And we're off...

It always amazes me how quickly the first day of the Premier League season comes around...and every year it seems to get quicker! I think that is more a symptom of getting older than a shorter off-season!

I'm a little short of time today, but I thought I'd get in a few predictions and we can see where we fall short next May...

Premier League Champions - Chelsea

FA Cup Winners - Arsenal

League Cup Winners - Tottenham

Champions League Winners - Barcelona

I don't see Man Utd winning the league for a 'fourth' (thanks Gary) year...I haven't seen enough yet to show me that they won't miss the spark, energy and creativity of Ronaldo...but I hope to be proven wrong. I think Chelsea will get their stuff together with Ancelotti, but I think Liverpool missed their chance last year. Man City could sneak into 4th ahead of Arsenal...

Oh yes, and Bristol City will finish 7th in the Championship - just missing the play-offs again...

I'd be intrigued to see your thoughts...

"I wouldn't sell that mob a virus"

My how the world can change in 6 months...Sir Alex Ferguson's famous quote from last year seemed to suggest that Cristiano Ronaldo would not see his dream move to Real Madrid happen any time soon. Yet here we are 6 months and $131m/£80m later...

As a Utd fan, do I think this is good news for Utd? Maybe.

Reason #1
A player widely regarded as the world's best (or at least second best to Barcelona's Lionel Messi) will always be missed and is almost impossible to replace, certainly like for like. On his day Ronaldo brought speed, power, skills and inspiration to the Utd attack; the trouble is, like a petulant schoolboy who thinks he's better than the rest of his team, it all too often became the Ronaldo show - a bit like the recent Champions League final where he was anything but a team player. We won't miss that...

Reason #2
Pardon my French, but $131m/£80m is a shit load of money! Let's also assume that one or two underperformers may also go this off-season (Nani was a sure bet to leave until this news), the fund might make it up to $160m/£100m. Assuming SAF is able to spend it on players (and it's not used to service debt) then that could buy you 3 or 4 world class players. Carlos Tevez may stay now, bang goes £25m, but who may arrive? Another striker, a combative midfielder - perhaps the money could be spent cloning Roy Keane's DNA - another winger? 23-year-old Ecuador winger Antonio Valencia, has been linked with a move to Old Trafford by British media.

Reason #3
This may bring on the regeneration of SAF's final Utd team. Scholes (turns 35 during next season), Neville (35) and Giggs (36) will become even more bit-part players next season, Van der Sar (39) has one good year left. Those 4 have nearly 2200 appearances between them. £80m or £100m will allow us to shore up the gaps those guys will leave.

Reason #4
Attitude. No one is bigger than the club - just ask David Beckham! Ronaldo was increasingly seen as a divisive influence at United, openly challenging SAF's authority. In the last weeks of the season he angrily swiped at some TV equipment while shaking his head in clear annoyance when substituted against Manchester City. When he missed a shot against Wigan, he answered Ferguson back from the pitch while shrugging his shoulders; that was the death knell, and we watched it ring...The exact same thing happened in 2003 with David Beckham.

Reason #5
Linked to #4...Desire. Who want's a player whose heart is somewhere else? Ronaldo's performance this season was a shadow of last year. Was that down to the speculation last summer? Maybe. Ronaldo is keen to join a club has just had its first trophyless season in three years while United won a third straight Premier League title, the Club World Cup, and the League Cup as well as making the final of the Champions League and the Semi-finals of the FA Cup. Strange decision? But then it does rain a lot in Manchester; that must be tough for a boy who grew up in on the paradise isle of Madeira!

Whatever happens, I think this is a great opportunity to 'go shopping'. Many thought Utd would not be the same after Roy Keane left...and to a degree we weren't because SAF didn't try to replace the irreplaceable. He restructured to share the load and fill the void left behind. That should be the strategy now - let's not try to 'replace' Ronaldo by overpaying for an illustrious winger. Let's free Rooney up to be the troublesome roaming striker he should be, rather than wasting his talent and energy in left midfield. Let's sign on Tevez as an attacking midfielder to play behind Rooney and Berbatov (unless we can persuade someone to take him off our hands for £25m). I like the idea of a winger - not Nani, I think he's had his shot and blew it - but let's not waste £50m on Frank Ribery (Bayern Munich). And let's not forget Owen Hargreaves. If he can recover from his troublesome knee issues, that will be like a new £20m signing.

Van der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Rafael, Carrick, Hargreaves, Valencia, Tevez, Rooney, Berbatov (or new striker) - with Fletcher, Giggs, Scholes and a couple of new faces on the bench, that's still a team that could win stuff.

With the Champions League draw in August - what price Utd and Real Madrid meeting in the same group!?

The delight of anticipation!

This time tomorrow the Champions League final between Manchester Utd and Barcelona will nearly be over...but in my experience the anticipation of a big sporting event, like a cup final or the Superbowl, is often far more enjoyable than the game itself...unless you're a neutral.

When I was a kid, the biggest football game of the year was undoubtedly the FA Cup Final. Every year on the first or second Saturday in May, the two competing TV stations would start their programmes earlier and earlier. Looking back, they were obviously hoping to catch the early audience who, in a time before remote controls, would switch on and then not (get up to!) change the channel all day!

The earliest start I can recall was about 9am, when fully 6 hours before kick off, the BBC would have a collection of specially produced FA cup themed shows, like Question of Sport or Superstars. And I would sit there...glued to the teams leaving the hotel...following the coach journeys from the air...the arrival at Wembley Stadium...the walk out to inspect the pitch in (often) dreadful cup final suits, like the 1996 'Spice Boys' of Liverpool in those awful white suits! The game was often an anti-climax, but still the next year I would tune in again...even earlier!

But now as we look forward to tomorrow's clash between the two best teams in Europe, I can't help but think that the feeling of excitement will soon disappear once kick-off comes. When you are a fan, and your team is involved in a game of such magnitude, I don't think you can enjoy the match - you suffer through it hoping for the right result. Even if your team is 2-0 up, there is still that nagging doubt that it only takes a second to score a goal...then we'll be back on the edge of our seat.

It's not just football; think back to that nail-biting Rugby World Cup Final between England and Australia in 2003...Extra time...last minute drop goals...the bloody Aussies never knowing when they're beaten! That's not fun, it was torture. I'd take waterboarding every time over being forced through a tight, tense game that I'm passionate about!

The problem is that with anticipation comes hope. The hope of Evertonians that their team will overcome the odds and beat Chelsea in this year's Cup Final. The hope from the fans of newly promoted teams like Burnley or Wolves, that they will do well in next year's Premier League, because eveyone starts at zero. Anything is possible!

That's why, unless you are a neutral and you don't much care who wins, it is the delight of anticipation that makes big sports occasions so much fun!

So tomorrow or Saturday, enjoy the build up, if not the games!!