releasing their autobiographies in the vain hope that they would sell loads when they won the World Cup.

'At least Arsenal will make it to the Champions League next season which is all Gooners have had to look forward to for the last two years'


Maybe they didn’t understand that you actually need to have something like a World Cup winner's medal to make writing an autobiography worthwhile, like Pele. Also, saying you are disgusted by being offered an exorbitant salary shows a fair amount of delusion in terms of self worth.

Domestically, things were pretty good fun to watch, and there will be no reason to doubt the quality of the Premier League’s product in 2008. I still think that Manchester United will win the league. Their squad is immense - Cristiano Ronaldo is a beast, the Wayne Rooney/Carlos Tevez partnership is working well, Anderson looks classy and their back four are mean.

When they spanked Spurs at White Hart Lane last season, it was a lesson in football. Now they are out of the Carling Cup there is no reason why they can’t be serious treble contenders again. Arsenal will hopefully do what they did last year and crash around February, get exhausted and throw it all away. At least they will make it to the Champions League next season, though, which is all (apart from the memories of some admittedly nice football) Gooners have had to look forward to for the last two years, anyway.

Chelsea are doomed, as injuries and the Africa Nations will take their toll. There will be a clearout in the summer if they don’t get in the Champions League, and Fat Frank can (hopefully) start to broadcast his TV channel in Italian and swan off to Juve.

You can’t write off Liverpool, though. Rafael Benitez has won from this position before with Valencia. It’s only a couple of slips by the leading pair before they get back into contention and their fans (who moan more than a losing Arsene Wenger) start crowing on the forums again.

Spurs were good for the last half of last season and dire at the beginning of this season. We have seen an amazing partnership between Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov and at last the return of Ledley King from injury.

I was gutted when Martin Jol left but on the basis of his first couple of months, Juande Ramos appears to have vindicated the board’s decision, however poorly executed it was. I enjoyed the north London derby, even though we came out of it with nothing except pride. I think Ramos has Wenger’s number and we will see a win against the old enemy soon.

Spurs have a predominantly British side now, and under Ramos, it appears they will play some Sevilla-type  football in the future, which would sort of shoot a few holes in most Gooner theories that English kids aren’t good enough.

As the New Year dawns, Liverpool’s American owners sweat over the credit crunch, and I wonder how the enigmatic Glazers feel? They must still owe a fair whack. Spurs and Arsenal remain out of foreign hands although someone may try to buy Spurs, and Uzbekistan’s answer to Tony Soprano can’t wait to start laundering money through the Emirates.

Have a good one…