Yes; another seven days have past and that means it is time to round the last week on The Football Project. In short, it’s been an incredible few days with download and page view records broken. Just in case you’ve missed something, we’re rounded all of our output in case there is something you really should read. We really are a fantastic bunch of writers.
In a week that saw Asamosh Gyan departing Sunderland for the United Arab Emirates and a 200% pay increase, James Hunt is on hand to take you through a decade of football mercenaries. He profiles a number of the usual suspects that you would instantly think of but there are a few names you may have completely forgotten about, who have absorbed every last penny that they could from the clubs they have played for.
Following early weeks of hype around the two Manchester clubs; Simon Furnivall decided he had had enough of seeing Chelsea being written off. Sure, the Stamford Bridge haven’t been spectacular by any stretch of the imagination but they are by no means, out of the title race.
Ryan Keaney profiled Jonny Evans, the apparent forgotten man of the ‘new’ Manchester United as well as asking, why Everton haven’t found themselves a shiny new owner already?
After seeing Newcastle United build on a decent season last year, Gary Linton got to thinking. The North-East have a pride tradition and a fanatical fan-base; but what does their near future long? Could Newcastle qualify for and compete in Europe? Maybe. Just maybe.
The elite level clubs in Europe hold all of the power in football nowadays. There is no way of avoiding that fact; as much as you like to. Andy Hunter has this week pondered just how far away the European Super League is and boiled it down to one single thought. When the profit margins start to simple for the very big clubs; they’ll look for something more. They’ll try to get rid of the nuisance trips to Wigan and Norwich and replace them with regular jaunts to Milan, Madrid and Paris; won’t they?
In non-league reporting, Neil Bellis has the story of the club that transfer-listed it’s entire playing squad.
North of the border; Paul Fisher previewed the first Old Firm derby of the season. A couple of his predictions are worth reading back on; as we are fairly sure they came through. Next time he looks ahead to a big Scottish Premier League clash, you might want to make sure you read his picks.
Have you ever heard of the 2.Bundesliga side that always seems to finish the season in fifth place and just short of a promotion place? Paul Borthwick tells the fascinating story of SpVgg Greuther Furth, who have finished in that exact position six times in the last ten season.
We also welcomed guest author Stephen Brandt on to the site this week with his look at the connections between the New York Cosmos and Manchester City. The big spending of City isn’t a new thing and Stephen explains why.
If all of that goodness isn’t enough for you, we also recorded a new podcast this week; what with it being a weekly thing. Ryan was joined by French Football Weekly and Sky Sports’ Jonathan Johnson and Roker Report’s Daniel Williams to discuss the Championship, Steed Malbranque, Asamoah Gyan and the start of the Ligue 1 season.
Please give it all some of your time.
