The Championship.. The Hardest League in the World?

Getting to the promised land of the Premier League is every football league clubs target.. and possibly one of the hardest challenges in football today!

Twenty four teams make up the Championship with all teams in the division, no matter how small or underestimated, aiming for promotion to the Premier League. As a Cardiff City Supporter through and through, it was possibly one of the worst days in my life as a supporter seeing us lose a hard fought Play-Off Final against Blackpool on 22nd May 2010, but what a story to tell..Blackpool in the Premier League. A small club with faint hope of achieving anything spectacular that season in the Championship, goes on to gain promotion to the Premier League and brush shoulders with the like of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. Tipped for relegation by some bookies, discarded as mid-table team by some and never looked at as play off hopefuls, this club goes a long way in proving how the Championship can be the most unpredictable, fascinating and most tightly fought league in football.

The thing about the Championship that separates it from the likes of the SPL, La Liga and Serie A is that anybody can beat anybody. Bookies have a field day every Saturday simply because of the unpredictable nature of the games that day in this league, any team on their day can beat any one of their challengers. In my own personal experience as a Cardiff supporter I've seen us lose leads against opposition that we've dominated throughout a game and lose against teams I thought would be unimaginable to face defeat against (which is not uncommon in the years of being a loyal fan).

One example I can use is a game against Peterborough on the 28th of December 2009. Cardiff going into the game the clear favorites for the victory against a side who looked destined for relegation and were clearly off form. And that became a near certainty at half time with the bluebirds going in at the break 4-0 up and dominating. A comfortable listen on the radio for me driving through Cardiff at the time and a rare moment to relax as a Cardiff fan. The next 45 minutes proved to me how wrong I was. Final whistle blows on this match and the final score..Peterborough 4-4 Cardiff! After this game I have never expected a runaway victory in any match in the championship no matter how big or small which really demonstrates my point of how anybody can beat or at least get a point against anyone else in this league and how It can go a long way in proving my point of the Championship being the hardest league in football.

'Chris Burke can't  believe the Peterborough comeback'

Over recent years I've seen the champions of this division develop quite early in the season. The likes of West Brom, Newcastle and more recently QPR have almost runaway with the league in the early stages of the season and gone on to win the title and automatic promotion. However, the other way to get promoted to the promised land is through the Play-Offs. The richest game in football it has been called and possibly the hardest way to go up but also the best. It gives four teams the chance to have one last crack at the Premier League and show worth on the big stage in football, a Play Off Final at Wembley. As a Cardiff fan I have experienced the play-offs and gone through the drama, the joy and the heartache of this special occasion. If automatic promotion is off the cards for your club then everything relies on the play-offs and nothing is spared in the two or three games to follow. Position is key to your route to the final, getting the away leg first gives you that special atmosphere to look forward to for you home leg in the second leg and give you the biggest push towards the final. Then once the drama of the semi-finals are out of the way the next path is down Wembley way.

Beating Leicester in the Play-Off semi finals last year was one of the most stressful two games of my life as a supporter. It came down to a penalty shoot-out, which is a rare occasion down at the Cardiff City stadium/Ninian Park and one that after an exhilarating second leg was one of the most tense experiences I have witnessed. The players stepped up one after another firing their shots into the back of the net building up the tension in the ground with each spot kick. Then it came down to one Leicester player, Yann Kermogant, to step up and keep Leicester in the shoot-out. He stepped up and attempted a deaf little chip to fool Marshall in the Cardiff goal but his effort was one of the poorest penalty kicks you will see to date. Marshall getting his glove to th effort and sending the Bluebirds to Wembley!

The Play-off Final as I have mentioned before was an experience that I would rather forget as a Cardiff fan so the details of the game are now a distant memory for me. The roller coaster experience of the play-offs testing every fans steel and providing a set of mixed emotions for all. But my experience gives me the impression that this league that I watch week in week out really is the hardest league in football. The hardest league to get out of and the hardest league to stay in and definitely the most exciting!

El-Clasico

Like waiting for a bus.. wait for one to come for an age and in the case of Real Madrid v Barcelona, 4 come at once!

The Champions League semi-finals continuously throw up enthralling ties every year but none come much better than 'El Clasico'. The viewing public are lucky enough to get to see this fierce encounter twice a year with both sides hotly contesting the La Liga title but this year the numbers have doubled and 'El Clasico' will be played out 4 times over one season. A treat to fans who appreciate football at its best with the likes of Lionel Messi showing how football should be played when there are no barriers to someones ability and Cristiano Ronaldo showing how to dominate wing play and thrive on public attention.  However, over recent meetings between the two, the beautiful game has not been played...well.. beautifully! The darker side of the game has started to rear its ugly head in El Clasico and as a passionate supporter I hope that it quickly dies out.

The Champions League, a competition to show who dominates European football and who can call themselves the best team in the world. Real Madrid, 9 times champions of Europe, makes them feared opposition in the competition and always the glamorous cup tie. However, Madrid have not won the competition since 2002 and since that last victory (2-1 v Bayer Leverkusen) the future for the clubs reputation looked bleak as the previous era of 'Galacticos' slowly died out.
Barcelona, always the Spanish giants great rivals and the team that stopped Madrid dominating Spain and ruling the Spanish leagues. Three times winners of the Champions league and three times Runners-up is an impressive record no matter how big the clubs reputation, however, when your biggest rivals have a better record theres always that target to beat.

And with players like Lionel Messi, David Villa, Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol in the Barcelona squad it looked as though we would have a new era where Barcelona replaced Madrid as the new 'Galacticos' of European football. However a major perk of being one of the richest clubs in the world and something that has become more and more common in modern day football is.. big money equals big success and this has been the major factor in the rehabilitation of Real Madrid and the Galactico era once again.

June 2009 and another record is broken. This time it was financial and involved £80 Million and possibly the best player in the world at that time, Cristiano Ronaldo. After another successful season with Manchester United, Ronaldo was looking to Spain as his next move. Whether his ego made him think he was bigger than Manchester United or the attraction of the money and glamour at a newly reformed Real Madrid led him to the decision to leave the club that propelled him to greatness, it will never be really clear. However, the move was finalized and £80 million changed hands in the process completing what looked like a formidable Madrid squad. The 'Galacticos' reformed, a genius in charge and a reputation to boot, the stage was set for Real Madrid to take on the world.

'The two best players on the planet come face to face once again'

Which leads us up to the Champions League Semi-Final. El clasico take three this season and a fascinating tie that football fans around the world would surely be glued to for 90 minutes. The build-up to the game was everything you'd suspect. Managers winding each other up in front of the media, Ronaldo and Messi constantly being compared with each other to decide who really is the complete player and Jose Mourhinio doing what he does best, being Jose Mourhinio. Schalke and Manchester United had played the first leg of their semi-final a day before this match and United flew home form Germany with a comfortable two away goals advantage over their opponents with one foot in the final, waiting to face either of the Spanish Giants. The Bernabeau was the stage for the third meeting this season and the first leg of the tie was under way.

A hostile first half saw little in the way of shots on target but some fantastic passing football on display. However, as I mentioned before, the ugly side of the game started to creep in to the this legendary derby game and will probably go on to be talked about more than the football on show. Every decision made by the referee was fiercely contested at every opportunity by the team penalized as though each decision was a dig at certain individuals. Diving, or cheating as it is generally known, was evident throughout and the amount of pressure put on the referee throughout this game was enormous. Childlike behavior I would call it, some would call it clever play.  As the half-time whistle blew on a temptuous first half, tempers were raised and hot headed individuals seemed to lose control. Unnecessary behavior that results in a red card for a reserve goalkeeper that would not have featured  in the game this match but maybe been of some use for the next leg. A sour note to end first half of the ironically named 'El Clasico', Hopefully a bit more 'class' would be put on show in the next 45.

A second half to look forward to then as the referee, who's position I personally would not want to be in, gets the game underway. More lovely football on show as the Barcelona pass masters get to work passing the ball around the pitch as if warming up for a training session. Messi dazzling at times with deaf touches and controlled play. The down side was that more of the other half of the game continued as players were falling as though being struck by a skilled snipers bullet. Then came possibly the decisive moment of the entire tie as another red card was drawn. Pepe, controlling the Madrid midfield throughout the game goes in for a challenge on Dani Alves with what looked from an experienced eye a 50/50 challenge. However, Alves fell as though the studs form Pepe's boots had made clear contact with his foot, of which TV evidence clearly shows he has better agility in dodging studs in the air than on the pitch. 10 players from the Barcelona team surround the referee to protest that their player was tackled so unfairly a red card was to be shown to the Madrid culprit. After a short period of constant bombardment, the referee brandishes the red card and Pepe's on his way down the tunnel. A decision which did not go down well inside the Bernabeau especially with one man, the special one. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, however when words cannot describe the way you feel, what else do you turn to. A wink and a clap from Mourinhio prompts the referee to issue yet another Madrid red card to the boss and sends him to the stands. A key decision this turned out to be as the time came for a boy called Messi to shine.

Minutes after the drama of the sending off, Barcelona take full advantage with the help of the magician, Messi,  and fire themselves ahead. A nice ball out to Affelay on the wing who takes on Marcelo and beats him to the by-line before whipping the ball across the box to be met by the touch of Lionel Messi who clips it between the legs of the stranded Iker Casillas in the Madrid goal. 1-0 Barcelona.

Another few minutes pass and the tie is put to bed once again by Messi. Except this time, he scores one of those goals that only normal people dream of scoring. Picking up the ball in midfield he looks through the defenders as though nothing will stand in his way. Skipping past the first defender, skipping past the second defender, skipping past the third defender, brushing off the fourth defender and then casually slotting the ball past one of the best goalkeepers in the world. A classic in the clasico, a wonder goal, a genius finish, the superlatives could go on and on. The genius trods back to the touchline to take his place in history once again.

'Messi.......that is all'

The final whistle blows on El Clasico once again as everyone draws breath from what had been one of the most fiercely contested clasico in recent games. Tempers flaring and football flowing, another game down, one  more to go. The ugly side of the beautiful game showing itself this time around but with so much on stake in the second leg, surely El Clasico will live up to its name.