Best and Worst Shirts of Euro 2012

So we’re now near the end of the group stage of Euro 2012 so I felt it is time to look at the best and worst of Euro 2012 strips. I’d like to first off point out the stupidly high prices of new shirts. The retail price for most of these tops is meant to be between £50 and £65 which crazily high. In middle of the worse economic crisis since the great depression companies are running a grave risk by fleecing ordinary punters for even more money.  I have to put my hands up and admit I have myself bought a strip for the princely sum of £50. More on this top soon however I’m a bit of a collector when it comes to kits so I’m willing to pay it. Is everyone else? The worst thing is most of these tops will be replaced within a year and the companies will charge punters another £50 for another new top.

I’m going to look at the best tops first. I’m going to show the runner-up first then the overall winner. There are few tops that actually stand out at Euro 2012 with too many of them being frankly a bit dull. Look at Portugal. Nike took the world cup 2010 top, took off the green band and are flogging it for £50. Theres a slim line between simplicity and being dull. Still the following top is the Runner Up in the best looking shirt of Euro 2012:

The Russian home top is the top I happened to have bought (no bias here honest…). The mixture of the underused sash design with the red and gold melds together very well. It somehow feels right that Russia are back wearing all red. The white kits never quite felt right. I’d also note this version of the Russian badge is the best they’ve put forward recently. A smart and modern take on classic Russian tops.

However the best shirt at Euro 2012 for me is below:

This shirt steps away from the more traditional French strips of recent times. There is no hint of red with more use of navy blue. The use of the slightly darker thin hoops is elegant and creates a unique look at Euro 2012. By stepping away from the mix and patch of templates that other tops have taken up (more on that soon) it stands out as the best shirt. Even if the collar isn’t that all that brilliant. The strip is complemented by the subtle use of gold that mixes well with the blues on display.

Now that we’ve seen the best, lets take a look at the runner-up for worst top at Euro 2012.

I feel I’m cheating a little with this because one of the worst tops at every championship is Croatia (assuming they get there). Checkerboard tops have not and never will look any good. Leyton Orient’s, Walsall’s and Falkirk’s worst tops have made use of the good old checkerboard. What makes this particularly bad is that the sleeves have checks that are actually smaller than the main body of top creating a weird miss match. This design will never look good on a football top!

However there is a worse top that at first glance isn’t so bad but I’ll explain why it is so bad and deserving of being the worst top at Euro 2012.

It’s the Czech Republic home shirt. Now I know at first glance you’re probably thinking I’m crazy for putting this in. However I have a very good reason. It is frankly a mess. It somehow mixes the awful sloping designs of recent Puma kits with (yet again) a checker design, a needless blue rectangle slapped on the top that is cut off by the sloping line AND random white bits under the arms. Modern kits tend to be pretty traditional with less fussy trim added however this bucks that trend in all the wrong ways. To make it even worse the normally beautiful Czech badge has been simplified so it looks like any other badge with a lion in it.

So there you go. My take on the best and worst shirts on offer at Euro 2012. All available at stupidly high prices from your local rip off merchant. I meant sports shop.

The 2011/12 Football Predictions: Full Time Report Part 2

The good old football league. I have to put my hands up and admit I didn’t pay as much attention to the Football League as I did in the past. It might have something to do with my general malaise towards the English Premier League which has fed down to the whole of English football. Still I did pay it some attention. Even if I didn’t make sure I watched the “real mans” MOTD i.e. the Football League show.

So just before I go any further let’s have a glance at my original predictions from way back in the dark days of last August for League 2.

Going up: Crawley Town, Bristol Rovers and Port Vale

Play off Contenders: Rotherham, Shrewsbury, Gillingham, Swindon and Oxford having a chance

Struggling/Going Down: Barnet, Aldershot, Morecombe, Plymouth, Macclesfield

League 2 was an interesting league this season with some of the bigger teams struggling and teams you’d never have expected going up in the end. Seriously how did Crewe somehow get promoted? From 17th to promotion inside 6 months. Not bad eh? Shame I was nowhere near tipping them! Still I got Crawley right which was my “safe” bet. Yet even they weren’t certainties right until the end.

Looking at the playoffs I didn’t do so well. If only I’d punted for Swindon and Shrewsbury to up rather than mere playoff contenders. It did also look like I could go somewhere with Gillingham, Rotherham and Oxford but all them fell away or never quite got to the play offs. Not that the same could be said of Bristol Rovers who were flirting with the bottom at one stage of the season and I, well, I couldn’t have foreseen Port Vale going in administration. Both teams in end were grave underachievers this season.

Speaking of underachieving some of the teams I predicted to struggle did indeed struggle. Barnet did their customary just staying up at the last minute routine. They will go down sooner rather than later but hey they defiantly did struggle. Plymouth also did struggle badly but I for one am happy they didn’t go down. If a teams fans ever deserved to stay up rather suffer a third straight relegation its the “Green Army”. Macclesfield however did finally fall through the trap door. With the smallest average league attendance and continued struggles it was only a matter of time before this happened. Even then I couldn’t have foreseen their horrible 20 plus game non winning streak. Although I missed Hereford dropping out of the league yet again.

I think I didn’t do to badly down in League 2 overall. So lets see how I did a level up in the giddy heights of League 1. Here again is what I predicted back in August of last year.

Going up: Huddersfield and MK Dons

Play off Contenders: Preston, Scunthorpe and Shef Wed with Colchester, Charlton and Orient challenging

Struggling/Going Down: Bury, Rochdale, Stevenage & Yeovil to go down with Tranmere, Wallsall, Hartlepool and Shef Utd to struggle

It appears to be all the hallmarks of my weird mix of great and utter rubbish. So yeah Huddersfield did indeed go up but not automatically. Honestly I still have a little bitter taste in my mouth leftover from their frankly rushed and needless sacking of Clarke. Did Grayson do anything different to Clarke? MK Dons got to the playoffs but were beaten by the aforementioned Huddersfield so I wasn’t all that far off.

Looking at my playoff contenders I had Charlton and Shef Wed who both went up automatically. I evidently underestimated how good both teams were. Charlton strolled the league and looking back I can’t believe I didn’t have them to go up. What was I thinking? Shef Wed did go up with them. It was a mixture of Dave Jones coming in and the Ched Evans court case helping them out. They’re a good team who must hope never to see this division again! They have the potential to be a mid of the table EPL team with potential crowds of 40 000, so they have to capitalise on that rather scrapping away down in this division any time soon.

My other tips for the playoffs were shambolic. Preston had a total farce of a season with Brown going and his replacement annoying most of the players as soon as he came in. No wonder they were nowhere near. Colchester never got close, Scunny were closer to going down than up and Orient did almost go down! Wow that some set of predictions that eh?

Still could be worse I could go look at my struggling/going down list. Bury stayed up easily, Stevenage were in the blinking playoffs, Tranmere & Hartlepool were comfortable in mid table on top of that and Shef Utd should’ve gone up and could’ve if not for the misfortune of their top goalscorer being a vile “man” and their keeper missing a pen in the playoff final shoot out. Still at least Yeovil and Walsall did struggle. Nah that really doesn’t save this section from being a near wipeout. I only got Rochdale right and that was a pretty obvious one from the start.

Now lets take a glance at another mixed bag of predictions this time or the Championship. Surely I couldn’t muck up too much here… right?

Going up: Leicester and Forest

Play off Contenders: West Ham, Leeds, Southampton and Reading

Struggling/Going Down: Doncaster, Palace, Peterborough with Watford, Barnsley and Bristol City struggling

Oh dear. I did have West Ham, Southampton and Reading all challenging for promotion but didn’t directly tip any of them to actually go up. So I can say that I know a good set of teams when I see them yet lack the confidence to really pick them out. Ok look I’m just covering up for Leicester being a huge disappointment and well what the hell was I thinking tipping Forest exactly? They only just about stayed up and were all over the place all season long. I don’t think either will be as bad next year but it goes to show a big name appointment doesn’t mean they’ll actually do anything for your club. I’m pleased to see Southampton back in the top flight as well as the Hammers. West Ham are far too good a team for a poor manager choice (Avram Grant) to hold them back for too long.

I think Leeds also disappointed. Warnock came in and probably realised that the squad was too thin and really needs invested in which is something Bates seems reluctant to do. They appear to want to go up on the cheap which isn’t working out for them. Warnock will do a good job if he’s given the money to invest but will he actually get it?

Here is where again I want array. I again got my “safe” tip of Doncaster to go down but Palace were pretty strong all season long and Peterborough were comfortable in mid table all season long. Yet again though I’ve somewhat saved myself with the fact that Bristol City did indeed struggle all season long. Neither looked good even after City replaced the manager with McInnes from St Johnstone. I don’t think Barnsley got close to replacing Vaz Te’s goals either.

So there you have it. That was my Football League predictions for 2011/12. It was a right mixed bag with some going right and some going badly wrong. Next year I think I’ll have to be that touch more bold with my choices. Bold choices leads me to part 3 of 4 of my 2011/12 predictions. Next time I’ll look back at the overriding behemoth that is the EPL.

The 2011/12 Football Predictions: Full Time Report Part 1

Ah the SPL. The ongoing farce of a league that seems to descend further and further into farce as the years go on. This is my end of season wrap up on my predictions from way back in July last year. I did a half time report back in January of this year so lets take a looksy at my original predictions for the SPL.

Winners: Celtic

Runners up: Rangers

Third: Hearts with Motherwell and Dundee Utd challenging

Top 6 challengers: St Johnstone, Inverness and possibly Hibs

Struggling: Aberdeen, Killie, St Mirren (being better than previous years)

Going Down: Dunfermline

I have to say that I don’t think I’ve gone too far wrong. Allbeit I could never have predicted Rangers going in administration and then teeter on the brink of out right collapse. Has there ever been a league that is as much of a farce as the SPL?

So Celtic won the league which they were pretty much always going to win although at one stage they looked like they might falter before the 3 – 3 draw at Rugby Park. However once again they’ve proven they’re bottlers on the biggest stage. Losing to Killie in the league cup final and then losing to Hearts in the Scottish Cup semi final which was rather sweet for this writer. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a celebration as much as Beattie’s. I don’t think I’ve ever gone that mental at a game either. Where was I? Oh yes bottlers. Lennon did win the league but even that was pretty much by default. If the only team with any money in league couldn’t win it they’d be something seriously wrong. Lennon has a lot to prove next season.

While Rangers did finish runners-up frankly that doesn’t cover even half of their bizarre season. From coasting the league to being bankrupt. Never has a team who’ve done so much wrong behind the scenes been so brazen in its lack of humility. Instead of being humble about their problems they’ve turned everyone against them. If they’d taken some of their punishments with a touch of grace we might have some sympathy. Alas they’ve handled themselves very poorly from the off. You’d honestly think they’d done nowt wrong! Still at least they can look back on second place with Champions League qualifiers to look forward… oh no wait they can’t. In fact who knows what league they’ll be in and in what state they’ll be in next year.

Still at least that let Motherwell get into the Champs League qualifiers after grabbing a deserved third. I thought they’d challenge for third but they did more than that. They stayed there all of the season proving that McCall did indeed have the chops to manage. Dundee Utd ran them pretty close in the end and did challenge briefly during the spilt. All of this in spite of another poor start. If they had actually started the season during August rather than November they could’ve gone one step further.

I admit I got Hearts being third wrong. I should’ve gone with my gut and not tipped us. Still 5th place in the league is nothing to be sniffed at after everything that happened with late wages during the middle of the season. Combine that with a rather amazing run to the cup final in which we did everything the hard way. 1 – 0 against a junior team, two replays  and a semi against Celtic. It’s amazing to think we somehow got to the final. Then to thump Hibs 5 – 1 in the “Biggest Derby Ever” was bloody wonderful. What a job Sergio did after coming in after 3 games of the season which is a little forgotten by some in the press. Que a little Kool and the Gang…

This is what the fans will remember this year forever for. Definatly not the rather patchy league form which cost us any real shot at 3rd.

Beyond the top 5 is where I went a little array. St Johnstone did get in the top but then fell apart totally when they got there. 5 defeats in the last 5 games of the season saw go from a possible chance at third to 6th. The season was a success but it could’ve been so much more. I can’t seem them bettering this next season either. Though what was I thinking predicting Hibs and Inverness challenging for the top 6? More on them later.

The teams I thought would fall short did really. Aberdeen, St Mirren and Killie did very little of note in the league. Killie did save their season with the aforementioned league cup final win over the bottlers of Hampden. Aberdeen could’ve saved their season with a cup final appearance but they do love a depressing semi final loss don’t they? As for St Mirren did they do anything of interest this year? No but they steered clear of relegation which is as good as it gets for them most of the time.

Now Dunfermline did go down and we’re every bit as bad as I thought they’d be. That 4 – 0 defeat to Hibs when they needed to win to have a chance was symptomatic of a team way out of its depth in this league. If they’d replaced Mcintyre a lot quicker they may have somehow stayed up thanks to the frankly woeful Hibs. I can’t believe I was generous enough to predict a battle for the top 6. While Inverness were very disappointing at least they weren’t Hibs awful.

Hibs are very lucky team to have the Pars in the same league as them. Calderwood was hopeless and frankly seemed disinterested. Fenlon has looked out of his depth. Combine poor managers, a poor starting squad and combine that with a lot of poor loan signings,  this into one of the worst Hibs teams I can recall. To rub it in, they lost 3 league derbies and lost 5 -1 in the Scottish cup final derby with a performance so bad I still can’t believe it really happened! The board and the chairmen have an awful lot to answer for after years of poor appointments, quick sackings and little quality being brought in on the pitch. I’ve not even mentioned the home form either!

So hey I did pretty well on the whole in the SPL. Now lets look at my really well thought through and well put together SFL predictions.

Up to SPL: Dundee with Livi pushing them hard for a third straight promotion (what a turn around for that club that would be!)

Going down to Div 2: Ayr and Morton

Up to Div 1: East Fife and Airdrie Utd

Down to Div 3: Albion Rovers and Forfar

Up to Div 2: Clyde and Alloa

Oh dearie me. This is here I look away. Well Dundee finished second which is close, Ayr did go down and erm… oh yes Alloa did go up. Seriously I really should do some more research for next season. Bloody hell! I almost got the relegations to Div 3 but Forfar just stayed clear and Albion just scrapped home in the playoffs. This probably shows up my lack of knowledge of these leagues sadly.

While I know I’ll remember this season for the wonderful cup run of my beloved Heart of Midlothian, the rest of the world will remember the farce that is Rangers FC. Ross County coming up will certainly add something new to the league including a highland derby. You never know next season might be a bit dull? Nah it’s the SPL so course something will go wrong. Again. Right now we can’t even guarantee that Rangers will even exist let alone what form in or what division. It’s certainly going to be different next year that’s for sure.

So overall I think I did pretty well in SPL stakes. It would’ve been so great if it wasn’t for those pesky SFL teams…

The 2011/12 Football Predictions: Half Time Report Part 2

Welcome back to The 2011/12 Football Predictions: Half Time Report Part 2. This time around we are going to take a look back at my Football League predictions. Yes ladies and gents I’m stretching this bad boy into 3 parts. Now trust me as I said last time there are a few stinkers in this. I think I may have gone for too many “safe” predictions which turned out to be just hype rather than lobbing in a few “left field” (ahem) predictions instead of just the hyped up teams.

So lets start down in basement of the Football League. Lets take a brief look back at my “wondrous” predictions for this League which to be honest hasn’t exactly set my world on fire this year.

Going up: Crawley Town, Bristol Rovers and Port Vale

Play off Contenders: Rotherham, Shrewsbury, Gillingham Swindon with Oxford having a chance

Struggling/Going Down: Barnet, Aldershot, Morecombe, Plymouth, Macclesfield

Well looky here. Crawley are challenging for the league! Those playoff contenders as of 17 of January are almost perfection. Swindow, Shrewsbury, Gillingham and Swindon being the 4 playoff place holders. Hey this is going well so far… oh wait Rotherham are 11th, Port Vale are 14th and to my complete shame Bristol Rovers are having an dreadful season, have sacked their manager and sit 18th only 6 points above the dop zone. Wow I couldn’t have got that more wrong could I? Still I’m confident the rest of the promotion places will stay roughly where they are. Bloody Bristol Rovers…

The relegation places are looking so-so for me. Sure Plymouth are struggling mightily and Barnet are hovering just above the drop zone the rest are well… having good season. I think Plymouth will defiantly go down but the bottom of that league is really tight so its tough to call. Still at least I swerved touting Bradford to go up once again! Just a final note I have to say well done to Paul Sturrock for the top notch job hes doing at Southend.

Now lets jump up a league and this is where my predictions start to go less well. Sure they could come good but I’ve thrown in some right stinkers in this lot:

Going up: Huddersfield and MK Dons

Play off Contenders: Preston, Scunthorpe and Shef Wed with Colchester, Charlton and Orient challenging

Struggling/Going Down: Bury, Rochdale, Stevenage & Yeovil to go down with Tranmere, Wallsall, Hartlepool and Shef Utd to struggle

Huddersfield, MK Dons and Shef Wed are doing really well and are right in with a shout of going up. I still think Huddersfield will go up. I also clearly underestimated how good a job Powell would do at Charlton. Far from being playoff contenders they’ve lead the way all season. Here is where is goes all wrong. Shef Utd to struggle? They’re 2nd! Colchester and Orient are hovering around mid table a long from going up. Scunthorpe are just above the relegation zone for crying out loud. They could go down and are far…far from promotion contenders I touted them to be.

But hey look Yeovil and Rochalde are indeed doing as badly as I thought. Wallsall and Tranmere aren’t so hot either.Here comes the doozey though: Stevenage to go down!? . They are in the playoffs! Their manager has just left to join Preston. Without their manager they’ll struggle to maintain they’re lofty heights but going down? Nah no chance! Also it appears I’ve under estimated my beloved Carlisle Utd. They could even sneek going up…maybe…ahem.

Now to big one. The one that people are actually going to care about. That is the Championship. The place where “fallen giants” come to slumber. Or…something like that. Ok look I’m just delaying this because I’ve had what only be described as an absolute nightmare with these predictions. Was it preseason hype that I bought into? I don’t know but…just look for yourself.

Going up: Leicester and Forest

Play off Contenders: West Ham, Leeds, Southampton and Reading

Struggling/Going Down: Doncaster, Palace, Peterborough with Watford, Barnsley and Bristol City struggling

Wow Steve what were you thinking? Forest and Leicester. Turns out the commenter “Perd” (Hello Mike!) was spot on. Forest are terrible. They’re only just above the relegation zone and went over a 1000 hours of football without scoring at one stage. McClaren instead of being a great appointment was a total disaster and is now back at AZ whom he should never have left in the first place. Leicaster sacked Sven too quickly and could still go up with a “surging run from deep”. Well I hold some kind of hope anyway…

At least West Ham are doing well as well every man and their dog predicted. Shame some Hammers are moaning about the style of football being played. Look do you want to go back up or play lovely football and lose in the playoff final to Palace again (sorry Mike)? Ok I kid big Sam does play mince football but still promotion is promotion. Southampton are doing better than a mere playoff place and are riding high at the top of the league. I’d be happy to see them back in the top league and look like they are capable of more than keeping pace with the likes of the Hammers. Reading are in the playoffs and Leeds are only 3 points off the playoffs so they’re right about where I thought they’d be.

Now here is a couple I got right (finally). Bristol City are indeed struggling and have changed managers. Doncaster finally looked like punching way above their weight has taken it’s toll even though Saunders has given them hope. Watford are only just keeping their head above water as well. Look I just noticed one of tips to struggle, Peterborough, are only two points off Leicester and another tip to struggle Leicester, Barnsley are above them. As are Palace. Oh deary deary me.

So there you go. Turns out I’m pretty decent with the playoff contenders but my word I’ve had some bad choices. I think I shouldn’t have bought into some of the hype. I’m looking at you Leicester and Bristol Rovers. Sometimes I think I was clearly mad. I mean seriously Forest? What was I thinking?

So come back next time for the conclusion of my half time prediction reports when I cast my eye on the biggest league in the world right now.

The 2011/12 Football Predictions: Half Time Report Part 1

Way back at the start of the season I made my bold and brash predictions for both the English Leagues and the Scottish Leagues. It is now roughly about half way trough the January transfer window so I’m declaring we’re half way through the season (roughly) so I’m going to go back to laugh and or marvel at how my predictions are going so far. Part 1 is just the SPL & SFL as doing all my predictions in one post would be really unwieldy!

A lot has happened in Scottish football since that stupidly early start that helped absolutely nobody and has been ditched for next season. From Rangers Tax Problems to Celtic getting back into Europe after going out to Hearts continued wages problems. It’s been eventful so far and pretty gloomy.

So without further a do lets get to SPL & SFL first of all. Here is a quick recap:

Winners: Celtic

Runners up: Rangers

Third: Hearts with Motherwell and Dundee Utd challenging

Top 6 challengers: St Johnstone, Inverness and possibly Hibs

Struggling: Aberdeen, Killie, St Mirren (being better than previous years)

Going Down: Dunfermline

Weirdly so far I’ve got the top 3 correct as of the 15 of January. However Motherwell do have two games in hand so could easily pop above Hearts again. Hearts are doing remarkably well to be in third with 5 wins in 6 games after everything that has happened. Being a Hearts fan is never dull is it? Celtic bounced back after having been 15 points behind Rangers so I’m still confident they’ll be there come the end of the season. They’ve clearly been better than Rangers at grinding out results which is how they got back to top of the table. St Johnstone are doing very well to be sitting inside the top 6 so again will pat myself on the back for that prediction. So far so good right? Well not so much outside of the top 5…

Dundee Utd don’t look like a team capable of finishing third at all having lost far too many players this season so far. I’ve clearly gone way off course with Inverness and in particular Hibs challenging for the top 6. Hibs have been very very poor this year and Inverness are doing well to stay above water. They’re just not as good as I’d imagined they could be.

Calderwood left Hibs (not a great shock) but Pat Fenlon isn’t the man to change their fortunes. Hibs wont go down but they certainly aren’t going to get much better. Amazingly I doubted O’Connor was still capable of scoring goals when hes been the only man keeping Hibs going. Whoops. Still I got it right about Sproule. My word that man has lost every ounce of pace he once had!

Killie, Aberdeen and St Mirren are doing about the same as each other and have been struggling somewhat with widely varying performances. St Mirren have clearly improved (which I did suggest they would be) but have slipped back in recent weeks. Aberdeen have steered away from the bottom but Brown isn’t doing much at all there as I again predicted.

I was also fairly spot on with Dunfermline being bottom. The Pars have been really poor since the end of August with their paper thin squad lacking both quality and depth to cope with the SPL. They’ve yet to win at home as well which underlines how rubbish they’ve been so far. I cannot see them getting out of the mire either so I’m very content with this prediction.

As a quick look at my lower league predictions show I’ve clearly no idea about the 1st, 2nd and 3rd divisions:

Up to SPL: Dundee with Livi pushing them hard for a third straight promotion (what a turn around for that club that would be!)

Going down to Div 2: Ayr and Morton

Up to Div 1: East Fife and Airdrie Utd

Down to Div 3: Albion Rovers and Forfar

Up to Div 2: Clyde and Alloa

Oh dear. I think Alloa are about the only one I’m even getting close to getting right. Dundee have a chance if Ross Country don’t win their games in hand and are in good form right now. Ayr are also struggling. That is about where the positives end. For good ‘n sakes East Fife going up? They’re 8th in the 2nd Division!

Well there go. That is the first part of the half time reports on my predictions in the bag. I think I’m doing pretty well so far. My SPL top 6 is pretty good as of right now. The Pars being dire was also on the money. I’m not so sure Hearts can stay there as it really depends who goes out of door in the rest of the transfer window and if the SPL really go ahead and deduct points for late wage payments (if that does even happen again). I suspect they will not do that as it sets a precedent I’m not certain they really want to set. I do remain confident Celtic will win this League.

So come back next time for my English Football Predictions Half Time report. Trust me a few of them are really…really…really bad predictions. Almost up there with my “Darlington to go up” the season they relegated to the conference prediction. Now that was a true stinker of a prediction.

Nice Team…Shame about the Strip! #2

A good old MLS. A league I think its on the up with many teams finally getting their own “Soccer specific grounds”. One such team is the Seattle Sounders. They pack out their ground every week and by all accounts they create a top atmosphere. So nice team I hear none of you think. Still…shame about their third kit!

What is it about third kits and Adidas? Did they think the players wouldn’t be able to see each other on the pitch or something? Lime Green is pretty rank at the best of times but combined with this “Cyan” blue colour its just terrible. I like the design of the top. Shame they had to put these colours together. Having said that if you’re on a bike at night you certainly will stand out!

I give it a B for Blinding.

Nice Team…Shame about the Strip! #1

For months I’ve been trying to rack my brains with a new way to rip into terrible football (or any other sport out there) strips and BAM here it is. “Nice Team…Shame about the Strip!” is all about strips that take my fancy as just being rancid, woeful, weird or just totally out of place.

For the first of these I’m taking a look at a recent “favourite” of mine and this is the Marseille third kit for this season. As you can see from the below picture it is a weird mixture of Orange with light blue and black hoops of different lengths spread out all over the shirt. I have only one question: why did Adidas decide to model their new top after a curtain from the middle of the 1970’s? I mean just who thinks this is good idea for a top? I’m all for different colours in sport kits (I own Bradford Bulls away from the 2011 season for example)however this just poor. A classic example of a team wanting a “different” strip and getting a horrible concoction instead.

This gets an R for Rancid.

Prediction Time: The Premiership

Is it called the Premiership anymore or it is the Premier League? Does anyone remember when that changed or if it did? Anyway the Premiership starts this weekend south of the border and I think I’m just about ready for it to start. It’s been a good break from it unlike the SPL. This season is pretty wide open. In fact I think it’s even more open than last year. So I’ll stop beating around the bush and get to it.

Going Down

The bottom of the league this season is a tight one. I don’t see any of the promoted teams breaking out of the bottom 7 or 8 this season. I foresee Newcastle, Norwich, Wigan, QPR, Swansea, Blackburn and Wolves being the main contenders for the drop. Also a tip for all of you: Only once since the start of the EPL in 1992 have all three teams gone back down again (1997/98) so it’s highly unlikely to happen again.

Wigan have been drifting closer and closer to the bottom for years. They bring little to the top flight and are only getting worse. They don’t even get close to filling their Stadium for example. I do like Martinez so it’ll be sad to see his career somewhat tarnished with the relegation I believe is heading Wigan’s way.

Going down with them will be Blackburn. Lets be honest here, their owners’ are a bunch of chancers’ who almost got them relegated with the rash and unwarranted sack of Big Sam last season. Steve Kean does not will me with confidence either. The team isn’t getting any better and if Samba goes they’ve got little talent to speak of and I’m not sure I can see Goodwille scoring at the level. They’ll join Wigan going down.

Now for the last relegation spot. I think one of the promoted teams will go down. It’s hard to predict this. Norwich are relying a lot on the players who’ve get them this far. I’m worried about how on earth QPR will score goals. Helguson, Jay Bothroyd and DJ Campbell aren’t the type of forward line to cure QPR’s lack of goals up front from last season. Swansea are in the always dangerous place of going up through the playoffs. Their signings so far do not thrill me either. Leory Lita is a weird signing. He’s not really set the Championship on fire in recent seasons so I can’t foresee him scoring much up front. However I think Swansea will do what they did in the 1980’s and get a second season in this league. I’m going for Norwich to go straight back down. Staying up after two promotions is a very difficult task that few teams have done. I think they’ll go down but not by much. It’s going to be very tight with no team being cut adrift.

Going down: Wigan, Blackburn and Norwich.

Champions League Contenders

It’s a sad place to be for Arsenal but there on the slide. I’ve been a bit hasty in recent seasons with my predictions of their downfall however this year will be that year. I’m amazed that Wenger is still buying in the same way. A 17 year old from Southampton isn’t the answer to their problems. He thought buying young and building up would get them there in time but all he’s been left with is a team of bolters who can’t even win the league cup against a team that went down! With Glichy gone, Nasri offski and the Fabergas farce almost at an end it hard to see how Arsenal are not going to be worse. They’ve failed to buy a top keeper. Their defence is weak and needed a massive overhaul which hasn’t come. They’ve failed to find a good strong leading forward. Van Persie may as well set up home on the injury table. They’ve also never replaced Vieira which is a type of player they really do need.

Now Spurs are another team that has failed to strengthen. I’m sorry Harry but no signings all at for the team whose form since February has been patchy at best? That’s risky to say the least. I’d also be worried about their forward line. O wait they did sign someone didn’t they? I forgot why yes a 40 year old keeper will sort out all of their problems. No wait no he won’t. Spurs need to sign players and quick otherwise they’ll finish 6th at best.

Now to a team who have strengthened. Albeit Kenny has forgotten about the somewhat leaky defence. This is of course Liverpool. “King Kenny” has made signings that have made the team better. Liverpool played very well for most of the time under Kenny steering them away from the bottom (thanks Roy!) and is dumping the deadwood like Konchesky (thanks Roy!). The likes of Henderson and Downing (Villa’s player of the season last year btw) are good buys but for too much money. I’m not sure Charlie “60 yard pass” Adam is good enough for Liverpool. Carroll could hit form this year and well Suarez has already shown how good he is last year and at the Copa America. I’m worried about the defence though with an aging Carragher, Agger injured half the time and a possible reliance on young full backs.

With all that said, I see Liverpool getting fourth this year with Arsenal finally slipping out of the top 4.

Title Contenders:

I think this year there are 3 genuine title contenders. I reckon Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City all have a realistic shout of the league this year.

Chelsea have made a risky but smart move bringing in Villes-Baos as their boss. He is a young and intelligent boss who moulded an excellent Porto team into Europa League Winners and unbeaten in the League. Some have argued that it’s a season too early for him. However I reckon he’ll do an excellent job but I’m not sure about his team. Chelsea are an aging team who’ve not bought enough to change that. I still think the Torres deal massively favoured Liverpool. He’s miles away from being the player that stormed Euro 2008 in the past few years. I think Sturridge could step into the breach up front but I always get the feeling with him that hes a Darren Bent type player. Great at a middling team but can’t cut it at a top team. Without more additions I’m not sure they can win the league.

Now I come to team that lets be frank I hate the guts of. From the manager down to the players I find it very difficult to be fair and reasonable to them. That team is of course Man Utd. However I’m going try my best to be fair. They have an excellent but young team this season. Giggs is the only real veteran left at the club. They’ve dumped a couple bits of the deadwood such as John O’Shea and Obertan. They’ve brought in a couple signings that on the face of it are good. The keeper de Gea I think looked a good signing but is a mistake. There were better keepers out there with a bit more experience. Ashley Young again could be a great signing but was in and out of form for the last few years. Sometimes he turns up and sometimes he doesn’t. This goes for Nani as well, great at the Community Shield but too often not at the races. Some of the older players aren’t looking as good as they were a few years back. Rooney hasn’t looked all that great for a while now and Berbatov is wildly inconsistent. Ferdinand is semi-permanently on the injury table. Last year they won it by default seemingly. With a team almost too reliant on youngsters to cover I’d be worried about their capacity to keep winning. I would also say don’t take too much from the Community Shield as more often than not it was has zero baring on the season. I think they could win it but I’m not sure if there younger players, like Cleverly, can step up.

Now for the classic “Dark Horses” for the title. That is of course Man City. Mancini of course has buckets of money to spend and has willingly done so. He’s also always on the verge of being sacked if you listen to some people but brought home the FA cup and a champion’s league spot last season. This is continuing city’s upward trend. Mancini brought home league wins for Inter when no one else could after years of underachieving. Despite what some people might have you believe he is a winner. The team on the pitch is excellent with players. The likes of Silva, Toure, Aguero (who is better than Tevez), Hart and de Jong would grace any other team in the EPL. Their main problem is their tendency to revert to defensive tactics at the wrong time. This could scupper their chances over the course of the season. And having Balotelli ready to explode doesn’t help them either.

Overall I’m going a bit bold here but Man City will win the league. After all “Fortune favours the brave” doesn’t it?

That’s all for this seasons predictions. I look forward to looking back and seeing just how wrong I was! Let me know your predictions in the comments and we’ll see how good or bad we are at predicting.

Prediction Time: The Football League

Believe it or not but the football league season starts this Friday evening. I’m glad that this is starting at a sensible time. I’m still struggling to get up for the Scottish season. I was feeling somewhat burned out with Scottish football last season and now that it’s a few weeks in already I still don’t feel any excitement about. I’m hoping the start of the football league season will change that. Without further a do lets get to League 2 and see what’s what.

Let’s take a look at League 2. I freely admit this is the league that I know least about. This fact is laid bare by me always tipping Bradford City for promotion and they only seem to get worse. Signing 3 Falkirk players won’t help that situation! I also tipped Darlington to get promoted when they finished adrift at the bottom. I hope I won’t get it quite that wrong this time!

Automatic Promotion places: I’m going for Crawley Town because they have a lot of money to spend and last season they won the conference at a canter. I can them going even further into the Football League thanks to the oodles of money that’s been spent on them. I’ll also go with Bristol Rovers with the talented Buckle in charge having left Torquay they should be right up there and Port Vale who would’ve gone up if Mickey Adams hadn’t stupidly bailed for doomed Sheffield Utd and now he’s back I think they’ll go up.

Playoff Contenders:

Some of these are obvious but it still needs to be said. Rotherham and Shrewsbury will be up there again but I suspect they may continue to struggle to get over the automatic promotion line. Gillingham again should be up there along with Oxford Utd who have had a good season to bed down so they’ll get better. Swindon may be up there but there so difficult to predict. I couldn’t for the life of me see them going down last year and they did somehow. Yet another “great” job by Paul Hart! I don’t see anyone else getting into the reckoning. If Torquay had held onto Buckle may be but they didn’t. If I had to choose the final promotion team out of this gaggle I’d go for…Oxford Utd since there is always a team in this league that goes that no one thinks will (ala Stevenage last season).

Going Down (and Strugglers):

This is the season Barnet go back down. I can’t believe they keep staying up but that only happens so many times. I know from Carlisle’s history that they continued to defy the odds but went down in the long run. It will catch up with Barnet this year. I’ll also plump for Morecambe. I don’t think they’re at home at their new ground yet. However I tip Plymouth to badly struggle but I hope they don’t do a Luton and go down again. Their fans don’t deserve that. I think Aldershot might struggle along with Macclesfield (how many years can they be rubbish but just steer away from trouble?)

Now onto League 1! Now this league is much more open than it was last year. With some of the big boys of the last few years gone, its left with a few big boys who’ve fallen on hard times. Automatic Promotion places: I’m going with Huddersfield to win this division. They were really unlucky not to go up last year. Without Southampton to somehow matching their amazing unbeaten run combined with the always painful playoff defeat to inspire them I think Clarke will finally get his team up.

I’m going to go bold with this prediction and go for MK Dons to go up as well. I really like they way they played last year. I can see them just sneaking up this season much to chagrin on most people out there. Also why don’t they just call themselves Milton Keynes and drop the Dons bit now? It seems daft that they’re holding onto that bit of their name now.

Playoff Contenders:

Preston and Scunthorpe having gone down will be battling to get into the playoffs. Preston might even get automatic promotion but a team that struggled that badly last year is difficult to predict that they’ll go straight back up. I also think Sheffield Wednesday will be much better with Megson given a chance to mould the team in the way that he wants to this season.

Colchester and Charlton (who’ve been massively underachieving in the last few years) should improve this season and be in with a shot of the playoffs. For an outside pick I’ll go with Leyton Orient to possibly build on last season and get into the playoffs. If I had to choose I go with Preston through the playoffs.

Going Down (and Strugglers):

I can only see struggle for Bury sadly. They did great to go up automatically but I fear they don’t have quite enough to stay up. Yeovil have been teetering on the edge of relegation for years and I think this will be the year they finally go down. They’ve been gradually getting worse since their famous playoff hammering of Forest a few years back. This trend will end with relegation. I fear Rochdale’s stay in this league will not go beyond this year. There team has started to be picked off and without their manager Hill who got them this far I fear they’ll struggle and end up down. I’m not sure if Stevenage have the strength to stay up either. It’s been difficult for a lot of teams to stay up after two straight promotions. I think they go down as well.

Tranmere, Walsall and Hartlepool could be in for another tough season. I also predict a season of struggle for Sheffield Utd. Wilson is poor and unpopular choice as manager and there are deep problems at this club. The team on the pitch isn’t good and the continued cycle of loan signings has severely weakened the team.

Now onto the main event. The main event being the Championship. This is up their as being one of the tightest leagues in years. There are a number of good teams this year all within a shout of promotion. It really is a league that lives up to the cliché that anyone can beat anyone else. It’s going to be one hell of a season and probably the tightest in terms of promotion we’ve seen for a while. I don’t foresee anyone running away with it like Newcastle or Reading have done in the recent past.

Automatic Promotion:

To me there is one team that frankly needs to go up. With big players brought in combined with a big name manager Leicester City really does have to go up. I think they will and that they’ll win the division. I also think Forest will go up alongside them. Bringing in Steve Mclaren was a good piece of business for Forest. They already had the basis of a good team so I think they’ll go up. If they get a playoff position however they won’t go up as they’re beyond hopeless in the playoffs!

Playoff Contenders:

I think West Ham will defiantly be in at least the playoffs so long as the owners don’t fanny Sam Allardyce around too much. He’s a good manager and has gotten teams promoted in the past. If they keep the basis of the team that went down they’ll go up through the playoffs. Also reckon that Leeds his time round will get into the playoffs as they have a good sound team and only bottled at the last moment last season. They’ll also fail horribly in the playoffs as they’ve a terrible track record to almost rival Forest’s. Reading will once again go close but not go up through the playoffs. I think Brighton and Southampton are outside bets for the playoffs as well. So I’ll pick out Southampton to get into the playoffs. That’s going on the basis of their second half of the season form under Adkins so might be totally misguided.

Going Down (and strugglers):

I think just like Barnet that this is the season Palace will finally drop out of the league. They’ve scrapped home so many times recently that I can’t see them doing it again. I also think this is the season that Doncaster will finally succumb to the pressures of being at this level and go down. They were on the slide last year and sadly think they’ll drop out of the championship. This is shame because they’ve punched well above their weight for years now. I also can’t see Peterborough staying up. They were pretty lucky to go up last year as Huddersfield fully deserved to go up ahead of them. They’ve also lost Mackail-Smith to Brighton whilst a lot of their team (and their manager) have been found wanting at this level before. They’ll go down.

Barnsley will also struggle away but stay up this year. I can’t see Watford doing as well as they did last year and they have yet another rookie manager which certainly won’t help matters. There are only so many times you can repeat that trick before your luck runs out. Bristol City may also struggle this year as I can’t see how they’ve actually greatly improved over the summer.

So that’s it for this prediction. So what do you think will happen? I’m hopeful I can pull out a few bang on predictions. Let me know in the comments section what your predictions will be.

The Worst Football Strips of 2011/12

In my post about the best football strips for the up coming season I remarked about about the Walsall away strip “Good on Admiral and Wallsall for trying something different and pulling it off”. Well now I’m going to show off the down right worst strips the up coming season. Those who tried something different and failed.  The strips that just beg the question “why!?”. The strips that I’d never ever buy and I’ve bought a oodles of them over the years! Remember I’m taking all of these strips straight from http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/ so all copyright reserved with http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/. If you’ve still not visited their website, you really should! At this time of the year its my favourite website. So without anymore hesitation I’ll get to the first strip!

I’m going to ease into this ripping into football strips malarky. The colours of this strip are actually fine although it always disapointments me when Palace go back to using red and blue stripes rather than their brilliant white with red and blue sash. That strip looks top notch and apparently its the favourite of Palace fans. So why keep using the other one? I don’t know. However the problem with this is the Nike template they’re using. Its the jagged edged and not quite straight stripes. It just doesn’t look right somehow. Why did Nike create this template? Its also being used by Bradford City this season (I’ve not chosen them because its great to see them in stripes again after a couple of weird seasons). Look, this top isn’t all that bad but the template just stinks! Please Nike just dump this template after this season!

So lets take a look at another strip thats not actually on the face of it that bad. However the more you read and think about, the worse it gets. Its that Liverpool third strip. The fans hate. No one wants it. Hardly anyone will buy it. Why is this is? Well it includes the colour blue. Sorry I mean “Cyan”. Adidas claim it harks back to Liverpool’s first strip. Well thats all well and good…but those tops were left over Everton strips after Liverpool split from Everton. So not only has it got their rivals colours in it, its also based on left over Everton tops. Well done Adidas. Well done. Its like Hearts having a green trimmed away top. Or Roma getting a sky blue away top. Its just wrong! Maybe its Adidas’s revenge for Liverpool moving to Warrior next year?

So theres been two kits so far that aren’t so bad. Now we are moving onto the lesser but not the absolute worst kits out there this season. Now the Dundee United away top and socks are totally fine. A standard Nike template in black and white. Fair enough then you might think. Nothing so see here, move on etc. However Dundee Utd decided to listen to the fans. Oh dear. This lead to the jarring and totally out of place orange shorts. If it had white or black shorts it would be ok. Or if the white on the kit was changed to orange so it was orange and black only. A bit like many a Valencia away top. However as it stands out…its just horribly jarring. Perhaps its not best to listen to the fans afterall.

Speaking of horrible and jarring. Lets take a look at the Birmingham third kit. You might asked why do Championship Birmingham need a third kit? Well its because (well supposedly) that being in Europe (remember they won the League cup) means they need a third kit. Which is weird because teams like Hearts only have 2 at the moment. In any case this top looks nice. Yellow with classy blue pins strips. Its exactly the kind of top I like. Afterall I went out of my way to mention AFC Wimbeldon’s away top last time out. However the white shorts and socks aren’t a good fit. I think they are there so they can be mixed and match with the home top but…why isn’t this all yellow? It wouldn’t have clashed with the home kit and looks less jarring.

The final of these strips that aren’t so bad but taken a wrong turn is the Stranraer away kit (I know, its going to be a big seller!). Right ok its got the asymmetrical design which I have grown to accept over the years. I used to dilike that but I find some can be pretty good. Its white and grey. So far so good you say. However the third colour to trim it out is…yes bright lime green. Eugh. Why did they have to ruin this potentially ok top with that colour. It never, ever looks good. Sheffield Utd did have an away top in this colour and that was vile as well. So just stop!

Speaking of lime green lets take a peak at the Brighton away kit. Now I’ve always been a big fan of Brighton’s home kits and this years is no expection. However that can’t be said for the away kit. Its like that Celtic away top from 3 or 4 years ago…but much worse. Black and lime green stripes. Eugh just really horrible. Think of all of the colours they could’ve used yet they plump for lime green. Sometimes I wonder if the people who make these kits actually think things through at all! Look at that thing! To think I normally really back Errea as a kit maker. They’ve dropped the ball big time on this…thing!

Could be worse though. It could be much, much worse. It could be Yeovil’s third strip. Hold on. Why do Yeovil have a third trip? I don’t really know but it doesn’t seem up there as one of the more pointless kit that there ever has been. Well Celtic and or Hibs having green away tops is pretty pointless but I’ll get to Celtic later. Don’t you worry. What colour is this top meant to be? Yellow? Green? Vomit? I really don’t know but this probably the worst colour for a kit I’ve seen…since the Brighton away strip come to think of it. I mean really, who would go out and buy this? Maybe if you are into cyling and you want to stand out at night in the headlights of cars possbily. Otherwise…I can’t think of anyone who would actually like this. Eugh. Lets hope their perfectly nice away strip is the only one that they need wear.

Now that I’ve got past problem colours on strips its back onto rubbish designs! Ah poor old Bolton. Its been a good few years since Reebok actually gave them something like a good shirt. Remember that Yellow and Grey away kit? I tried to forget it only to see a 5 a side team all wearing it! So how to describe this. Its not really awful…but…what were they thinking? As I said before being asymmetrical isn’t that bad at all. Infact if was just the sleeve it would be quite nice. But that weird angular shape on the front is just a bit weird. Did someone from the maths department want to test out pupils ability to get the correct angle or something? Its just a bit weird. I’ll be fair though, its not totally awful. Now that reserved for some later on. Still… its not good is it? Maybe one day Bolton will be given an nice plain top. Maybe these outlandish designs are there to make up for how dull a club they are?

Ah now this is more like it. Or less like it I suppose. Notts County (aside from a short spell in the 1950’s have generally always won black and white stripes. Its their thing. Juve started wearing stripes after they borrowed Notts County tops. They are one of the oldest clubs in the world and stripes are just their thing. Until Fila wandered up and decided “hmm…those stripe thingys are so old…lets do pin stripes that only go 2 thirds up the top!”. Smack the person who thought Notts County fans would like this around the head. This design was briefly fashionalbe in the mid 1980’s before it was dumped by most designers for being a bit crap. This top is in here for both being rubbish and insulting a fan base hated it so much they started a campaign to bring back the stripes on their strip. I know Hearts have had a few stinking strips but never to the point of bringing the fans out in revolt!

We are on the home straight here. We are approaching the final levels of awfulness. Right now imagine your a Newcastle fan. You’ve had your ups and your downs. You’ve almost won the league and also been relegated in the last 15 or so years. You’ve had Keegan and Robson, you’ve had Gullit and Souness. You’ve also had to put up with Mike Ashley pissing all over your club and renaming your stadium the “Sports Direct @ St James Park Stadium”. There is always one thing you can count on. Your black and white strips. Even when they give you a banana and custard away top at least the home top is ok. Right? RIGHT? What the hell were you thinking Puma? What is that meant to be!? I think its meant to be like the stripes in the badge. I think. Either that or Puma really don’t like Newcastle. To make it even better, the Puma logo is shoved miles up onto the shoulder. What a disaster of a strip! Its up there with the half thin stripes, half thick stripes nonsense of the early 90’s (no it wasn’t a classic, it was a mess!).

That now leads me to the final strip. If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know its a Celtic top. Its a doosey. Its vile. What the hell is that? Its like a take on the “wasp” strip from the 90’s and a few years back. This is so bad it makes it look brilliant. Eugh what is that exactly? It looks like a piano on a “urine yellow” background. Bloody hell who thought thin and thick hoops on different quarters of the top was a good idea? I think I’ve come to the conclusion if its not a normal plain yellow top kit makers just screw it up. What the hell were Nike thinking. Honking. Totaly Honking and up there as one of the worst of recent years! Whats even worse they’ll have to wear it because their away strip has white hoops and has white socks. Just like their home top. So it barely contrasts!

Well thats that for best and worst strips. However its not the end of the story. I’ll come back with a few more blogs on football strips very soon. If something comes out and is somehow worse than that Celtic third top I’ll give it its own spotlight. However I just can’t see anything being worse than that!