
Tottenham Hotspur ended the Christmas season as the top team in London, the first time in 15 years they have held such a lofty spot at the turn of the year. Spurs fans will be ecstatic if their team is still ahead of the other London clubs come May, especially the interlopers from down the North Circular Road. Manchester will be fighting it out for the title, but the race for the final two Champions League spots will be fought out in London. One of Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea ‘03 will miss out on next year’s Champions League.

Steve Kean may be in over his head as a Premier League manager and he may eventually lose his job as Blackburn boss, but he does not deserve the abuse the club’s so called fans gave him at Ewood Park in their loss to Bolton. Kean handled the abuse with a touch of class. Rovers fans on the other hand showed none. It is one thing to boo the team, a manger or a player, it is another to maintain a vitriolic campaign against them. If Kean is fired I hope Blackburn are relegated. Their fans don’t deserve to be in the Premier League.

Celtic were fined by UEFA for their fans’ illicit chanting and singing in a Europa Cup game earlier this season. They have also been charged with another offence after irate fans unfurled a banner with a foul-mouthed suggestion to UEFA in an away game at Udinese. Celtic and its fans have had a tremendous reputation around Europe for the best part of the last 40 years. The European Cup Winners Cup game at home to Rapid Vienna in 1984 and the 1980 Scottish Cup Final against Rangers the two exceptions. The club will put its house in order and Celtic will ban for life any fan who sullies the club’s good name. Fans of bitter rivals Rangers have turned the recent incidents into a point scoring contest. What is that they say about people in glass houses?

The sacking of Antoine Kombouare as coach of Paris St. Germain is another sign of everything that is wrong with modern day football. PSG were top of Ligue 1 when Kombouare was fired. The club has had huge investment from the Middle East and the new owners, Qatar Investment Authority and their Director of Football, Leonardo did not feel the unfortunate Kombouare was the man to take the team forward. They have appointed Carlo Ancelotti as the new boss with the remit of leading the club to Champions League glory. The Italian should be well prepared for the demands of the job having worked previously for an egomaniacal club owner.