Previewing The Premier League 2014/15

By Shane Thomas

For swathes of last season, Sky Sports proffered the line that it was probably the best season in Premier League history. Beyond shameless self-promotion, Sky made the common mistake of confusing drama with greatness.

The Diary Of A Pessimistic Arsenal Fan - Where Has Our Arsenal Gone? Oh, There They Are. And They're Not Very Good.

By Shane Thomas

ARSENAL 0-2 SWANSEA

On a matchday that began with a march from the Black Scarf enclave of discontented Arsenal fans ended with the entire Emirates Stadium in a state of disgust by the limp performance that led to a 2-0 defeat to Swansea; a result which was fully merited by Michael Laudrup's side. After the march, came the rancour.

The Diary Of A Pessmistic Arsenal Fan - Arsenal Extinguished By Villa's Fire Blanket

By Shane Thomas

ASTON VILLA 0-0 ARSENAL

Arsenal gave a performance that mirrored the miserable weather in Birmingham yesterday, as the match against Aston Villa ended in a drab goalless draw that by no means flattered the home side.

Hillsborough: The True Failings

By Shane Thomas

The Hillsborough independent panel's verdict was said to send shockwaves throughout the English game. People were reputedly stunned by the revelations that the accountability for the tragic deaths of 96 Liverpool fans should no longer be aimed towards the supporters, but towards the ostensibly esteemed organisations of the South Yorkshire Police, The FA, sections of the English newspapers and the British government.

The 2011/12 Premier League Club Review

By Shane Thomas


One of the most common misnomers in sport is the word "great". Greatness is often ascribed to a sporting event or occasion when what one means to say is "eventful" or "dramatic".

There's no doubt that this past Premier League season was chock-full of excitement and drama, but great is was not. Greatness comes from a high standard of excellence. So while this season wasn't the greatest (that probably goes to either the 1998/99 or 2007/08 season), the past nine months were arguably the most dramatic seen on these shores. In the order of where each club finished in the league table, let's go through the clubs:

The Gambler Who Could Afford To Keep Rolling The Dice

By Shane Thomas


It's seldom that a person succeeds in any walk of life without having something of a gambler's instinct. Playing it safe only gets you so far, and in football, Roman Abramovich is a man who's rolled the dice ad nauseum.

The Perfect Storm

By Shane Thomas

For regular football viewers, the hard-sell we have to endure from television companies borders on the maddening side of tedious. The amount of times we hear the word "best" misused in the name of trying to convince the public that the next match of football is "must-see", and the "greatest ever" is an affront to all intelligent people and the English language. David Mitchell once summed it up beautifully, thus.

Premier League Pacesetters Under Fire From Their Rivals

By Shane Thomas


As another Premier League weekend draws to a close, Tottenham Hotspur - who looked safely ensconced in third place, and with an eye on the two Manchester clubs - have hit a wall in terms of results. Zero points from the last nine, with Arsenal's late win against Newcastle meaning that they only hold a one point gap over their bitter neighbours on the red side of North London.

White-Hot Spurs Take Hearts To School - Guest Post By Andrew Neill

By Andrew Neill

I was at Tynecastle to watch Heart of Midlothian take on the might of Tottenham Hotspur, it was laughably billed as the "Battle of Britain", but what it brought into stark contrast was the difference in quality between the English Premier League and the Scottish Premier League. By their relative ambitions, these sides are of equal standing. They're not the best teams in their league but have aspirations to go further, and for the last few years have been best of the rest after the two or three clubs that always win their respective leagues.

As a Hearts fan I have no doubts that we are not brilliant, we are barely better than the rest of the clubs outside the Auld Firm in Scotland. We'll have a fight on our hands just to secure 3rd place, but the winner of that position will be the team that makes the fewest mistakes and Hearts have a good enough squad to achieve that. We came into the match as underdogs, but the eternal optimist in me thought if Spurs were have a bad night, we might be able to nick a draw, get them worried, and sneak a freak result in London (I must be allowed these wild fantasies at times). However, what happened was that a national television audience witnessed the gulf in class between English and Scottish Football.

Hearts actually played quite well over the whole night. But the fitness (or lack of it) of the players cost Hearts dear in the first half. However, for the first 15 minutes of the second half, we dominated Spurs, creating chances. By this point, Tottenham were already 3-0 up and cruising, but we showed we were capable of causing them problems. There's no denying that Spurs were sublime on the night, they controlled the game, winning 5-0. To be honest, it could have been 10-0 and we would have had no complaints. They sliced our defence open at will, and gave goalkeeper Marion Kello no chance with all five goals that were expertly taken from a group of players that would get bored by the lacklustre standard of the SPL. Their collective first touch, passing, and finishing was of a level that I have never seen at Tynecastle, even from the George Burley team that topped the SPL table in the early stages of the 2005/06 season.

Even Barcelona coming to Scotland to play a pre-season friendly at Murrayfield was not comparable to the level of skill on show yesterday evening. I don't think Spurs showed a level of skill that will win the Premier League title, but they showed enough to suggest they can go far in the Europa League, as well as challenging for the Champions League places again this year. Hearts were shown how to play the game, and if they play against the rest of the SPL as they did for those fifteen second-half minutes, they'll cruise to 3rd, and may be in a position to challenge Rangers and Celtic.

All in all, it was a privilege to watch Spurs demolish the team I love and I was proud of the support at the end, standing defiant knowing that the better team won. In spite of the result, we were still singing and asking what they would do when we win 6-0 in London. Realistically I know that the tie is dead, but I hope that the players enjoy the experience of playing in London next week. When Spurs bring out their under 19 team in the second-leg next Thursday, I just hope we can match them.


Don't forget to download 'The Greatest Events in Sporting History' from www.simplysyndicated.com/shows/sportinghistory/, e-mail us at sportshistoryshow@googlemail.com and you can follow us on Twitter @TGEISH

Andrew Neill also has a film blog, which can be found at http://www.toxicmovies.blogspot.com/

The Diary Of A Pessimistic Arsenal Fan - North London Heavyweights Punch Each Other To A Standstill

By Shane Thomas

ARSENAL 3-3 TOTTENHAM

The most thrilling display of attacking football seen in Britain this season resulted in the 148th North London derby ending in a 3-3 draw. A coruscating encounter at White Hart Lane had the watching fans - both a worldwide television audience as well as those in the ground - breathless. With a win needed by both teams, Arsenal & Tottenham went onto the pitch with one thought - attack.

Richard Swarbrick & Gareth Bale - Turning Sport Into Art

By Shane Thomas

Bit of a quick one readers. As this blog's been non-stop about Arsenal for the past month, I think a quick blast of Tottenham will help redress the balance.

The Diary Of A Pessimistic Arsenal Fan - Cesc's Madness Leaves Arsenal Gasping

By Shane Thomas

ARSENAL 2 - 3 TOTTENHAM

Tottenham took advantage of a moment of madness from Cesc Fabregas to end their 17 year away hoodoo against rivals Arsenal. Spurs came from 2-0 down at half-time to stage a memorable comeback to leave the majority of the crowd at The Emirates stadium in a state of horror and shock.

The £20 Million Match

By Shane Thomas

In a few hours time Manchester City will play Tottenham in a match that will almost certainly decide who will claim fourth place in the Premier League, and with it, a chance to qualify for next season's prestigious Champions League. The lucrative nature of the competition means that tonight's contest will leave tremors throughout English football that could be felt for years.