By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
12 months of
the beautiful game came and went pretty quickly. It was a fairly eventful year
too which saw dreams dashed in miserable summer tournaments for our country (no
change there), incidents that led to condemnation from governments, records
broken in the transfer market and first time winners in cup competitions. 2013
also saw the end of a football dynasty as the greatest boss bid goodbye to
football and to Manchester United.
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| The greatest manager to have lived, Sir Alex Ferguson bowed out in May |
It was
Wednesday, 8 May 2013 and this wasn’t going to be an ordinary day. That
morning, just after 9am came a statement on the official website of the Red
Devils which confirmed Sir Alex Ferguson (pictured) was to retire as first team manager at
the end of the season. It brought the curtain down on the most unbelievable run
of success he’d had through 26 years of management at the Theatre of Dreams.
When Ferguson arrived after a successful stint north of the border with
Aberdeen, Manchester United had been in the doldrums in November 1986. He
turned them around from constant underachievers into the most dominant English
club of the last two decades. 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, four League
Cups, the Cup Winners’ Cup and two UEFA Champions League prizes among the many
honours he won as a manager at Old Trafford.
It was a day
of celebration four days later when United played their final home game of
another title-winning campaign. They beat Swansea City 2-1 but the game itself
was just a side event to the announcement made by Ferguson days earlier. He
thanked the fans and was given the honour by Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra to
hoist the Premier League trophy aloft for the last time. He bowed out a week
later with an incredible 5-5 draw away to West Brom and slipped quietly away
from the dugout. His replacement David Moyes has had a tough few months with
the club looking very distant already in terms of launching a title challenge
but a semi-final in the League Cup and a favourable last 16 draw in the
Champions League means there is still plenty to look forward to in 2014 for
fans at Old Trafford.
Ferguson
brought out an explosive autobiography in October which did break record sales
for a non-fiction book but did cause some fallout with strong criticism aimed
in the direction of David Beckham and Roy Keane especially. Beckham was another
famous face to retire from professional football in May and he wasn’t the only
one. Michael Owen quit after several injury-hit years for a career as a
racehorse trainer and commentator for the new look BT Sport, whilst Jamie
Carragher also hung up his boots for a media role with Sky Sports. Paul Scholes
completed the list of former England stars to call it quits at the end of the
last campaign.
Keane was
back in football management in an assistant role by the end of the year. The
Republic of Ireland failed to qualify for the World Cup finals next summer
which spelt the end for Giovanni Trapattoni. Keane is now number two to Martin
O’Neill who will look to revive Irish fortunes. Chris Coleman signed a contract
extension to his position as Wales manager and Michael O’Neill hung on to his
Northern Ireland job despite embarrassing World Cup defeats to Azerbaijan and Luxembourg.
Gordon Strachan’s first full year in the Scotland role was a success. Three
wins in their final four qualifiers combined with an excellent performance in a
high intensity friendly international with England in August meant the Tartan
Army faithful have their heads held high going into qualification for Euro
2016.
With all the
other home nations failing to launch serious challenges, it was down to England
to keep the flag flying for Brazil and the Three Lions did it but not without some
bumps along the way. A cagey goalless draw in Kiev in September saw Roy Hodgson
come under some unfair criticism and his response was two tremendous
performances when needed at home to Montenegro and Poland. Six points were
required, six points gained and with an unbeaten campaign, England topped their
group and will be joining the world’s best next summer. However the group with
Uruguay, Italy and Costa Rica will be tough to get out of. It was also a year
where new talent such as Ross Barkley, Adam Lallana and Andros Townsend made
their mark on the squad alongside the usual suspects. Back-to-back home
friendly defeats at the end of the year to Chile and Germany reminded everyone
of the tough task ahead. There was disappointment for England's tournament teams as both the Under-21 male team and the women's squad at their respective European Championship events crashed out in the group stages. Stuart Pearce and Hope Powell paid the price as both lost their jobs. There was another change in the WSL as Liverpool became champions, ending Arsenal's decade dominance of the game.
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| September saw Gareth Bale get his dream move to Real Madrid |
Meanwhile a
Welsh wizard was making his mark in the Premier League, so much so, he became
the world’s most expensive footballer. The biggest transfer in football finally
went through after plenty of negotiation between Tottenham and Real Madrid. It
saw Gareth Bale (pictured) seal his Real deal for £85.3m. Bale left after scooping the
double of PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Award. After
a slow start, Bale is starting to find his feet at the Bernabeu, becoming only
the second English player to hit a hat-trick in the history of La Liga in
November. Tottenham thought the answer to all this was to buy seven new players
for the Bale money with Erik Lamela, Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Etienne
Capoue among the new arrivals. It ultimately finished Andre Villas-Boas off in
England. The uncompromising Portuguese boss was sacked in mid-December after a
6-0 battering at Manchester City, followed by a humiliating 5-0 home defeat by
Liverpool a few weeks later. AVB wasn’t the only manager to bite the dust in
the top flight. Exactly a year after winning the Premier League title, Roberto
Mancini was dismissed as Manchester City boss. Failing to win any silverware
saw the Italian ousted and he seeked sanctity with Galatasaray. He was replaced
by Chilean Manuel Pellegrini. Mauricio Pochettino became only the second
Argentine to manager in England when he succeeded Nigel Adkins at Southampton
at the start of the year. This change has worked well with the Saints
threatening the European positions. Sunderland sacked O’Neill in March, hired
then fired Paolo di Canio when the Italian completely lost the plot and finally
settled on Gus Poyet in October. Other managers to leave their positions
included Ian Holloway (Crystal Palace), Martin Jol (Fulham) and Steve Clarke
(West Brom).
Another
manager who moved on was Rafa Benitez but not until his reputation as a world
class boss was restored. Considered damaged goods by Liverpool in his final
year with them in 2010 and after a difficult six months with Inter Milan, the
Spaniard reminded everyone of his capabilities at Chelsea. The faithful didn’t
want him at Stamford Bridge with the ‘Rafa Out’ banners becoming a common
theme. He had enough after an FA Cup replay win at Middlesbrough in late
February and let his emotions out in a post-match TV interview. The fans
relented and it led to the Blues having a strong end to the 2012-13 campaign.
Frank Lampard surpassed Bobby Tambling’s all-time goalscoring record for
Chelsea when he scored two away to Aston Villa in May. A top three league
finish was backed up by another European trophy in the cabinet. Branislav
Ivanovic’s stoppage time header beat Benfica 2-1 in the UEFA Europa League
final. With job done, Benitez moved on to Napoli.
Napoli lost star striker
Edinson Cavani to PSG for £55m but bought Gonzalo Higuain with the money
received. Another star striker who was on the move was Radamel Falcao as he
swapped Atletico Madrid for newly oil-wealthy AS Monaco for just over £50m.
There were other movers in the managerial market. After the fans and the
Spanish media fell out of love with him at Madrid, Jose Mourinho made a
homecoming to Chelsea, insisting he should now be called the ‘Happy One.’
Barcelona was made to change their manager as Tito Vilanova had to step aside
to continue his cancer battle. Geraldo Martino succeeded him in the summer.
The enigma
that is Luis Suarez continued to write more headlines. In April, everyone was
stunned when he took a bite out of Ivanovic during a Premier League match
between Liverpool and Chelsea. Fined by the club, Suarez was then suspended for
10 matches by the FA and the outrage was so strong, even Prime Minister David
Cameron condemned the actions in the House of Commons! Feeling unloved, Suarez
then attempted to force a move to Arsenal in the summer and claimed he would
take the club to court over a broken promise in his contract regarding clauses.
The Gunners’ bid of £40,000,001 led to jokes all over social media but the Reds
dug in and kept their star asset. The result has led to 19 Premier League goals
already this season meaning he is a shoe-in to win the Golden Boot in 2013/14.
Suarez has recently signed a new four-year contract, making him LFC’s most
expensive footballer in the process.
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| There was a new name on the FA Cup and that was Wigan Athletic |
Of course the
year wouldn’t be complete without a wrap for the various trophies given out.
Wembley hosted a couple of brilliant fairytale stories. In February, Bradford
City from the fourth tier of English football emerged from the tunnel to
compete in the League Cup final. They were the first team from this level to
appear in a domestic final in over four decades. Outclassed in the final 5-0 by
Swansea City but the Bantams came back to the home of English football to
defeat Northampton Town 3-0 in the League Two play-off final three months
later. For Swansea, it was their first major piece of silverware won and they
would be joined in that group by Wigan Athletic (players celebrating pictured above). Dave Whelan’s dreams came true
as Ben Watson returned from a broken ankle sustained six months earlier at
Anfield to head home a stoppage time winner against highly fancied Manchester
City. They deserved it on the day too and it reminded everyone that money doesn’t
always guarantee success. Sadly the club were relegated from the Premier League
72 hours later and boss Roberto Martinez elected to take the vacancy left by
Moyes at Everton. Uwe Rosler is now in charge after Owen Coyle’s managerial
return lasted an inconsistent five months.
Later that month, Crystal Palace
edged out Watford after extra-time to win the Championship play-off final and
join Cardiff City and Hull City in being promoted to the elite. 40-year-old
Kevin Phillips scored the winner from the penalty spot. Bayern Munich lay to
rest the ghosts of 2012 with a historic treble campaign of their own. The UEFA
Champions League was theirs in the German invasion on Wembley. Arjen Robben’s
88th minute goal crushed Borussia Dortmund as the Bavarians gave the
retiring Jupp Heynckes the perfect gift. Pep Guardiola succeeded him. Brazil
won the warm-up to the World Cup as Spain were outclassed and overpowered 3-0
in the Confederations Cup final while Doncaster Rovers beat Brentford with
almost the last kick of the League One season to earn promotion and the title
in the process.
There were
sad stories throughout the year too. Bury were saved from going bust by a
consortium takeover, while Coventry City had to move to Northampton to play
their home games as a row over rent payments between the local council and
unreliable owners SISU nearly put the club on the brink of extinction.
Kettering Town weren’t so lucky and were wound up in the High Court in September.
Football had to deal with the passing of Bill Foulkes, one of the survivors of the Munich
air disaster. Ecuadorian striker Christian Benitez died suddenly, suffering a
cardiac arrest hours after his debut in the Qatari League and there were fond goodbyes to Bert Trautmann, Dave Hickson, Ron Davies, Tony Gubba and David
Oates.
Football in
2013 has been an eventful 12 months and with a World Cup in 2014 to come in
Brazil, the next calendar year has the promise to be even more spectacular.
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