You Might Trick Me Once…

The tapestry of professional football is rich and varied. People respond to different aspects of the game, whether it be the pace on the field or the inter-terrace rucking. I think it’s pretty safe to say that for STT, what makes football great is tricks; nothing beats a good nutmeg or a backheel when a simple pass to feet would’ve sufficed. As such, friendly website Footy Boots has today published the results of an online poll which asked readers just what they thought the greatest ever trick was. As you can see from below, the Top 7 are all pretty special in their own right, and its especially good to see average journeyman Lee Trundle ranking above all-time legend Diego Maradona!

1. Rene Higuita’s Scorpion Kick – 20%

Perhaps the most famous trick in history, the eccentric keeper pulled this off at Wembley in 1995 thinking that the ball was dead. Had he missed it, the goal would’ve counted but I’m sure he would’ve still laughed it off. This is the trick most responsible for kids around the country losing their front teeth back on the school playground.

2. The Ronaldinho Flip Flap / Elastic / Buffalo Tail – 19%

Once upon a time this was Ronnie’s signature move, bamboozling defenders week in week out. Nowadays he is a pale imitation of his great self, and the likes of Eto’o and Ibramhimovic bust this trick with greater frequency. Still though it is the best piece of skill to enter the modern footballing lexicon; devilishly difficult to master and near impossible to do at the pace Ronnie does it.

3. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Step-overs – 18%

Pretty standard these days, but when you have it shoved in your face every week it’s easy to get complacent. Sure any decent player can sell a defender a step-over, but the speed of Ronaldo’s feet is just insane. The only guys that come close to matching him are similarly-moulded Portugeezers (sorry) Nani and Quaresma, plus Brazilian wonderkid Robinho.

4. The Cruyff Turn – 18%

The classic trademark of one of the greatest players of all day. As a kid it’s probably the first trick you learn but it’s still so effective. These days Cristiano Ronaldo does a kind of running Cruyff turn where he chops the ball behind his standing leg at pace to change direction, but it all started with this sublime Dutchman more than 30 years ago.

5. Kerlon’s Seal Dribble – 15%

Screaming ‘hit me!’ to defenders, this trick is the recent invention of Brazilian star Kerlon. It’s more circus sideshow than football but still it’s incredibly impressive just how fast he can run while doing it.

6. Lee Trundle Show Boating – 6%

Ok sure, he does some pretty nice stuff here but it is against League One defences. Made even less impressive by the fact that apparently Trundle used to send Soccer AM this compilation clips himself, according to former host Tim Lovejoy.

7. Maradona’s Keepie Uppys – 4%

You might think juggling’s juggling, but Maradona was the man that made it an art form and paved the way for the so-called ‘freestyle’ footballers of today. Check the stuff he does with the huge inflatable ball, its way cool.

So that’s the top 7 then, as voted by Footy Boots website readers. We’ve had a think though and reckon the following deserve a mention too. If we’ve missed out your own favourite trick, send us a link in the comments box and we’ll maybe try and do our own vote in the near future…

Anderson – Strange reverse Flip Flappy thing

It’s just amazing. There is absolutely no way I could ever do this without tangling my legs up and falling over. Pretty special.

Zinedine Zidane – Marseilles turn

The best player of our generation rightly had his own great signature trick. I think Maradona used to do it before ZZ’s time, but it was the sublime Frenchman that made it his own.

Rainbow flick

Now we’ve showcased this little trick several times before but Barcelona teenager Bojan’s cheeky move on debut is always worth revisiting. Others have probably done it with more success but the sheer bravado here is breath-taking.

Robin van Persie – Drag Flip Flappy Thing

It’s hard to describe exactly what this is but the premise is the same as Ronaldinho’s famous move; showing a defender you’re going one way before quickly manipulating the ball back in the opposite direction. See if for yourself done expertly just before the 2 minute mark here.

So there we have it. 11 reasons why you’re not a professional footballer basically.

To see a few more sweet tricks that we couldn’t find individual videos for, check out the BBC’s own handy trick resource below. Down the left-hand side of the page you’ll see several Brazilian Soccer Skills, so peep out the Leonardo, the Adriano and the Zico for sweet close control tricks, as well as a helpful video guide to pulling them off yourself. Probably best gloss over the amusingly named Frank Lampard’s Tips and Tricks splash feature on the page though…

Pablo Honey

Well there’s not really a story here other than a brief line of transfer news that I’m sure everyone has heard by now: having been courted previously by Portsmouth and Newcastle, Argentine ace Pable Aimar has now actually signed for Portuguese outfit Benfica. More importantly though, just look at this photo! For some reason at his unveiling they had him hold a bald eagle that is literally as big as him! And he loves it, that huge smile makes him look like a cartoon character!

Also, he used to be a ridiculously good player, peep below for the proof. Unfortunately for Benefica fans, he stopped trying about three years ago though:

Thanks to Anna over at thisisextratime for the great find!

Obscure South American of the Week Trece

Name – Marcelo Moreno Martins

Affiliation – Shakhtar Donetsk

Reason for Coolness – His nickname is ‘El Matador.’ Nuff said.

Reason for Obscurity – He’s from Bolivia, a country which is completely anonymous unless you really like doing blow.

Senor Moreno has been in the papers this week then, linked with a move to join Juande Ramos’ Spanish-speaking revolution in cosmopolitan Tottenham. Unfortunately the 20-year-old chose the icy plains of the Ukraine and Shakhtar Donetsk instead, but this chap is still very much one to watch for the future. Born in Bolivia to a Brazilian father and Bolivian mother, Marcelo Moreno played initially for the Brazilian Uunder-20 national team before choosing to play his senior international football for Bolivia, so you know he’s pretty handy. When asked by fifa.com last year about this decision, he answered: “It was a very difficult decision…Bolivia opened their doors to me and showed their confidence in my football. They gave me the chance to play in the World Cup qualifiers and this was a big incentive.” Marcelo attributes much of his success to the advice and guidance of his father, former Palmeiras player Mauro Martins.

Looking very similar to Barcelona wonderkid Giovanni Dos Santos, Marcelo has been the talk of the town in the Brazilian league for the last couple of years, impressing since his debut in 2005 for Vitoria. The striker bagged 24 goals in 36 games that season, earning him a prestigious move to big guns Cruzeiro last year. Due to his successful return of 19 goals in 32 games for Cruzeiro, Marcelo received his first senior international call-up against Peru late last year, and impressed so much that he is already considered the future of the Bolivian team. Following links at youth level with Liverpool and Manchester United over here, Marcelo is clearly an ambitious guy, with a dream of one day playing for Real Madrid. If his progress continues at the same rate, don’t bet against it; Shakhtar has a reputation as a breading ground for stars of the future, so expect to see Marcelo following in the foot-steps of Andrei Kanchelskis, and more recently Elano, in the next couple of years. Check out some of his madd skillz here:

Lewis Hamilton's Got Madd Skillz

He's only 23 and may be currently leading the F1 driver's standings, but Lewis Hamilton gets up to the same sort of thing in his spare time as other guy his age: keepie-uppie.



His skills may not have got him a contract, but he's certainly better than your average Joe. STT reckons that he'd be especially good at corners. Zing!

Middlesbrough’s Secret Weapon

I know what you’re thinking; with Jeremie Aliadiere as your primary forward, why would you ever look elsewhere for a striker? He’s now got 6 league goals in 8 years for Christ’s sake, surely it’d be a touch unfair to draft in anyone else?!

Ok sarcasm aside, here’s the point. New signing Alfonso Alves has previously scored more goals in ONE GAME than it turns out Aliadiere has in almost his whole professional career. The awesomely-named Brazilian ace bagged 7 (seven) of his 34 goals for the Dutch club Heerenveen against fellowEredivisie side SE Hercules last October, in a blitz that ended 9 – 0 to the side from the Friesland province.

After much internet research, STT has uncovered evidence of this incredible septupal feat; check Alfonso running tings here:

STT was further wondering if this incredible effort has ever been bettered, and thankfully the News of the World football annual came to our rescue. It reliably informs us that twice in English history players have indeed bagged more than 7 goals in one game, while 4 others have matched it; Ted Drake (Arsenal vs Aston Villa – 1935), James Ross (Preston vs Stoke – 1888), Neville Coleman (Stoke vs Lincoln – 1957) and Tommy Briggs (Blackburn vs Bristol Rovers – 1955).

So hats off then to these two gentleman below, who have truly set the bar for individual brilliance, and also presumably, for selfishness:

In Division 3 North, Robert ‘Bunny’ Bell scored 9 (nine) for Tranmere against Oldham in 1934, even missing a penalty in the dying minutes. This is topped however only by Joe Payne, who in Division 3 South, 1936, playing for Luton Town against Bristol Rovers, actually scored 10 (ten) in one game, and finished the season with 55 of the team’s total 103 goals.

Legends, both of them. Will these remarkable efforts ever be bettered??

Cracking Keepie-Uppie

Cristiano Ronaldo seems to be playing the best football in the league by a country mile at the moment but madd skillz like his don’t just flare up (herpes-style) overnight. Both Cristiano’s broken English and Sir Alex Ferguson have told us recently that all this class is coming from the hours of practice that the Portuguese lothario puts in on the training pitch and the futsol court. Let that be a lesson to you kids; want to score crazy freekicks and round keepers for fun? Then practice, practice, practice. Oh, and try steroids if you’re not naturally very good. Anyway, libelous conjecture aside, it turns out that surprisingly Ronaldo isn't bad at juggling either. Peep this video below for football’s equivalent of a dick-measuring contest, as he shows off what he’s got in his locker to world-famous football free-styler Billy Wingrove.



The highlight of that video has to be the little flick Ronaldo does with the back of his knee. Still, he's got diddly squat on what these lads have going on:

An appropriate title for this video would be Capoeira meets Parkour meets Superman meets football. Maybe some parts have been digitally manipulated a little bit, but it's definitely worth it. Big props to the guy who agreed to have the ball kicked off his head William Tell stylee. The STT staff's array of stunts and tricks is comparable, but we still think that this chap might be a couple of teeth short of a full set if we'd taken part.

Attention Barney Ronay - The Championship is Better Than You Think

Ronay if you're reading this, go fuck yourself. Why you might ask? Well that toss-piece masquerading as a Guardian reporter wrote this.

Sure the primary focus of STT is the Premier League, and all the soap opera-esque baggage that comes with it, but at heart we also love the lower leagues just as much since they are as crucial to the UK’s rich footballing tapestry. We are lucky to have as many leagues as we do, and also the levels of attendance outside of the top flight too; just last season for example, the Championship was the fourth highest supported league in Europe, ahead of Serie A and only behind the Premier League, the Budesliga and La Liga. This is something to be proud of, not make fun of behind it’s back like a schoolgirl, selectively ignoring facts just to make everything coincide with a pre-determined and simplistic conclusion.

His opening gambit in this load of shite is:

“Don't be fooled by the success of Championship sides in the FA Cup. The nation's second tier represents all that is wrong with English football.”

As opposed to what Mr Ronay? Arsenal, who represent all that’s right with English football, with their starting XI of exactly zero English players? Or Liverpool, who for 45 minutes two nights ago struggled to outplay a team 2 leagues below them, in a famous old stadium where more than 40,000 home fans were absolutely silent? Or Chelsea, who’s ridiculously over-priced English players do their best to stay out of the way while the rest of the imported team muscle the opposition off the pitch?

I cannot actually get past the smug conceit of this statement:

“Watch a little Championship football and you realise fairly quickly that the Premier League, with its rag-bag of imported modernisms, is little more than a baroque footballing façade hurriedly Blue Tacked on to the dingy structure beneath. At the lower level the caveman football of pre-modern times - direct, hysterically fast-paced and valuing athleticism and stamina above all else - is still very much at large”
Wow those are some fancy words Barney, you paint quite a picture, I’m impressed. But what exactly do you think the rest of Europe thinks when they watch the Premier League? Are many sides in the top flight favouring the importation of young African players because they are blessed with the balance of Maradona and the shot of van Basten, or is it actually because they value “athleticism and stamina above all else?” To survive in this league you need to out-muscle the competition, assuming that you can’t just pluck the new Zidane out of thin air. As Alan Hansen once famously said, before you can nutmeg and attack defenders, first you have to earn the right to play. Putting aside moments within the top 6 or so teams, are you seriously telling me that there is any more skill in the Premier League than in the Championship?

“Trying to pass your way around the second-tier bullies requires a certain standard of player, as well as a degree of courage and patience.”

You use the FA Cup as an example but have somehow twisted it out of all recognition. If the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle, Fulham and Derby, to name just a few, were so much more gifted and intent on playing football in the face of the “lower level of caveman football” then why did they struggle so much? They bottled the physical side of game, and then were unable to use their superior footballing ability to simply pass the ball around a load of so-called Neanderthals.

Just because the Premier League is played at such a pace that it’s often totally out of control does not make it any better. Obviously there are exceptions, foreigners funded by the huge gulf in wealth, but more often than not the bullies are simply better paid in the Premier League. I think everyone would agree with you that supporters want entertainment and skill but that barely exists in the Premier League either! For every Torres or Fabregas there are 20 Championship-standard players with vastly inflated egos and bank balances going through the motions and you are simply blind to not realise this. The Premier League is often just as tedious as the Championship due to a similar lack of technique and invention, so what does that tell you? It’s a problem with the English game in general, and not just the lower leagues. If to compete in the Premier League all you needed was stopovers and tricks, then that’s also what the lower leagues would reflect, but as it is, Championship clubs achieve success by mimicking the likes of rising stars Aston Villa, Everton and Portsmouth who are built on strong backbones and competiveness. It’s only when you can compete physically that the likes of Ashley Young, Mikel Arteta and Benjani even come into play; without the muscle, they guys are simply luxuries getting cold out on the wings.

So in conclusion, great, your point was that the players in the Championship aren’t as good as those in the Premier League. While it’s impressive that you’ve grasped the concept of hierarchical systems so comprehensively, if that rudimentary point was all you intended to say then why did you feel the need to bait so many of the most passionate football fans in this country? Do not start pointing fingers at anyone else out of frustration that English players simply are not good enough to compete at the very highest level. Why do you think no English players are currently employed in any of the top leagues around Europe? Because they think 99% of us are shit! Because they realise that to be successful in this country you don’t actually have to be very good at football, just enormous and able to run all day.

That was the genius of Mourinho if you ask me. He was criticised for not applying the flowing attacking football of Porto to Chelsea, but in reality he was just astute enough to realise that wasn’t the key to win the Premier League. He is a winner and he found a way to win, by stifling the tiny proportion of talented flair players in the country with physicality and letting Drogba do the rest at the other end. It is patronising to suggest that other than a few select Premier League sides, the general aesthetic is any different. There are few unique talents in our leagues because they don’t want to be kicked off the park by the likes of Christopher Samba and Kevin Davies. You think Kaka or Messi ever watch the Premier League and think “I wish I could be playing there, the football’s so beautiful and measured and skilful?” You’re simply deluding yourself.

Despite what you might think from your ten minute exposure to the league Mr Ronay, there is skill in abundance from many sides, and virtually every former Premier League star who drops down raves about the commitment and work-ethic. No there’s not a Ronaldo, but how many other players in the top flight can do anything near what he can do anyway? And aside from Manchester United and Arsenal, how often do you actually see any true displays of team skill in the Premier League? The supposedly flair-packed Liverpool team struggle week in week out, scrapping out dull 1 – 1 draws with lesser opposition, hanging on until Gerrard or Torres can produce a piece of magic.

The Championship is exciting because anyone can beat anyone, and the league is not controlled just by money. Young British talent, often local to the club, is given the chance to thrive, and over-rated egos do not rule the roost. There’s very little diving or cheating, but a never-say-die attitude foreign to most top tier clubs. The fans outside of the top flight are there because they love their team and not just because some businessman has got a debenture to entertain clients. There’s singing and passion, rather than a pregnant silence followed by polite applause when inevitably Arsenal ‘win’ a last minute penalty. There is no insurmountable gulf between the top 4 clubs and the rest of the league, and there are certainly no billionaire sugar-daddy owners essentially playing Championship Manager with people’s clubs.

I assure you Mr Ronay, if you take issue with anything I have to say here, please drop me a line at the usual STT address and we can discuss this matter further. Or please contact any of the other Championship defenders who posted comments at the end of the ignorant and generalising drivel you call an article. No wonder they don’t let you write in the real paper with the grown-ups.

I’m sorry, I didn’t want to resort to irrational attacks, instead actually rebutting his insults, but if anyone knows this sanctimonious little prick, please tell him to fuck off from STT.

Youngsters + Futsal = An English Ronaldinho?

For those of you not in the know, Futsal is a 5-a-side game played on a basketball-sized pitch using a weighted ball, with the emphasis placed on improvisation, creativity and technique rather than fitness and physicality. Not dissimilar from those awesome Nike Scorpio adverts from the 2002 World Cup, Futsal is prevalent throughout Brazil, Portugal, Italy and Spain especially, with such luminaries as Christano Ronaldo and Deco citing the skill-centric game as a major part of making them the players they are today.

Excuse the shit music / epilepsy-inducing flashes and check some examples of it here:

Is it a coincidence that those aforementioned countries just happen to do so well in the professional FIFA world rankings as well then? England’s senior Futsal team on the other hand has won, I kid you not, just 1 game out of 46, and recently suffered a 6 – 3 drumming by Andorra. Sound familiar? Coach Graeme Bell has stated to the BBC that this statistic is representative of the wider problems associated with English football in general, especially the manner in which players are coached at youth level. Flair is outlawed as being ‘too risky,’ while the emphasis is placed on being ‘competitive’ and ‘hard to beat.’ Crunching tackles and hoofing the ball upfield have no place in futsal however. Using my footballing idol as an example, Zinedine Zidane once famously said he felt fortunate to have played football on the streets of Marseille until the age of 14, meaning that no-one had the chance to coach skill and improvisation out of him.

When you look at how composed young foreign players (Fabregas and Messi are prime examples) are on the ball compared to our lot, the chasm is almost insurmountable. Bell continued: “Players find it challenging because space is at a premium on a futsal court, the ball has to be manipulated far more closely to the body. Players also have to do clever things with the ball and their foot skills improve. There is no hiding place on the court, so decision making is absolutely paramount.” Does that not sound exactly like what our national side needs more than anything?

Trying to think of current homegrown players who have what anyone outside of this country would call ‘skill’ is tough. Looking through Premier League squads, few names jump out, with Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney and David Bentley the only ones that really resonate. I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw an English player do a great trick during a game, and wanted to try and replicate it myself. It simply does not happen anymore because our young wingers and strikers are being discouraged to take defenders on. Even foreign wingbacks, such as Patrice Evra and Juliano Belletti to name just two in our league, are able to beat people for fun and are certainly not afraid to do it on the big stage. Our so-called world class players however, are praised for their strength and commitment, rather than for any genuine footballing ability. From a pure entertainment perspective, our league may to the fastest in the world, but without the foreigners, it would undoubtedly be the most boring by a considerable distance.

Graeme Bell concludes ominously: “Unless we start bringing the futsal concepts to the way in which we train young players, we could be having this conversation again in 15 to 20 years' time.”

Prince Messi

Another day, another amazing goal from Lionel Messi. In a week where Kaka has told the press that he’d vote for Christiano Ronaldo as the European Footballer of the Year, Little Lio has once again proved that even at just19 years of age, that he’d ready to hang with the big boys. STT are most definitely still in the breath-taking Brazilian’s corner on this one, but it won’t be long until even he is de-throned as the best player in the world, almost certainly by this mini magician.

You know you’ve got something about a bit special about you when people flock from all around the world to watch YOU, in teams full of the likes of Ronaldinho, Deco and Henry at Barcelona, and Tevez, Crespo and Riquelme at International level. Also, being seriously compared to Diego Maradona from the age of 16 ain’t bad going either. The hype however is more than justified in this case, as anyone who’s spent any amount of time watching Barce over the last couple of seasons will confirm. More than shooting ability or quick feet though, the key to Messi’s genius is balance; being able to change direction seamlessly at full pace, or just dropping a shoulder and hitting the gas. Considering the amount he has improved over the last two years, it’s actually a bit frightening how good he could actually become.

So here it is. Maybe not the piece of history that his Maradona-aping masterpiece against Getafe last season was, but still, just sublime:

Obscure South American of the Week Cinco

Name – Alessandro Faiolhe Amantino Mancini a.k.a Mancini

Affiliation - Roma

Reason for coolness – All kinds of awesomeness in the trick department, but it was this hurricane of step-overs and shell of a shot against Lyon in last season’s Champions League that raised eyebrows:

Reason for Obscurity – As ever it’s hard to say, but the fact that he has been so consistently, and criminally, overlooked for the Brazilian national team plays a big part.

Already quite a seasoned performer at 27, Mancini has been wowing Serie A for a good few years now at Roma, but due to various factors, has never really had the exposure of a Ronaldinho or even a Robinho, despite having just as much skill and flair. Originally a wing-back in his native Brazil, Mancini fulfilled his attacking potential when he joined the Italian giants in 2003, and is now regularly cast in free-flowing front 3 for Roma to fully utilize his pace and breathless trickery.

Controversy brewed just last season however, when rumours flew that he had fallen out with club legend, and professional ponce, Francesco Totti, meaning that he would be more than likely shown the backdoor. Despite the purchase of Christian Wilhelmsson as his potential replacement, Mancini stayed on, and continued to produce match-winning performances to delight the fans and put Totti back into his box.

It seems that following the above-mentioned sensational goal against Lyon last season, people seem to have finally recognised Mancini for the talent he is, with Liverpool supposedly sniffing around the lightning winger this past summer, no doubt as a replacement for permanent parolee Jermaine Pennant. Lyon have themselves also shown a keen interest in him, with fellow Brazilian maestros Cris, Fred and Juninho obvious draws, but still his future is undecided. In an unprecedented show of arrogance, Totti demands to be the one Roma player not susceptible to the club’s salary cap, and if they fail to break it for Mancini as well, then it looks like he will be on his way shortly as both Liverpool and Lyon have got the major Reais necessary to tempt him away from Italy.

As much as I love Dunga, and am jealous of his phenomenal wardrobe, he really is missing a trick ignoring Mancini for the national side. Admittedly, finding him a spot in a midfield that already boasts Elano, Kaka and Ronaldinho might not be too easy, but when you look at the rubbish that represents England, surely Dunga can find him a spot on the bench at least. It’s just depressing otherwise.

Anyway, peep for yourself what he has in his locker here -

We agree, Alessandro.

UPDATE: Rumours abound that Mancini has fallen out with Roma's coach, Luciano Spalletti and he may be moving on in January. Both Liverpool and Lyon have asked after his availability and we know who pays better wages between those two. Mancini may prove to be an excellent late Christmas present for the red half of Liverpool.

Fernando Torres and His Immaculate Hat Trick

The concept of squad rotation is one of the real mysteries of the modern game. Surely, if they are fit and available, you always play your best 11 players? I have a lot of time for Raphael Benitez, but leaving someone as exciting and potentially match-winning as Fernando Torres on the bench in two consecutive Premier League games is simply baffling. The theory of squad rotation is a debate for another time, but I think it is safe to say that last night Torres forced his manager’s hand by making himself ‘undroppable,’ in a master-class performance that included everything. To give them their dues, Reading were no pushover, equalizing twice and causing the Liverpool backline all sorts of problems despite a massive personnel change themselves. At the heart of their defence they had Michael Duberry and Andre Bikey, both decent players in their own right, and each easily outweighing Torres by a good couple of stone. Despite taking a shoeing in the first minutes of the game, Torres picked himself up and got on with the task at hand, something he would have to do time and time again throughout the 90 minutes as Reading struggled to keep up with him. Not once did he throw his toys out of the pram and have a Christinao Ronaldo-esque hissy fit, the sign of a true professional and an overall class act.

Anyway, this is turning out to be pretty masturbatorary so I’ll just leave you with video footage of the three goals, each showcasing the variety of skills he has in his locker. The pace, composure, strength and technique are all sublime, and you can’t help but feel that if he actually gets the time on the pitch, Liverpool have the thoroughbred 25 goal-a-season striker they’ve been searching for since Michael Owen went off the boil 5 years ago. I admit, I might have a slight man-crush on him…

More Championship Showboating

As we all know by now, players in the Chamiponship aren't too shoddy. Here is the best of last season, capped by one of the most effective Maradona spins and finishes I have ever seen. The questions is - can Giles Barnes do this in the long trousers league?



Enjoy the weekend.

The Championship has mad skills

At STT, we're big proponents of the 5th biggest league in Europe - The Championship. Some people don't give a monkeys about The Real League^TM, claiming that it's a poor man's Premiership, despite dream matchups like Barnsley vs. Colchester on a wet Saturday in Essex. However, there is no such thing as a 'big' or a 'small' team in this league and, although teams can consistently finish in similar positions year after year, relegation and promotion are still potential outcomes for all teams entering the season, not just a select upper echelon. That makes it exciting! Plus, since nice nearly half this year's league teams have enjoyed Premiership football in the last decade or so, every point truly counts.

We now present to you a few moments of magic from the past month. It's a shame tricks don't convert into England caps, otherwise Frank Lampard might be out of a job:



Belated respect for the sadly departed Ray Jones, who shows us what he could do around the minute mark.