As we sit here on the day of the Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich, I decided to take a look back down memory lane at the great European Cup finals of all time. There have been some classic finals in the past decades and we can hope tonight’s showpiece in Munich proves to be another one of those occasions.

Manchester United 4 Benfica 1 (1968)

The Red Devils became the first English side to win the European cup, and what made it sweeter was the fact it was won at Wembley (perhaps a good omen for SAF tomorrow). The game is remembered for European footballer of the year and football writer’s Footballer of the Year, George Best’s ‘wonder’ goal, but it could have been so different for United if goalkeeper Alex Stepney hadn’t saved from Eusebio, when the score was 1-1, when the Benfica forward broke through in the final moments. United sealed an emphatic win in extra time, with ‘that’ goal from Best, another from 19 year old Brian Kidd and another from Bobby Charlton.

Celtic 2 Inter Milan 1 (1967)

Celtic broke Britain’s European duck, in a remarkable game of attack versus defence, with the Scottish club managing 42 attempts on goal, with the Italians only achieving a measly five. Inter Milan took the lead on seven minutes via a Sandro Mazzola penalty, but that is as good as it got for the Italians, with Celtic unleashing wave after wave after attack, which eventually paid dividends with Tommy Gemmell and a deflected Bobby Murdoch shot, sealing the win.

Manchester United 2 Bayern Munich 1 (2000)

Everyone related with the German giants started to celebrate when the clock ticked over the 90 minute mark but 36 seconds later, the party was abruptly halted thanks to a Teddy Sheringham equaliser. Everybody began readying themselves for extra time but somebody forgot to tell Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who scored a dramatic winner on 92 minutes and 17 seconds to clinch the Treble for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.

Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3 (Liverpool win 3-2 on pens) (2005)

AC Milan fans are still recovering from this historic night in Istanbul, where Liverpool achieved, what was deemed impossible at half time. 3-0 down against a stereotypical Italian defence, the game basically over, but in a mad seven minute spell Liverpool showed us all why we love the beautiful game with Gerrard, Smicer and Alonso completing a sensational come back, to take the game to extra time and eventually penalties, which of course the Merseyside outfit won.

Real Madrid 7 Eintracht Frankfurt 3 (1960)

This cup final is viewed by many as the greatest European final ever, and it is hard to argue against with ten goals, two hat tricks (Ferenc Puskas 4 and Alfredo di Stefano 3) and world record number of fans at Hampden Park (127,261). This victory was Real Madrid’s fifth consecutive European Cup final victory in a row.

Benfica 5 Real Madrid 3 (1962)

Real Madrid were looking to reclaim their European dominance after Benfica had taken the trophy the year before, and with two early goals from Puskas it looked like Madrid would do just that. However within ten minutes Benfica were level again, only for Puskas to complete his hat trick before half time. Benfica managed to draw level in the second half and eventually went on to retain their crown with two goals in four minutes from Eusebio.

Nottingham Forest 1 Malmo 0 (1979)

Just two seasons earlier Forest were playing in the old second division, something of a fairytale football story. If that wasn’t enough of a story for you, UEFA rules meant that Trevor Francis Britain’s first £1 million signing couldn’t play in European matches for three months, which meant the Cup final was the former Birmingham City man’s Euro debut, a huge gamble by Old Big ‘Ead but one that paid off with Francis netting the winner.

Milan 4 Ajax 1 (1969)

This Milan performance destroyed the cliché of Italian football being negative and defensive, with Pierino Prati scoring the last hat trick in a European final to date. This Ajax side would eventually go on to be European Champions three years in a row in the early 1970s.

Real Madrid 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1 (2002)

A very close encounter with Raul opening the scoring after eight minutes for Madrid but Leverkusen’s Lucio levelled the score only five minutes later. It is what happened in the 45th minute that gets this game onto such lists, arguably one of the greatest UEFA Champions League goals was scored by Zinedine Zidane who volleyed a high arcing cross from Roberto Carlos into the top corner from the edge of the area, a goal worthy to win any match, especially a cup final.

Borussia Dortmund 3 Juventus 1 (1997)

Everyone loves an underdog and the German’s duly obliged in giving us a victorious one. The German’s went 2-0 up before Del Piero (who else) pulled a goal back but Dortmund sealed the win with a Lars Ricksen goal, 16 seconds after he came on as a substitute, which was and still is the faster goal by a substitute in the Champions League ever.

Fans may love the summer drama but does the involvement of agents affect the beautiful game in a negative way?

It’s important to understand that agents are not part of the football pantomime. They’re motivated by money and release stories about their clients to promote them, not to delight supporters.

Some argue their antics indirectly add to the soap opera but the truth is it’s not intentional. Comments that imply a player is unsettled do little but raise awareness about their availability.

This doesn’t promote football but instead lines the agent’s pockets.

Given the amount of transfers that are completed away from the public eye, why else would they publicise anything unless there was an ulterior motive?

Fans take most rumours with a pinch of salt. They love reading the stories but they know when it’s pure fantasy and many will not believe a thing until the player has signed on the dotted line.

The agents see it differently. If their client is wanted then they tell the world someone is interested in him so that other clubs double check his availability.

Even though fans find it exciting that their club is chasing new signings, it doesn’t always work out that way. They may love the drama but do they appreciate it when their best player is persuaded to leave?

Sunderland’s Asamoah Gyan isn’t popular in the North East at the moment but was it his idea to look elsewhere for more money?

His agent found him a deal worth four times what he was being paid so he jumped on a plane to UAE. With that in mind is Gyan disloyal or just a businessman?

Fans expect players to understand the club’s ethos and commit themselves to the cause so it’s saddens them to find some are more concerned with wages. Especially since that’s what makes it so easy for them to be persuaded the grass is greener elsewhere.

Naturally footballers can’t be trusted to put loyalty ahead of financial gain. That’s why agents need to be discouraged and a wage cap is only way to stop them destabilising clubs.

Players earn a lot of money, some say too much. Whether or not you believe it’s relative to how much they earn for their club, it’s still a huge amount when compared with the general public.

If football was brave enough to cap wages it would mean that the best players would reach the pinnacle of their earnings and have less reason to seek a move away.

If Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi can earn no more than £100,000 a week, the only reason they would leave their clubs would be for sporting reasons.

It would mean when players like Samir Nasri feel they’re more likely to win trophies at Manchester City than at Arsenal, they can make that move based on their ambitions and not their wallets.

Fans would even understand their motivations and perhaps not question their defection as vehemently.

The agent will still make his money but that’s unavoidable so at least the players would be in charge. They’d be earning their maximum allowance and would need more of an incentive to uproot their lives.

At the moment it’s far too easy for players to be persuaded to move elsewhere. When a player has a contract, his agent shouldn’t be allowed to speak with other clubs.

Teams have been fined for illegally tapping up players so why is an agent allowed to act as a middle man to facilitate these deals?

Regulations need to be in place to stop situations like this.

The new Financial Fair Play rules should help ease the situation but only because clubs will have less freedom to spend. Agents will still find clubs willing to pay more for their client so the problem will remain.

If the authorities police every facet of the sport then why are agents allowed to disrupt it so freely?

The trouble is they’re hired by the players not the governing bodies. They‘re free to find the best deals for their client so if this is to stop then the powers that be must step in.

If they don’t then fans will be left with a sport so soulless that money grabbing disloyalty will be prevalent forever.

The veteran striker is out of contract in the summer at Stamford Bridge, and the Blues have been reluctant to offer the African the two additional years that he desires.

With the Ivory Coast international knocking back the option of a one-year extension from the Premier League side, a big-money move to join former team-mate Nicolas Anelka at Shanghai Shenhua has been speculated.

However, the latest inclination is that Barcelona will look to bring the forward to Spain on a free transfer and offer him a two-year contract worth up to £5 million a season in wages.

Barcelona have had first-hand experience of Drogba’s abilities this season, with the forward scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 Chelsea win in the Champions League semi-final first leg.

With Drogba expected to lead the line in Chelsea’s final against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, the player’s future is set to be resolved after the end-of-season clash.

By Gareth McKnight

The Ivory Coast international’s deal with the west London club expires in the summer, with no hint of a renewal as yet.

It is believed that Chelsea want to sign a big name forward this summer, with the likes of Hulk, Gonzalo Higuain and Edinson Cavani linked with moves to the Champions League finalists.

However, after Drogba scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final first leg, the Catalan giants have been weighing up a move to bring the African marksman to Camp Nou this summer.

Reports in the Spanish press indicate that Barcelona were pleased with their experiment of taking on Henrik Larsson despite his age back in 2006, and feel Drogba’s experience could be an asset to the club.

Meanwhile, Juventus are also in the race to sign Drogba, and are also looking to the Premier League this summer for transfer targets.

The Turin giants are on the verge of winning Serie A and reports in Italy suggest that Antonio Conte’s men have drawn up a shortlist of English-based strikers to try and bring to Italy, with a £35 million war chest to spend.

Drogba, Luis Suarez, Carlos Tevez and Robin van Persie are all thought to be in the Bianconeri’s cross-hairs.

By Gareth McKnight

Arsenal have continually been linked with Guardiola over the last year-and-a-half, with his linkages reaching a head whenever Arsenal have been going through a difficult patch, but with the Gunners resurgence of sorts, Wenger doubters have been silenced somewhat with the Frenchman’s revolutionised transfer tact going forward. With the signature of Lukas Podolski all but announced and transfer negotiations with Yann M’Vila on-going, many feel Wenger deserves one last chance to prove us all wrong. It is exactly that though; one last chance, and if the same old story materialises, this would coincide definitively with the conclusion of Guardiola’s yearlong sabbatical and a potential successive appointment.

It remains whether Guardiola would truly be a hit in the Premier League, despite widespread blind faith that he would be an exciting successor. The Spaniard is likely never to manage such a successful crop of players again in his career as he did at Camp Nou, but to turn the fortunes of an underachieving giant would certainly instil some versatility to his managerial CV. Although the likely suggestion, it seems the instinctive one as Arsenal and Guardiola do seem to complement each other well upon first glance.

The 41-year-old has willingly thrown youngsters such as Isaac Cuenca and Cristian Tello into big games in the first team ranks this term, and this has been the recent legacy of Wenger, if indeed the Gunners wish to maintain such a policy. The La Masia academy has generated technically gifted pros, and Barcelona have confidence in their ability to play out of situations, whether it be further up the field or more dangerously on the edge of their box; something as witnessed by Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby. Guardiola has also been an advocate of the 4-3-3 formation in Spain and one that the Gunners employ similarly with wingers cutting inside and most attacks going more centrally though the opponent.

It was heavily documented in the week that Barcelona had no plan B to Chelsea’s resistance with mazy weaving runs continually being thwarted by the over-extending limbs of the Blues back line. This has too been a criticism of the Gunners current ranks with big brash sides such as Stoke City having ‘found out’ Arsenal’s game by simply not allowing Wenger’s side time on the ball to create havoc with their superior movement. Guardiola would be inheriting a well-known similar system, but it could be argued far fewer sides in the Premier League would do a Chelsea and park the bus, paying such a compliment to Arsenal with more upsets and underdogs toppling the favourites occurring in England than anywhere else on the continent. In this way, maintenance of the Gunners plan A by Guardiola would still function 75% of the time.

Aside from the obvious comparisons, the man himself seems a snug fit for the Arsenal hotseat. Guardiola has built a reputation as rarely threatened, level-headed and gracious in defeat with an essence of class overriding as his most employable asset. The Catalan’s suave style and polished exterior would certainly look at home amidst the plush surroundings of Arsenal’s state-of-the-art Emirates Stadium home.

Wenger has soured with age, and his once astute demeanour has been traded for laborious moaning and unsavoury ungentlemanly conduct with fellow managers (and UEFA!) whenever the going gets tough. In this way, Wenger-doubters have grown tired with the Frenchman’s child-like tantrums, as opposed to digging in and solving the issue head on. Wenger’s stubborn defence of his weaker players and countless perseverance with troubled talents has too left a lot to be desired with the loyal Emirates following. Whilst it is almost unimaginable to observe anybody else in charge of the Gunners after such a long and respectable time in charge, Guardiola’s forthcoming availability may just represent a chance Arsenal can’t afford to miss.

Of course, people will point to the ill-fated appointment of Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea with Guardiola being just seven years his senior, but the longevity of the Catalan’s success in relation to the Portuguese serves as evidence that he didn’t just fluke his accomplishments. With the financial fair play regulations coming into place over the next three years, it will be that much more observable how much an impact a manager makes with the restriction of expensive imports being far less advantageous. Guardiola has undoubtedly had amazing talent at his disposal, but his efficiency and togetherness with them should not be overlooked. Only time will tell, and Wenger’s next term will really tell us a lot more about what direction the Gunners are heading in but Guardiola might just want to flex his muscle in England’s top flight in years to come.

Would Guardiola be a good fit for Arsenal or do you still have faith in Wenger long-term? Follow me @ http://twitter.com/Taylor_Will1989

The Catalan giants were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by Chelsea in the semi-finals of Europe’s top club competition, and are seven points behind Real Madrid in the Primera Division with only a handful of games remaining.

Guardiola is out of contract at Camp Nou this summer, and Sky Sports Spanish football expert Guillem Balague feels that the massively successful coach is ready for a new challenge, potentially in England.

“He has the urge to coach in another place. He wants to come to the Premier League,” Balague stated to Sky Sports.

“He couldn’t make it here as a player. He was close to joining Wigan at one point I believe. Manchester United wanted him at some point, Liverpool and Spurs, but it didn’t happen.

“And as a manager he wants to prove himself in the Premier League,” he continued.

Balague also feels that there maybe a chance of the Barcelona stars following their mentor overseas.

“It’s a good point because they are very close to him; they’ve grown to be better players with him.

“But at the same time, four years with the same manager, seeing the same face, you wonder if that is one of the reasons Guardiola, if he decides to leave, will leave,” he concluded.

Guardiola has been linked with the vacant England manager’s job, and with a move to European conquerors Chelsea.

As yet there has been no official confirmation from either the club or the coach.

By Gareth McKnight

You can be blessed with the quick feet of Lionel Messi, the vision of Paul Scholes or the technique of Cristiano Ronaldo but it will all amount to nothing without the vital ingredient of self-belief. The psychological demands of the beautiful game are all too easily overlooked, when in fact they help contribute to some of the most exciting and often surprising incidents in the sport.

I think we’re all in agreement that Barcelona were the superior side in their recent Champions League clash against Chelsea. Had one of their multiple chances at the Bridge found the back of the net then perhaps we would be reading a different fairytale altogether, rather than this modern day version of David and Goliath. Their failure to score coupled with the outcome of El Clásico planted a seed of doubt at the heart of the Catalan giants, which continued to grow as the clock ticked down.

You could sense the atmosphere had changed after Messi crashed his penalty against the crossbar, as Barcelona continued to knock on the door rather than searching for an alternative route past a resilient Chelsea rearguard. As they swept the ball across the box in an arc formation it began to dawn on me that their failure to penetrate through had left them bereft of ideas. This was highlighted by the usually assured Lionel Messi picking up a booking for a rash challenge, a clear sign that the unyielding confidence of the Spanish giants was crumbling away.

Forgive me if I appear to be belittling the achievements of Chelsea, who were sensational across the entire 180 minutes. Whereas their opponents were found lacking, Drogba and co were thriving on the confidence Roberto Di Matteo has installed in them since his transition from sidekick to top dog. The Blues knew that it would be foolish to compete with Barca’s own brand of football, but instead of letting this demoralise them they were buoyed by their own belief that they could weather the storm and punish them on the break.

You need look no further than Fernando Torres for evidence of the fragile nature of self-confidence. In the not too distant past the Spaniard was idolised in Merseyside, flourishing in the admiration of the fans, his fellow team-mates, his manager and perhaps most importantly the national press. Introduce the concept of being valued of £50m and suddenly all that washes away and is replaced by the weight of expectation. Torres has endured a torrid journey in his search for that defining moment of inspiration and if Gary Neville’s reaction is anything to go by, he found it at the Nou Camp.

The importance of confidence is even more apparent in the Premier League, as it helps shape the contrasting fortunes of a number of clubs. Newcastle are a team playing with a creative freedom gifted to them by Alan Pardew, a man who has somehow bought a sense of cohesion and team spirit to a club that was once in disarray.

The Toon Army could arguably be credited with stealing Tottenham’s crown as the most exciting team in the division. The Lilywhites flaunted a similar style of attacking football in the early part of the season that led many to hail them as outside title contenders and portray Harry Redknapp as the front-runner for the vacant England role. However, the club have struggled to overcome the significant defeat against their North London rivals Arsenal and have unquestionably entered a state of freefall. Redknapp is often praised for his man management skills so it will interesting to see if he can resurrect his teams battered mentality before they slip out of Champions League contention altogether.

If we drop down into the Championship, Reading represent the perfect example of a team blossoming under a manager who shares the gift for motivating and inspiring his players. Much like Di Matteo, Brian McDermott isn’t blessed with a wealth of experience but they both possess a natural talent for getting the best out of their players. Compare these two with someone like Sven Goran Eriksson, who has enjoyed success across the continent and is regarded as a master tactician. In spite of this I feel the Swede was always hampered by his ability to ‘gee up’ his squad, which inevitably accumulated to his failure with the England national side and a growing number of domestic clubs in the country.

It’s logical to suggest that you can never have too much confidence given the ‘world beater’ attitude it inspires from within. However, we know this is not the case and we only have to look at the likes of Nicklas Bendtner and Mario Balotelli to witness how an inflated ego to be detrimental to ones career. It can also be seemingly impossible to get back, hit a bad patch of form or endure a spell on the sidelines and you might witness players literally trying to hide on a football pitch. Has Michael Owen ever been the same since he pulled up all those years ago in his Liverpool shirt? Will we ever see the forgotten talent of Manchester City’s Michael Johnson boss a midfield again?

Confidence therefore is vital, without it and you won’t even see a pass let alone attempt it. Too much of the stuff and you lose all sense of reality, trying audacious lobs from the highway line much to the frustration of those around you. As the title race reaches its peak City will be buoyed by their recent run of form whilst United confident from the fact they’ve been here before. Who will emerge triumphant? No one knows and that should inspire confidence about the state of English football from within all of us.

Join me on Twitter @theunusedsub where I’m confident Chelsea will be joined by the Special One in the final.

Barcelona have been a complete powerhouse in terms of both domination, success and substance the past three years, but as the excellent Jonathan Wilson recently pointed out, even the very best teams of their eras only tend to rule in three-year cycles. Barcelona have fallen foul of this one golden rule, a truism which lasts the ages.

So where has it all gone wrong this season for Barcelona? The league chase, and it was for the most part it was a chase, was undone by some indifferent away form earlier on in the season which immediately put them on the back foot. Most have pointed out the fact that Barca had their least intensive pre-season in recent memory this summer too, as they whored themselves around the US. By choosing to place commercial interests before footballing ones, they’ve ultimately paid the price as the season has entered its final and most crucial phase and they looked decidedly not only shorn of ideas against both Chelsea and Real Madrid, but of puff also.

Moving onto the pitch, this season has seen manager Pep Guardiola experiment with his tried and tested 4-3-3 formation and over recent months, in the big games in particular, has come to rely on a 3-4-3 formation, with Mascherano dropping back into a centre-back role and Alexis Sanchez leading the line with Lionel Messi dropping off him as a false nine, breaking from deep.

This change has hit Barcelona hard in two ways. Firstly, they’ve lost a lot of fluidity and pace to their passing game. Far too often now, they’ve struggled against lowlier opposition which have been willing to sit back and soak up pressure. They’ve struggled to carve open teams on the break with the regularity that they used to. In short, they’re simply not moving the ball as quickly now.

Secondly, the change in formation now means that they lack a focal point to their attack. I still maintain that the best Barcelona side, collectively, that I have seen is the 2008/9 vintage, with Samuel Eto’o leading the line from the front. It offered them a different, more direct dimension to their game and they always had a ‘get-out’ ball if they needed to chase a result.

The 3-4-3 formation has worked in patches, but it heaps far too much creative responsibility onto Lionel Messi, who has, to put it politely, carried this team for months now, so his lacklustre displays in the recent run of fixtures is somewhat understandable.

The formation works on the understanding that goals come from a number of different positions, but at key junctures in the season, aside from Messi, Alexis Sanchez and at a stretch, Xavi, few others have stepped up to the plate and played their part.

Pedro for instance, an integral cog in the Barcelona machine these part two years or so has just three league goals this season compared to 13 in 10/11 and 12 in 09/10. David Villa managed to bag 18 goals last term, but has just five in the league this campaign, after being ruled out for the remainder of the season with a broken leg in December. Andres Iniesta struck eight times last season but has scored just twice this year  and while Cesc Fabregas has contributed nine goals in the league, he has faded terribly since the turn of the year as he gets to grips with a more tactical, patient approach to the game at his new/old club.

A lot of emphasis in the aftermath of the two results against Chelsea has been placed on the absence of Villa, perhaps too much in my eyes. Whether Guardiola would have pursued with the 3-4-3 so vigorously had the Spanish international not been ruled out through injury for the rest of the season, we will never know, but to say certain results this season would have been different had he been present is a lesson in futility if ever there was one.

Lest we forget, before we conveniently gloss over the facts in the pursuit of an excuse, Villa was starting to be marginalised to an extent prior to his injury. Rumours of a bust-up with both Guardiola and Messi refused to go away and he simply wasn’t the nailed on starter he’d been the previous season.

What Barcelona do unquestionably miss in his absence, though, is that directness. Villa is not on a par with Eto’o in that regard, but he has not been raised and indoctrinated into the Barca way, and as such, he isn’t afraid to have a pop from outside the box from time to time. Against Chelsea, aswell as the fluidity and pace to their play that was missing, Barcelona could also often been found guilty of trying to pass the ball into the net, which is somewhat reminiscent of Arsenal a few years back. In essence, they gave into the worst excesses of tiki-taka; passing for passing’s sake, with no penetration in sight.

That is not to say that this Barcelona side is beyond repair, far from it. They are still quite simply a juggernaut of European football, but they’ve been overworked and fell short of their best form at a crucial time in the season. However, the club require at least two significant signings in the summer, for the current squad is unbalanced in key areas.

The story that the club have prioritised Gareth Bale as the club’s top transfer target in the summer is both intriguing and wholly understandable. Bale’s directness and pace could add something extra to the side as they seek a long-term replacement for Eric Abidal, although I would argue that they require reinforcements elsewhere first.

Carles Puyol has creaked terribly these last few months, and while the thought of the club purchasing a recognised and specialised centre-back may be nothing short of blasphemous, Thiago Silva and Nicolas N’Koulou have been mooted as targets for a reason and to put it quite frankly, they need to add some height and strength to their side, particularly at the back. Guardiola has been short of cover at the back ever since he was forced to sell Dmytro Chygrynskiy back to Shakhtar Donetsk at a huge loss to help pay off some of the club’s sizeable debt in 2010 and it’s an area that requires addressing.

Up front too, they require an out-and-out centre forward of genuine class, but one that’s prepared not to be involved every game of the season. Both Fernando Llorente and Edinson Cavani would fit into Barca’s pressing style off the ball, much more so than Zlatan Ibrahmovic did and the clinical but lazy Falcao ever could. The sight of Seydou Keita coming on as a make-shift striker in the closing stages against Chelsea tells you that Guardiola is probably as aware as anyone of his team’s shortcomings in this area now.

Prophecies of their demise have been laughably premature. The pedestal that we all placed them on has almost gleefully been knocked out from underneath them by some with proclomations that Barcelona were never really that good after all, that it was all the Emperor’s New Clothes and that they’d all seen this day coming a mile off. It’s all complete and utter poppycock of course, but that won’t stop the hypocrisy of some.

Barcelona are still the team of our times, after all, Jose Mourinho isn’t known to deal in prolonged spells of brilliance, rather short staccato-like periods of all out Blitzkrieg. Perhaps Guardiola tampered and tinkered with something which didn’t need fixing all that much in the first place in the pursuit of more flexibility, but the fact that this Barcelona side is constantly evolving is a positive thing rather than a stick that can be used to beat it with. The Barcelona you see this season is not the same as last season, and it most certainly won’t be the same as next year. A terrifying prospect.

Nevertheless, with a couple of key signings in central positions next season, Barcelona will still be somewhere close to the force that we’ve all come to recognise, and losing out on retaining both the league and Champions League titles inside a week will have hurt them dreadfully. They now have the hunger back, something to aim for and they are no longer the ones people are looking to knock down and depose, they are the leaders of the chasing pack, and that is an ominous thought for Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid before he even contemplates resting on his laurels in the summer, content that the last Clasico helped deliver a knockout blow.

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

In this modern era of big money moves, the media spotlight has never shined so bright on those players who return to their former stomping grounds. The first occasion is always the worst with fans and pundits dwelling over such trivial subjects like the reaction he’s likely to get or whether he’ll refuse to shake anyone’s hand. The end result is usually anti-climatic as with Carroll’s return to Tyneside, although his dreadful dive has permanently cemented his place in amongst the Toon Army’s most popular hate figures.

However, there are those instances when players do wreak havoc against their former employers, sometimes with disastrous consequences, leaving journalists to rejoice in the fact that their post-match report has all but written itself.

Click on Phil Neville below to reveal the 15 players who have returned to haunt their former club

Join me on Twitter @theunusedsub where I successfully predicted Fernando Torres would score last night.

The British concept of the ‘beautiful game’ is anything but beautiful, as a nation we promote the ideals of grit, determination and bravery that embody the stereotypical bulldog spirit. Wayne Rooney, our most celebrated product of the last decade, has been manufactured to blend these characteristics into his portfolio of tricks and flicks. Whilst this defines him as one of the most talented footballers in this modern era, he is perhaps the diamond in amongst the rough of technically inferior individuals that have emerged from our academies.

Gareth Southgate, the FA’s head of elite development, would appear to share this opinion and has recently voiced his concern that England cannot afford to stand still as the game continues to evolve.

“I played international football for England and in many games we were technically inferior to the opposition,”

“Everybody looks at Barcelona and Spain and realises we can’t keep playing the way we have and producing the English style of player. We have to grow and change.” (Guardian)

Aside from the exceptional examples that include Paul Scholes and Paul Gascoigne, it would appear that we are not doing enough during early development to help nurture this rare breed of player. Perhaps it’s fair to suggest that clubs are so focused on ensuring that youngsters are physically prepared for the rigours of English football that they neglect training key technical attributes.

One of Southgate’s main objectives in his role is to improve the relations between club and country. All too often the tabloid newspapers are awash with stories that managers are angry their players have been injured away on international duty, played longer than agreed or even called up in the first place. There’s a worrying reality nowadays that players favour their club over their country, which certainly wasn’t the case back in ’66. Perhaps Southgate’s time as Middlesbrough boss should give him an edge in bridging the gap between the FA and the managers in the Premier League.

There is also an underlying desire to install success at an early level; if players can grow and bond with one another throughout their teens then this will help improve our chances of establishing a competitive squad at senior level. Southgate is keen to stress that he wants to make the experience of playing for England more enjoyable, an unthinkable notion to you or me, until you consider the surreal levels of expectation that are heaped on young shoulders from an early age.

The enjoyment factor of playing football should be cherished and cultivated at a grassroot level. At present, children are thrown into the world of football at the deep end, playing on pitches that are too big, in games that last too long. The teams are run by over competitive men, keen to fulfil some missed opportunity from their own childhood as they shout and scream from the touchline. In this scenario, the sport will always favour and adhere to those who hit puberty first and will severely disrupt the development for the rest.

We now live in a society where playing football in the street is frowned upon, despite the fact it’s been vital in helping the likes of Wayne Rooney master their trade. Thankfully the FA council will discuss a handful of new proposals this month that should help transform the sport from the bottom scale of the pyramid, right to the very top.

The most important proposition concerns a radical re-structure of youth football. Players will only play in 5-aside matches in their early involvement in the sport before moving onto 9v9 sided games when they reach the age of 11. This format will remain optional alongside the conventional 11-aside set-up up between the ages of 12-16 and will ensure children play with the right sized balls on appropriate pitches. It doesn’t take a genius to see that these changes are long overdue and will hopefully see players develop their skills as they enjoy more time on the ball.

These new developments will form part of a £1bn strategy that will aim to encourage better participation and see 2,000 football clubs develop links with local secondary schools. At the core of this scheme is St George’s Park, a new centre of excellence in Burton-upon-Trent that will act as the FA’s centre for education and development. Not only will this provide the optimum environment for players but it will also host thousands of new teaching courses that aim to produce 250,000 new coaches by 2018.

So in spite of the dark clouds looming over the country right now, the future looks bright for our next generation of stars. Our very own Lionel Messi could even be walking amongst us as we speak, he’s just a little preoccupied with colouring in at the moment.

Join on me Twitter @theunusedsub where I’m watching a video of Juan Pablo Angel’s son Tomy, who appears to be more than just a chip off the old block.