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Each week Futera’s ‘Man in the Stands’ Steve Nolan will keep you upto date with the latest news in the world of Football.

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Article 1 – October 2008

After all the goals, thrills and skills on display at Euro 2008, attention has turned back to domestic matters once more as the 2008-2009 season has kicked off throughout Europe. And the opening few weeks of the new campaign have certainly not disappointed, with as much off the field drama hitting the headlines as the big match action on it, particularly in the English Premier League.

Manchester City became the World’s richest club overnight as megabucks Middle-Eastern company Abu Dhabi United Group agreed to buy the club from former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The new owners have stated their desire to turn the club into the biggest in the world and promptly signalled their intent with an audacious attempt at hijacking Dimitar Berbatov’s proposed deadline day transfer to fierce rivals Manchester United. Berbatov eventually completed his dream move to United, and City fans had to make do with Brazilian trickster Robinho, who moved to Eastlands from Real Madrid for a British record £32.4million fee. The transfer rocked the football world and ruffled Chelsea feathers as the Londoners had looked dead certs to sign the Brazilian. Further expected bids to sign the likes of Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas are likely to make the January transfer window an exciting one. (look out for all of the above mentioned players featuring in ‘World Football – The Game’ released early 2009. “Register at www.futera.com/thegame":http://www.futera.com/thegame)

The ecstasy among fans in the blue half of Manchester could not have been in bigger contrast to the dismay felt by Newcastle fans in the wake of the transfer deadline. The Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan ended days of speculation and fury by quitting the club for a second time in the opening days of September. Keegan cited his lack of control in the transfer market as the reason for his departure, as Executive Director of Football at the club Dennis Wise failed to deliver the big name signings that were promised, and James Milner was sold to Aston Villa against the manager’s wishes. Things quickly went from bad to worse at St James’ Park as, after days of furious protest much of which was directed at Wise and club chairman Mike Ashley, the troubled club was put up for sale, with a Nigerian consortium reported to be among the bidders. Further drama then surrounded the appointment of Keegan’s successor at the club with former England manager Terry Venables turning the job down, prompting the unlikely albeit temporary return to top flight football of former Wimbledon, Luton, and Nottingham Forest manager Joe Kinnear as interim manager. He has as little as six games to halt the Geordies alarming slump in form before a new owner is likely to appoint their own man (Some of you may remember our superb NEWCASTLE GREATEST PLATINUM collection in 1999 … view the checklist here).

September was not a good month for West Ham United either, as an independent tribunal found in Sheffield United’s favour in the Carlos Tevez affair. Tevez was an illegally registered player and was deemed key to the Hammer’s dramatic final day escape from relegation in 2007, an escape which saw the Blades demoted to the English Championship in their place. West Ham could now have to pay as much as £30million in compensation to the Yorkshire club.

Elsewhere, Andriy Shevchenko completed his return to former club AC Milan after two disappointing years at Chelsea at the end of August. The Ukrainian international is a cult-hero at the San Siro, where he scored 127 goals in 208 games.

Finally, UEFA announced that the UEFA Cup will become the UEFA Europa League from 2009 in a bid to revitalise the competition. The competition will comprise of twelve groups of four from next season, with teams playing each other home and away. The top two teams from each group will then join the eight third placed teams from the Champions League group stages in a 32 team knockout competition. Losing domestic cup finalists will no longer be eligible to contest the trophy.

If the rest of the domestic campaign is as packed with as much drama and excitement then the 2008-2009 season will live long in the memory.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and does not necessarily represent the opinion of Futera or www.futera.com