Moving the line with the goalposts.

Unsurprisingly the goal-line technology debate has opened up again during Euro 2012 and what a surprise, it involves England!

This time however England actually benefitted from the incorrect refereeing decision during their group match against Ukraine. With England 1-0 up Ukraine were giving everything they had to grab themselves an equalising lifeline to stay in the tournament they’re co-hosting. In the 62^nd minute they thought they’d got it when Marko Devic’s shot looped in to the goal but was scooped out by John Terry on the line.

When it first happened on live TV I thought it was definitely over the line but then I started doubting myself as there is a man with a Wii remote stood a few feet away to make a decision. Surely he’d get it right, it’s his only actual job for the evening but no, it turns out a quick video replay proved he was indeed wrong not to give Ukraine a goal as the ball had clearly crossed the line.

City are champions, but at what cost?

The football season ended not so long ago in what was probably the most dramatic finish ever witnessed by man. As a whole this Premier League season has probably been the most bizarre one yet with more twists and turns than a day at Alton Towers.

It started off with Manchester United thoroughly thrashing everyone including the hapless Arsenal before losing steam completely, getting knocked out of the Champions League, getting knocked out of the Europa League, fumbling their way to a massive 8 point lead before finally throwing it all away and handing their big rivals City the title.

Yep, Manchester City are Premier League champions for the first time in 44 years. Do they deserve it? Well of course they do, they finished top of the league thanks to goal difference and so they deserved to be crowned champions. Though they had blips of their own this season, knocked out of both European competitions and several stumbles in the Premier League, they were the better side overall and did do the double over United.

Football: a window into the bowels of society.

Football can be a horrible realm at times and although it is just a game it can sometimes act as a window into society. This season alone we’ve seen that racism is far from being eradicated with the treatment of Patrice Evra by a fellow professional and that being of high status will result in preferential treatment by the criminal justice system.

If nothing else, these events that occur within football show that certain things are seen as unacceptable by society. For example Luis Suarez was wholeheartedly condemned by every corner of the footballing universe and beyond (with the exception of Anfield) for abusing Evra and when university student Liam Stacey made unpleasant remarks about Fabrice Muamba during and after his horrible heart attack playing for Bolton in the FA Cup he wasn’t only condemned, he was thrown behind bars for 56 days.

A Game of Two Books.

I’ve noticed recently that a lot of football clubs have had their appeals turned down by the FA. Liverpool’s Alexander Doni had his wrongful dismissal claim turned down yesterday and QPR’s Shaun Derry lost his appeal earlier in the week for his red card against Manchester United where he fouled an offside and diving Ashley Young. If you can’t get let off for that, when can you?

This has made me wonder: why are clubs still bothering with appeals?

Seriously, I can’t actually remember the last time the FA overturned a decision. The ratio must be close to 500/1.

Viva España.

What a crazy season of European football it’s been. We’re now in mid-March and England has just one representative in all European competitions – Chelsea, and they’re going through a bit of a crisis themselves!

The worst thing about that sad little fact is that only Arsenal and Chelsea were actually in the last 16 of the Champions League. The other two, Manchester United and Manchester City, couldn’t even get that far, finding themselves in the same European competition inhabited by Birmingham City, Celtic and Malmö (no, I don’t know where that is either).

An Expensive Mistake.

Fabio Capello has resigned as England manager, a whole 592 days late.

Yes, it was 592 days ago when England were knocked out of the World Cup in South Africa by the Germans in what was a wholly embarrassing experience for the England team. Capello should have gone then, but he lingered on, until now.

It’s been a very forgettable reign for the Italian when you actually look at it. He was appointed manager way back in December 2007 holding the position for just over three years. In that time England have progressed from being a bland, under-achieving international football team to being a bland and even more under-achieving international football team.

Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.

Racism has reared its ugly head in the footballing world on a few occasions this year. Most notably with Luis Suarez and England captain John Terry.

Last week Suarez was charged by the FA for using “insulting words in reference to Manchester United defender Patrice Evra's colour” and was given an 8 match ban alongside a £40,000 fine.

This has caused people to react in two different ways. Many people are glad he’s been given such a severe ban as there really is no place for it in society let alone football. But there have been certain sections who’ve reacted in support of Suarez, obviously the majority of them are Liverpool fans.

The Great Lancashire Sack Race.

Tonight’s match between struggling Bolton Wanderers and the bemusing Blackburn Rovers is already being dubbed a relegation 6-pointer. Whoever loses is given the dreaded accolade of being bottom at Christmas.

Bolton have lost 13 out of 16 games this season and Blackburn? Well they’re a bit of a clueless embarrassment this year, mostly off the pitch. On it their performance isn’t actually that bad, in fact I reckon even if they were winning games the fans would be on the manager’s shoulder week in week out.

Manchester United - A Class Apart.

Manchester United played in the Champions League against Otelul Galati on Wednesday evening at Old Trafford, and I went along to watch it.

It was my first game for a long while. I seem to average about one game a season with United these days which, for a lifelong fan, is pretty poor. Unfortunately I’ve been priced out, I just don’t love the game enough to turn up week in week out and pay through the nose for the privilege.

Pimpin' Ain't Easy.

It’s been a couple of days since Carlos Tevez infamously refused to play football in Munich, and by now the poor sod is covered from head to toe in the brownest, smelliest mud you can find.

The Argentinean has been chastised by all sections of the media, with the tabloids in particular completely annihilating him. Fellow players, managers, fans, and journalists have all been catapulting condemnation into his face since the moment the whole misunderstanding on Tuesday night.

What's the going rate for a World Cup?

I think it’s fair to say it’s been a torrid year for Fifa. First we had the World Cup bids that resulted in one tournament going to the largest nation in the world and one going to a nation the size of a postage stamp; then we had the whole Andy Gray sexism debacle leaving a huge question mark over who will partner Martin Tyler on the upcoming Fifa 12; and then we had the inevitable questioning of corruption within the octual organisation of Fifa.

This really is one of the most obvious statements in the world: Fifa are corrupt. It’s right up there with: oil is a valuable resource; Hitler wasn’t very nice; and Badger loves mashed potato! For some reason the world has only just realised this and several members of Fifa have been hauled in front of Fifa’s own ethics committee to answer to these charges of corruption. The very fact Fifa have an ethics committee is actually quite amusing.

It's just effing inconsistent.

What a weekend it was for Manchester! Manchester United made history by securing the league title for the nineteenth time at Ewood Park and Manchester City kept the Manc flag flying high by winning the FA Cup at Wembley!

It isn’t every day you’ll find both sets of supporters celebrating in the city of Manchester but this weekend showed it was indeed possible. And it could be a sign of things to come. We could be entering an era where English football is dominated by Manchester!

35 years.

So today is the big day: the FA Cup final! I don’t know about you but this year’s final just isn’t doing it for me. I honestly don’t care, and that’s really quite sad as it’s a competition with such great memories for me.

I know I’m a Manchester United fan, and Manchester City are in the final, but that isn’t the reason I’m not interested, heck I couldn’t actually care less if City won it or not. What the hell is wrong with me!? I am letting the red half of Manchester down big time.

It's not Rio's, it's mine.

Did you know that Fabio Capello is still in charge of England? It’s an astonishing yet true fact that I have just recently learned. I thought he’d been sacked after that embarrassment at the World Cup in South Africa.

But apparently not, he’s still in the hot seat which is a bit of a miracle considering he’s only done a little bit better than Steve McClaren, a bit like the way the iPad 2 is a little bit better than the iPad.

Sepp's pointless tea party.

The International Football Association Board met up earlier this week to focus on the pressing issues currently occupying the minds of everyone in football. No issue is bigger at the moment that that of snoods. Are they okay, or are they made of a terrible evil?

Well it’s of the opinion of Sepp Blatter and his henchmen that they can't make any money out of this fad so I’m afraid it’s going to be banned. That’s not the official reason of course, apparently it’s too dangerous to be wearing them. Expect our lads to be donning the old American football gear from next season then, as if safety is an issue perhaps they should just ban the likes of Wayne Rooney, Jamie Carragher, and Mathieu Flamini from playing football full stop.

Ed Chamberlin and the sour-grape seeking match stats.

Breaking News: Old Trafford groundsmen are confident they can uproot Joe Hart from between the sticks in time for United’s FA Cup clash with Crawley Town on Saturday.

The 23 year old shot-stopper is still stood gawping at the top corner of his goal mouth after Wayne Rooney scored a goal so memorable even Vincent Kompany enjoyed it. Hart is currently still at Old Trafford blubbering out gibberish as his poor brain attempts to comprehend what happened.

If Carlsberg did football matches...

…they’d be pretty bland. England played on Wednesday night. No really they did. They flew all the way over to Copenhagen to face Denmark in a friendly. Naturally, it being a friendly most of the senior stars conveniently got injured again. Steven Gerrard I’m looking at you. The match itself featured all the young talent England has to offer. In other words: Aston Villa.

Eleventh hour bargain deals/rip-offs.

Well the end of January was one to remember wasn’t it? Egyptians took to the streets in order to remove president Mubarak from power, Nelson Mandela was released from hospital after a long illness, and back home Gideon Osborne told us all a story about how the weather is becoming a terrorist threat, contracting the economy by 0.5%. Sorry, but if a bit of snow caused our economy to contract then Australia is about to fold indefinitely.

But let’s face it, no one knows anything about any of that, because who has been watching BBC News 24? Nobody. Everyone was glued to Sky Sports News watching as they slowly and ever so painfully ticked down the nanoseconds until the end of the world, or the closing of a window, one of the two.

Were you saying something? Look, I don't speak Spanish.

Picture the scene, you’re a hot-shot TV personality who is number one at your organisation. Nobody defies you; you may have ridiculous opinions and your dress sense is a little dated but you’re the best. Then one day someone writes the F-word on your teleprompter and Ed is forced to fire you.

Okay that’s Anchorman but there’s really little difference between Ron Burgundy and Andy Gray. Apart from Ron Burgundy being funny, and the moustache, and the popularity, and the fact that there was no teleprompter, and Ron Burgundy respects women a little more but still the similarities are uncanny!

Taken for Granted.

Managers are being sacked left right and centre this season and it more than likely isn’t over yet. So far this year the Premier League has had three managers given their marching orders: Chris Hughton of plucky Newcastle, Sam Allardyce of wealthy Blackburn, and Roy Hodgson of bumbling Liverpool.

Next in line is anyone’s guess, I think of everyone out there the only real ‘safe’ managers would be Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. The rest could be gone tomorrow! There are a few though who are teetering a little too precariously towards their P45 for their own good. The likes of Carlo Ancelotti, whose Chelsea side has been in freefall for over a month now, Roberto Martinez who is struggling at Wigan right now and faces a tough task in keeping them in the league this season, but the main manager who’s been in the harrowing spotlight has been none other than Mr Avram Grant.