Still, on the plus side it does mean we get a break from Andy Townsend's pants commentary on ITV! Every cloud...
So now is a great time to reflect on the season and to look back on what was my top 10 Football Fun moments of the 2012/13 season (counting down from 10)...
10. Curtis Woodhouse tracks down and confronts Twitter troll!
Former footballer-turned-boxer Curtis Woodhouse delivered a knock-out blow to Twitter troll James O'Brien after tracking him down to his house following a series of abusive tweets. The ex-Sheffield United and Birmingham City midfielder - who quit football for boxing in 2006 - offered to pay £1,000 on Twitter if any of his followers could tell him where O'Brien lived after he received a volley of abuse from the troll following his English light-welterweight title defeat to Shane Singleton in March.
Within minutes of his offer, Woodhouse had O'Brien's address and jumped in his car to drive the 60 miles from Hull to Sheffield to confront the culprit, and then tweeted a photo of O'Brien's street, saying: 'right Jimbob im here !!!!! someone tell me what number he lives at, or do I have to knock on every door #itsshowtim'. O'Brien was quick to backtrack and the newly christened #JimmyBrownPants made a grovelling apology. As word spread Woodhouse drew widespread support from the likes of Lennox Lewis and John Prescott, handing him one of the sweetest victories of his career!
| 9. Elmohamady and Holloway express their promotion delight through dance! The ecstasy of reaching the promised land of the Premier League was too much for some players and managers to hide. First we had to endure a horrifying display of skanking out from Ahmed Elmohamady (see video clip here) after Hull City gained automatic promotion, before old snake hips himself, Ian Holloway, cut some serious shapes after Crystal Palace had booked themselves a place at Wembley for the Playoff Final. |
8. Everyone bloody retires!
With United wrapping the
title up with four games to go and Wigan failing to save themselves for
their usual final day of the season Houdini act, there was very little
to play for on that final Sunday. So in order to give fans something to
get interested in (because let's face it, no one cared about the race
for fourth unless you were Arsenal or Gareth Bale FC), a glut of
football luminaries decided to call it a day including Sir Alex
Ferguson, Paul Scholes, Jamie Carragher, and Michael Owen.Not to be outdone, David Beckham then threw his notice into the hat and stole the thunder by blubbing like a baby...!
7. That Robin Van Persie volley against Aston Villa
A sensational Robin Van Persie hat-trick roared Manchester United to a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa and ripped back the Premiership title from their rivals Manchester City. But this is a game that will be remembered for that stunning volley.
Words simply can't do this goal justice, which is why it's best just to sit back and enjoy it in all its magnificent glory...
6. Dave Whelan breaks Guinness World Record for telling the same story 312,977 times in 24 hours
As if the fairytale of little old Wigan winning the FA Cup against the mighty and mega-rich Manchester City wasn't a big enough story itself, one man was determined to upstage them with an even bigger fable of his own! The fact that man happened to be Wigan's chairman Dave Whelan didn't seem to phase him as he regaled his tale of breaking his leg whilst playing for Blackburn in the 1960 showpiece more times than Uncle Albert started sentences with the phrase "During the war..."
Even Ben Watson's last minute winner couldn't stop Whelan from banging on about the time Wolves winger Norman Deeley's horror tackle ended his career, and rumour has it that Roberto Martinez actually left Wigan not because they were relegated, but because he couldn't stand to hear the story one more time!
5. Zlatan leads Swedish goal fest against England and Germany
All in all, it hasn't been a bad season for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The big Swede helped himself to 29 goals and the Ligue 1's Player of the Year as Paris Saint-Germain captured their first league title in 19 years. But none of that - even the sight of the 6'5 martial arts expert yelling "You always ruin everything" to PSG Director of Football Leonardo in a leaked video clip - can compete with Zlat's exploits with Sweden this season.
First came the incredible Swedish comeback from 4-0 down against Germany in the World Cup qualifiers in October to draw 4-4 after an injury time equaliser, and then came November's outing against England as Ibrahimovic tore the Three Lion's apart with four fantastic goals, including a wondergoal to beat all wondergoals.
4. Gareth Bale FC finishes fifth
When you read that Real Madrid are prepared to bid upwards of £65m for a player two things are for certain: a) That player is pretty special and b) The club presidential elections must be around the corner!
3. Late drama breaks Brentford hearts
For all the razz-a-ma-tazz of the Premier League, the biggest end of season drama took place at Griffin Park where the League One match between Brentford and Doncaster Rovers saw two teams battling it out for a place in the Championship.
In the dying seconds of the game Brentford surged forward looking for a goal that would earn promotion and were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Marcello Trotta to crash the ball against the bar, and to add insult to injury, the ball was cleared up field and James Coppinger scored the goal that secured Doncaster automatic promotion instead.
In a bizarre similar circumstance a couple of weeks later, Watford advanced to the Championship Playoff Final in a almost carbon copy of what happened at Griffin Park, when after Leicester's Anthony Knockaert saw his penalty saved in the final minute, Watford went straight down the other end and scored through Troy Deeney.
2. Pep Guardiola leaves the best team in the world to join the best team in the world
Pep Guardiola's season-long sabbatical came to an end when it was announced in January that he would be replacing Jupp Heynckes as the Bayern Munich manager for the 2013/14 season.
You have to feel sorry for Pep. First time round he had the tough task of trying to assemble Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and co into some sort of team, and now he has to take over the record-breaking German champions who managed to dismantle his old team Barcelona in emphatic style on route to beating Borussia Dortmund to be crowned champions of Europe. What a nightmare!
Of course, Pep isn't the real story here - Bayern Munich are. Not only did they destroy the so-called best team the world has ever seen 7-0 over two legs in the Champions League semi-final, but they pretty much broke every record going on their way winning the Bundesliga, before finishing the season with a 3-2 win over VfB Stuttgart in the German Cup final to become only the seventh European team in history to win the treble!
1. Luis Suarez has a quick snack during game
What else is there left to say about Luis Suarez? Hopefully 'goodbye' if recent speculation about his future with Liverpool is anything to go by. Not content with the controversy caused last season following his ban for racism, the Uruaguayan decided to go back in time by biting Chelsea player Branislav Ivanovic during a game - something he had done previously when playing for Ajax.
Of course, Liverpool fans banded together to say the rest of us were all picking on Suarez, but after his recent comments about wanting to leave the club (because he has been treated so unfairly!) even Reds fans must now be coming round to the fact that he is nothing but one horrible little man. And just in case they are still not convinced, then watch this...
Pep Guardiola's season-long sabbatical came to an end when it was announced in January that he would be replacing Jupp Heynckes as the Bayern Munich manager for the 2013/14 season.
You have to feel sorry for Pep. First time round he had the tough task of trying to assemble Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and co into some sort of team, and now he has to take over the record-breaking German champions who managed to dismantle his old team Barcelona in emphatic style on route to beating Borussia Dortmund to be crowned champions of Europe. What a nightmare!
Of course, Pep isn't the real story here - Bayern Munich are. Not only did they destroy the so-called best team the world has ever seen 7-0 over two legs in the Champions League semi-final, but they pretty much broke every record going on their way winning the Bundesliga, before finishing the season with a 3-2 win over VfB Stuttgart in the German Cup final to become only the seventh European team in history to win the treble!
1. Luis Suarez has a quick snack during game
What else is there left to say about Luis Suarez? Hopefully 'goodbye' if recent speculation about his future with Liverpool is anything to go by. Not content with the controversy caused last season following his ban for racism, the Uruaguayan decided to go back in time by biting Chelsea player Branislav Ivanovic during a game - something he had done previously when playing for Ajax.
Of course, Liverpool fans banded together to say the rest of us were all picking on Suarez, but after his recent comments about wanting to leave the club (because he has been treated so unfairly!) even Reds fans must now be coming round to the fact that he is nothing but one horrible little man. And just in case they are still not convinced, then watch this...
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