More money has been spent, more foreign players have been bought. Amy Lawrence gives the A to Z of the new English Premier League season
A is for Ales. Krizan that is, of Slovenia. The Stg 500 000 defender from Maribor Branik, his Barnsley team-mate Macedonian Georgi Hristov, and Chelsea’s Uruguayan Gustavo Poyet, will be representing their countries for the first time in the Premier League of nations. Krizan has captained Slovenia for three years. South Yorkshire expects.
B is for Barnsley. Last season their supporters claimed it was just like watching Brazil. They may have to compromise their free-flowing football a tad to compete with the big boys, but their manager, Danny Wilson, is a shrewd fellow who has set his sights above simple survival. They are newcomers to the English top flight but manager, chairman and supporters believe the club is ready.
C is for Commentator. Doubtless by some quirk of the fixture process, it will be November by the time Sky’s cameras visit Goodison Park, for a real clash of the titans against Southampton. So the Saints, managed by Everton old boy Dave Jones, will be up against the Blues, managed by Everton old boy Howard Kendall, but only because Everton old boy Andy Gray preferred the security of his studio and a vastly improved pay deal. The home fans might be disappointed in their former hero but, as Gray himself might put it: “That’s what striking’s all about. The baldy fella put himself right into the middle of the action there and what a result he got. Just look at that contract. That’s sensational.”
D is for Dave Jones. He performed miracles with Stockport last season. Southampton will be hoping Jones can do the same for them. The club’s future looked turbulent during the close season when their chairman, Rupert Lowe, came under fire from former manager Graeme Souness and worried Saints’ fans. Jones faces a big challenge in his debut in the land of milk and money. They don’t have lots of either at The Dell.
E is for Esperanto. The universal language of football is one thing, communicating with mouths rather than feet is another. The possibility of Arsenal and Chelsea fielding an entire team of imports has been well aired, but what nobody has yet considered is the implications for the referee. He will need to be a multi- talented linguist to explain “Once more and you’re booked, son” in French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Romanian, Norwegian …
F is for Fledglings. Caught up in the hullabaloo over imports, we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that talent is still emerging through the ranks. This could be the season for Liverpool’s Michael Owen and Chelsea’s Jody Morris to make an impression, and Philip Mulryne, a Northern Ireland international at the age of 17, might be the latest to graduate from the Alex Ferguson academy.
G is for Goalkeepers under pressure. New changes to the laws of the game stipulate that keepers are not allowed to take more than four steps in possession of the ball, nor can they hold the ball for more than five to six seconds. Fifa’s new guidelines say both are timewasting, and punishable by a free-kick.
H is for Home is where the heart is. Since Paul Ince ended the longest saga on Merseyside outside Brookside Close by signing for Liverpool, Glenn Hoddle is now in the rare position of being able to watch all his chosen ones in action for their clubs without jumping on an aeroplane. With the exception of Gazza in Glasgow, every other player the England coach has called on is home-based.
I is for I spy an British man. While the likes of Arsne Wenger and Ruud Gullit have voiced frustration about the disadvantages of buying domestic products, Premiership chequebooks have nevertheless been brandished this summer for a number of young indigenous players from the Nationwide. Joining the top flight this season: Arsenal’s Matthew Upson, Crystal Palace’s Kevin Miller, Derby’s Jonathan Hunt, Everton’s John Oster, Liverpool’s Danny Murphy, Sheffield Wednesday’s Dave Billington and Mark McKeever, Southampton’s Kevin Davies, and Wimbledon’s Ceri Hughes.
J is for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Definitely the most exotic name to arrive in England. Leeds supporters will have fun trying to dream up a chant for the Dutchman brought from the Portuguese club Boavista (although Chelsea’s Celestine Babayaro, with an extra syllable, is an even more taxing proposition). Should he become a cult hero, they will also have to find a few extra pennies to afford all those letters on the back of their replica shirts.
K is for Ketsbaia. Temur, a compatriot of Georgi Kinkladze, looks to be another player who could prove to be a valuable investment, particularly as Kenny Dalglish procured the Georgian’s services free thanks to the Bosman ruling. Together with the talents of Irish goalkeeper Shay Given, Italian defender Alessandro Pistone and Danish striker Jon Tahl Tomasson, the Magpies have strengthened the spine of the side. Does Sir John Hall still dream about a team of 11 Geordies?
* is for Location. Two new stadiums in the Premiership, Derby’s Pride Park and Bolton’s Reebok Stadium. These smart, state-of-the-art arenas may lack some of the soul of the Baseball Ground and Burnden Park, but they will be a damn sight more comfortable on a bitter winter night.
M is for More money. For an increasing number of clubs, total gate money is no longer enough to meet players’ wages. Therefore finance from television and sponsorship deals is paramount. It’s easy to see why clubs are seduced by the windfalls created by joining the stock market, but the standard warning that the value of shares can go down as well as up is slightly misleading. With football it invariably plummets. And the directors are still left trying to clear enormous salary cheques. They can, supposedly, always increase ticket prices again.
N is for Norwegian buy-out. On the subject of investing in football, Wimbledon, the club with the fewest foreign players on their books, now boast the first foreign owners after Sam Hammam sold his majority shareholding for Stg 26-million, although he remains in control of “key decisions”. Fiscal dealings will be the domain of fishing magnate Kjell Inge Roekke and his partner Bjorn Rune Gjelsten. Provided they are more upstanding than the last Norwegian businessman to get involved in the English game – an agent with a penchant for handing out unsolicited gifts in brown envelopes by the name of Rune Hauge – everything will be cushy.
O is for Open season. Could this be the season that Manchester United’s Premiership domination is broken? Or will they be the fourth team, after Huddersfield, Arsenal and Liverpool, to win three consecutive Championships? It would be a surprise if anyone outside last season’s top four wins the title, and as all the contenders are fortified by summer acquisitions it has the makings of another tantalising, tight race.
P is for Philosophy-free football. The French thinker has abandoned Old Trafford and the seagulls have flown. As Eric Cantona once opined: “He who has regrets grimaces in the mirror when he wakes up in the morning. He is a traitor. Above all he is betraying himself.” It is wisdom like this which formed so deep an impression on the psyche of the United faithful.
Q is for Quiet on the North-East front. Last season life in one of English football’s hotbeds was positively vibrant: the soap opera that was the Riverside, the decline and fall of Kevin Keegan’s cavalier football at St James’ Park, the final hurrah at Roker Park. The season ahead suggests the shenanigans of Emerson and Ravanelli will be conspicuous by their Premiership absence, Sunderland must pick up their spirits in the Nationwide, and Newcastle, under Dalglish, will be far too sensible to allow the Toon Army to ride any more rollercoasters.
R is for Roy Hodgson. One of the most successful English managers of recent years gets a crack at the sharp end in his own country. A coach who earned his reputation in Sweden and with Switzerland, he has set about boosting resources at Ewood Park with players who impressed him during his years on the Continent. Hodgson’s choice of Swedish striker Martin Dahlin, midfielder Anders Andersson, and Swiss defender Stephane Henchoz will, he hopes, prevent Blackburn from slipping into an “Alan Shearer complex”.
S is for Selhurst Park every week. Crystal Palace’s promotion means Wimbledon are no longer the only Premiership club playing in SE25. It’s slightly embarrassing when your lodger is having more success than yourself but the Dons seem far better equipped for the season ahead than the Eagles, who haven’t kicked that yo-yo habit ever since they were dubbed the team of the Eighties in 1979.
T is for Technology. Sky Sports inform us that they have developed even more snazzy gadgetry. Computer whiz Andy Gray claims his new toys will “enhance enjoyment” of Premiership matches next season. Yes, even those 0-0 draws which commentators imply are bursting with excitement. Can we expect new figures to explain the velocity of the game’s hardest tackle perhaps? Or the speed with which the referee draws yellow card from pocket? If you pay for the privilege of televised top-grade football, enjoy it while it lasts. It seems increasingly likely pay-per-view will be ready for action this time next year, which suggests fans will buy “season tickets” for their own teams – at a premium, and at the expense of watching an assortment of teams.
U is for Uriah Rennie. After winning promotion from Football League to Premiership list, Rennie will be the first black referee to officiate in the top flight. It’s the realisation of a dream for the 36-year-old magistrate, whose performances last season were rewarded with the honour of taking charge of the Second Division play-off final at Wembley.
V is for Value for money. Before a ball has been kicked in anger it’s pure speculation whether the millions gambled on new players is sage spending or woeful waste. Some of the cheaper signings could be the steals of the season. Perhaps Stuart Pearce, Gustavo Poyet or Stefano Eranio. Or Bolton’s Arnar Gunnlaugsson at Stg 100 000, Barnsley’s Lars Leese at Stg 250 000 or Chelsea’s Tore Andre Flo at Stg 300 000.
W is for Wendy Toms. In recent seasons football has welcomed an increasing number of women supporters, administrators and pundits. Now we have a female official. Toms, a 34-year-old former goalkeeper who once represented England in a five-a-side tournament, will be running the line at a Premiership venue near you. She started refereeing 12 years ago and has been the woman in the middle of Vauxhall Conference games as well as carrying the flag in the Nationwide League.
X is for X marks the spot. The target is Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp, and Marc Overmars delivers crosses with pinpoint accuracy. Arsne Wenger believes Arsenal have “lacked penetration” of late and his solution comes in the form of the Ajax graduate who provides assists for fun. Along with Villa’s Stan Collymore, he is the most expensive transfer of the summer.
Y is for Youth teams in the League Cup. England’s second knock-out competition no longer offers a route into Europe. Although the Football League is battling to get the winners reinstated in the Uefa Cup, the organisers look unlikely to back down. Expect Premiership contenders to blood youngsters and field reserves.
Z is for Zilch. The number of goals scored in your average Leeds game, perchance? Can George Graham’s men strike an answer to the Yorkshire ditty: “We’ll score again, don’t know where, don’t know when … ”