Next summer I’m travelling around Europe by rail during Euro 2012, aiming to see as many matches in as many different countries as possible. The tournament itself is being held in Poland and the Ukraine (as the image above handily illustrates) and I’ll go to a couple of actual matches there – but I want to watch the Croats play whilst in Croatia (with their fans), the Bulgarians whilst in Bulgaria, the Latvians whilst in Latvia, etc. And see the differences, similarities, contrasts and characteristics of the various nations and their fans.

Then, evaluating the sociological, historical, geographic and economic factors and influences, I’m going to write a book about it. A hybrid of history (of football and the countries themselves), travel, and of course the tournament itself.

That’s the plan anyway.

I’m announcing this for two reasons; a) to make me actually do it, and b) to see if anyone can help; anyone who has accommodation, friends, recommendations (for watching games for example) across Europe. I’m aiming to pre-arrange meetings with people in each country I visit, to ‘interview’ them (which will mean chatting to them over several beers then forgetting everything).

If you’re a kind and generous soul, or want to make something up to amuse yourself, please drop me a line on contact@footballsup.com. Likewise, any suggestions, hints, tips, abuse – feel free.

The planning (and writing) starts now – and with a vengeance come December 2nd, when the final qualifier is confirmed.

Paolo Di Canio has today been confirmed as the new Swindon Town manager. Here’s a tribute to him, taken directly from the Sabotage Times.

On the day Paolo Di Canio returns to English football as manager of Swindon Town, we look at the goals, glory and insanity of one of football’s cast-iron nutters.

Careful with that arm, Paolo…

On the day Paolo Di Canio returns to English football as manager of Swindon Town, we look at the goals, glory and insanity of one of football’s cast-iron nutters.

You’ve got to hand it Paolo Di Canio, he doesn’t do things by halves. Weeks after Swindon Town were relegated to the fourth tier of English football, Di Canio rocks up in shades and a sharp suit as the new manager of the club.

One of the most exciting players to have graced the Premier League, he is equally revered for his goals and commitment and reviled for his self-confessed fascism. Whatever happens next season at The County Ground, it certainly won’t be dull and, for Swindon Town fans, the least they can expect to see is effort. It was Di Canio, remember, who said that he ‘wanted to finish every game sweating and bleeding.’

Here’s a trip down mental memory lane…

On his political views…

“I am fascist, not racist. I do the Roman (fascist) salute to greet our supporters and those who share my ideas. This gesture is in no way an incitement to violence and even less about racial hatred.”

On Nigel Winterburn

One second, Winterburn is barking at me like a dog. The next he is wetting his pants. All I did was look at him.

On Fabio Capello

“F*** yourself. Who are you to talk to me like this.” I said. He took a step back and fell over a kit bag.

On doping

Doping in English football is restricted to lager and baked beans with sausages. After which the players take to the field belching and farting.

On Francesco Totti

Totti had said that he wouldn’t sit at the same table and have dinner with me. I said that was no great loss, because if you tell Totti that there are tensions in the Middle East, he’ll think that a fight has broken our on the right side of midfield.

On superstition

When I was warming up, someone told me that my shorts were on backwards. I hadn’t noticed. Before the game, the manager said: “Come on Paolo, put them right.” “No way!” I told him. “Are you crazy?” he said. But I knew it was a sign. We won 2-1 at Upton Park, I scored both and we beat Arsenal for the first time in 14 years.

Harry Redknapp tells Paolo Di Canio stories

Catching the ball

His top 5 goals

The golden age is over! The likes of Gerrard, Lampard and Beckham are all in their 30’s and seemingly starting to feel the pace of the modern game. With such dependence on these key figure heads in recent years who will come through and replace them? Has England learnt from previous criticism over the lack of English players in the game and poor academy setups? Today we are going to find out who might replace such great players.

1. Jack Wilshire
At just 19 Jack Wilshire has become one of the finest centre midfielders in the country and is now one of Arsenals most important players. His ability to command the midfield and play defence splitting balls has made many draw comparisons between him and Paul Scholes. He would be a welcome addition to any team and bring a great level of flair and energy to Arsenal’s game.

Where will he be in 5 years?: Established himself as a pivotal player for Arsenal but interest from other clubs is likely to grow. The recent lack of trophies at the Emirates suggests a move could be on the cards.

2. Jack Rodwell
Jack made his first appearance for Everton at just 16 years of age and since then has established himself as a first team regular. Similar in many ways to Wilshire, Rodwell has energy and vision far beyond his years. His rising profile has helped attract interest from big clubs such as Manchester United and it has long been suspected that he will make the switch to Old Trafford this summer. With such a move he surely must become a contender for an England place.

Where will he be in 5 years?: A big money move to a larger more profile club is inevitable. Most likely Manchester United.

3. Alex Chamberlain
It could be argued that Chamberlain is still relatively unknown as he is yet to establish himself as a house hold name. This will come in time as he currently plays for Southampton but the whiz kid is one of the most highly regarded youngsters around. Not only are big premier league teams in the hunt to sign up but also the likes of Barcelona and Inter Milan. So far it is unclear where his future will lie but at just 17 he has huge potential.

Where will he be in 5 years?: Established England youth player and a move to a big money club.

4. Chris Smalling
Many were surprised by Sir Alex Fergusson’s decision to sign Chris Smalling in 2010 and by the reported price tag of £12 million. As he often does, Sir Alex has once again proved the doubters wrong as Chris Smalling has turned into a fine young central defender.  His confidence and ability are far beyond his years and in recent months delivered a number of highly commendable performances.

Where will he be in 5 years?: With his recent form many expect Chris Smalling to be at Old Trafford for many years to come and eventually replace the ageing Rio Ferdinand.

5. Nile Ranger
Like Chamberlain, Ranger came up through the ranks at Southampton and in many quarters is described as ‘Ranger is the Danger’. The young striker has already made several appearances for Newcastle and is tipped to be the new Alan Shearer.

Where in 5 years?: Nile is expected to mount a serious challenge for a place in the Newcastle team. He is also expected to establish himself in the England youth team.

This is a guest post by Man Utd Soccer Schools. With such talent coming through our youth academies and soccer camps it is clear that we have got better at delivering young fresh talent through our setups. This will help for challenging on the international stage in the future.

Being as I barely update this site anymore, here are some more active/useful ones for you to visit. You all know the newspaper sites, Football365, ESPN, etc for news and match reports and stuff, but these you may not have heard of.

Goals/Highlights and Games

101GreatGoals - Updated incessantly with goals from all around the world. I’m unsure of the legality but who care about that? Also have a good iPhone app you can download for free here.

Sopcast – This is software that allows you to watch a variety of illegal streams. I’m not advising you to use it – a Sky subscription is much better. But this is undeniably cheaper.

Justin.tv – A site that allows users to set up their own video streams. Some of which may be live football matches.

What’s On

Where’s the Match – Nice graphical interface of all the live games and where they’re on

Live Football on TV – Doesn’t look as nice but does the same job

Podcasts

Football Weekly – The Guardian’s football podcast is just better than all the others.

The Football Ramble – The best ‘independent’ football podcast going

Fantasy Football

Fantasy Football Scout – An invaluable resource for other FF geeks

Total FPL - You can predict price rises etc on Fantasy Premierleague with this. A bit geeky even for me.

Live FF – You can see live scores being updated here, rather than having to wait for the official ones

News

NewsNow - An aggregator of all football news sites. You can filter by club, topic etc

Football Filter – Love this one. Feeds from newspapers, blogs, podcasts and so on, all nicely displayed and divided.

1. Chris Baird (Stoke v Fulham, December 28, 2010)

2. Gareth Bale (Tottenham v Newcastle, December 28, 2010)

3. Dani Luengo (Extremadura U16 vs Asturias U16, December 28, 2010)

4. Khaleem Hyland (Zulte Waregem v Gent, December 30, 2010) (0.10 secs in)

5. Samir Nasri (Birmingham v Arsenal, January 1, 2011)

6. Andrew Taylor (Watford v Portsmouth, January 1, 2011)

7. James Morrison (West Brom v Manchester United, January 1, 2011)

8. Fernando Torres (Liverpool v Bolton, January 1, 2011)

9. Hassan Ali (Al-Ahli Dubai v AC Milan, January 2, 2011)

10. Christian Stuani (Barcelona v Levante, January 2, 2011)

***

Narrowly missing the list were goals from Andrey Arshavin, Paddy McCourt, Katuku Tshimanga (0.30 secs in), Eduardo Salvio, Omar Hassi and Pedro Rodriguez.

Silva is City’s most important player

David Silva spent most of his debut for Manchester City being buffeted about the pitch by Tottenham’s Tom Huddlestone on the opening day of the season. Then it seemed like City’s big summer signing was not made for English football, where praise from pundits generally centres on a player’s pace, power and drive, rather than his vision or ball skills. We routinely hear Premier League tub-thumpers prattling on about how they would like to see how Lionel Messi would fare against Stoke City, an argument with more holes in it than West Ham’s defence.

This is not something to be proud of and it is, of course, why English players struggle at international level, where possession is key, but in the Premier League, a small, skilful player is often viewed as a wanton luxury and Silva must have wondered what he had let himself in for as 21 headless chickens charged around him while he struggled to dictate play.

Since then his rapid rise has been remarkable. If Carlos Tevez has been portrayed as City’s heart, then Silva is the brains. Tevez was missing through suspension against West Ham – and may be on his way out of Eastlands for good – but City did not suffer in his absence. Much was made before the game of City’s inability to win without Tevez, but Silva would be a bigger loss. Indeed, if he maintains this level of performance, Roberto Mancini might not be too disappointed to see Tevez go. While it is true to say Tevez is City’s captain, it is Silva who is their leader.

He was a delight to watch, constantly on the ball, teasing his opponents with his soft, shuffling footwork, keeping City ticking over with the intelligent economy of his movement. He looks like a small woodland creature and plays with the impish mischievous glint of one too. Everything went through Silva. He is the thinking man’s footballer. His assist for Adam Johnson’s goal, an impossibly brilliant through-ball, was outstanding and something no other player on the pitch could have done. Silva’s work has largely gone unnoticed outside of Manchester, but judging by the way he spent the afternoon quietly winning a game of hide-and-seek with Scott Parker, one imagines that’s just the way he likes it.

Never write off a top side

Chelsea are fourth, one point off the league leaders, Arsenal. They have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League. Frank Lampard is back and Didier Drogba is scoring again. And this is a crisis? Of course, all that fails to tell the whole story. With a defence leakier than a US diplomat, Chelsea had been appalling for weeks and Tottenham found themselves cast in the unlikely role of favourites yesterday. Favourites against a side that won the Double last season. Initially that feeling was justified after Roman Pavlyuchenko’s clever goal again exposed the flaws in Chelsea’s back four, but in the end, Tottenham were reliant on Heurelho Gomes’s save from Drogba’s stoppage-time penalty to earn them a point.

While only managing to draw the match extended Chelsea’s winless streak to five league games, their performance yesterday hinted at a return to their swashbuckling form at the start of the season. Against a very good side, Chelsea were excellent at times and should have scored more than once. Given their atrocious run, the manner of their comeback after Pavlyuchenko’s goal was highly impressive and reveals a dressing room that is very much united. It was a game reminiscent of Guus Hiddink’s first in charge in February 2009. Chelsea, in turmoil after sacking Luiz Felipe Scolari, travelled to Villa, cocky upstarts in fourth place, with few people expecting them to win. Chelsea swaggered to a 1-0 victory. As Manchester United have already demonstrated this season, it never pays to write off a top side. Even when they have been as bad as Chelsea in recent weeks. In the long run, they will end up proving you wrong.

Hope doesn’t kill you

It might be a famous quote, but Brian Stimpson was off the mark when he said “I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.” Sure, on the surface, that makes sense. We can empathise with that. We know what he means. Yet, in reality, it fails to ring true. We need hope. It is what sustains us and without it, there really is no point any more. West Ham were dreadful against City, hopelessly outclassed and outplayed by a team that was able to leave out two strikers who cost £25m each and another who cost £17m; only no one was particularly surprised.

This is not your average relegation West Ham are experiencing: it is an Avram Grant relegation, lifeless, insipid and utterly devoid of personality. Quite simply, West Ham’s supporters are bored. Bored with losing. Bored with the terrible defending. Bored with the awful football. West Ham have won only 10 of their last 55 league games. With a record like that, it is almost an achievement that they are still in the Premier League and it is no wonder the fans are fed up.

In years gone by, such a limp display would have been greeted furiously by the Upton Park crowd. Instead on Saturday, just like their team, they sat back and watched in abject silence as City took them apart with surgical precision. The fight is gone. There were hardly any boos and there haven’t been all season. West Ham are doomed and everybody knows it. They have known it since August. When West Ham were relegated in 2003, they genuinely were too good to go down (they finished on 42 points, still a record in a 20-team league) and it was possible to pin one’s hopes on a player such as Joe Cole. Now they have Carlton Cole. Somewhere along the line, someone appears to have made a terrible mistake.

Pardew is not a bad manager

He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy. Newcastle’s supporters made that very clear before their game against Liverpool, when Alan Pardew’s arrival in the dugout was met with a less than positive reaction. Pardew, a man of relentless positivity and an oddly unsettling belief in his own ability, is unlikely to have been fazed by that. Given the circumstances of his arrival and Chris Hughton’s sacking, he would have expected nothing less. A lot has been said about events at Newcastle over the past week, but few things in life are as pointless as trying to comprehend what goes on in Mike Ashley’s head.

Either way, Ashley’s decision to appoint Pardew is not quite as disastrous as is being made out. True, Hughton should never have been sacked and Pardew’s contract until 2016 does have a sniff of being an elaborate hoax. Pardew, though, is not a terrible manager and starting his career on Tyneside with a 3-1 victory over Liverpool is as good as it gets and would suggest that Newcastle’s players have not turned mutinous following Hughton’s dismissal. For some time, the suspicion has lingered that Pardew has unfinished business in the Premier League, after he lost his way with West Ham in 2006. Pardew is well-versed in motivational techniques and even though he has said he knows he will not win the PR battle, he is exactly the sort of manager who is able to tap into a crowd’s mentality. Supporters have been known to take to him. Players too. If he is embraced at Newcastle, he could be brilliant. After all, at the club where reward for beating your local rivals 5-1 is getting the sack, nothing ever tends to make sense.

Moyes needs a fresh start

Another weekend, another game in which Everton have failed to overcome moderate opposition. This has now turned into a genuine problem for David Moyes’s side. We are used to this with Everton – they have always started seasons slowly, gradually building up momentum as they get into their stride and charge up the table. This season something has changed. The charge up the table has not materialised and after a 0-0 home draw with Wigan, they are only two points above the bottom three. Push someone’s buttons for long enough and eventually you’ll end up with a bloody nose and, similarly, eventually a bad start to the season will be impossible to recover from.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that David Moyes, excellent manager though he is, has gone stale at Everton. They have hit the wall under him, in the same way that Martin O’Neill was unable to take Aston Villa into the promised land of the Champions League. There has been no reward for Moyes’s fine work, largely due to Everton not having the financial muscle required to breach the top four. Moyes has hardly done a bad job, quite the opposite in fact, but there is a fatigue enveloping Goodison Park now and the current state of affairs is doing nothing to enhance his reputation. All parties need a fresh start and it would be a surprise to see Moyes still at Everton next season.

FIFA have announced their shortlist for the 2010 Puskas award, which is essentially goal of the year (scored between Jan 1st and October 15th).

I can’t be bothered to relink all them all from here, so click through to watch high quality videos of high quality goals.

I think my pick is Altintop (despite it being a worse version of Gareth Bale’s the other week) – the Japanese one is just stupid, such abhorrent defending – and Tshiblalalalalalala is only in there for racial equality.

Chelsea and Man City are both stuttering – and that’s far from where the parallels end. Both sets of fans are unhappy after the weekend. Both clubs have billionaire foreign investors who have poured millions into the club. Both are nouveau-riche – neither has previously been a the forefront of the English game. Rival fans will say both lack history, without the illustrious past of United, Liverpool and Arsenal. And with some justification. Both have Italian managers who have enjoyed success in their homeland with Milanese sides. And now, to pull themselves into even closer alignment, both are developing similar styles of play with similar potential problems.

Both lay foundations in a solid defence and excellent goalkeeper. Although Chelsea showed significant cracks against Sunderland, conceding those three only took them to eight in total, whilst City have conceded just ten in thirteen games. That’s two better than Arsenal and five better than Man Utd, the next two on the list.

This is not only down to the orthodox back five both teams play, but also to the midfield in front of them. Taking this weekend for example, City lined up with De Jong, Yaya Toure and a defensively minded James Milner in front of their backline – and on several occasions the more defensive Barry has been the latter of the trio. Chelsea, meanwhile, used Mikel, Ramires and Zhirkov in front of their admittedly makeshift back four.

What that means, aside from defensive solidity, is a potential lack of thrust up front. This has been particularly pertinent for Man City, who despite the rich array of attacking talent – Tevez, Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Balotelli, Silva, Johnson, Milner, Wright-Phillips (although he is shit) have struggled massively for goals, especially when Tevez is absent.

Chelsea started the season like a train, with Drogba, Malouda and Anelka tearing teams apart – but they have struggled in recent games too, as sides work out how to defend against a front three and static midfield.

It’s like three separate units – defence for defending, midfield for protecting the defence, and then three ‘offensive’ players whose job it is to score all the goals. All well and good, but when they don’t fire, like Drogba suffering from Malaria or Malouda off-colour for Chelsea, and City’s whole forward line yet to take off (Tevez aside) there is a very blunt edge up top.

Unlike Man City, this is not Chelsea’s first choice XI, however. Lampard and Essien, two box to box midfielders, bring far greater cohesion and thrust to the side when they play, and it is no coincidence that the abysmal Sunderland result was whilst both were missing. When both were present, Chelsea were steamrollering all comers.

Will they re-find their form once their two best midfielders are back? We will see. City’s problem is far more acute – they have to find, buy, and integrate those type of players into their misfiring and unhappy squad. Or Mancini has to prove his worth with a mass tactical reshuffle.

Many similarities, the same shortcomings, but two very different solutions.

p.s. Arsenal are going to win the league.

Last week I had the pleasure of watching the second leg of the New York Red Bulls against the San Jose Earthquakes. Some brief observations on soccer v football…

Firstly, the entire experience is far more pleasant. No tattooed thugs shouting and ranting, no fighting, no racist/obscene chanting, and so on. The better atmosphere was part created and part illustrated by the presence of more women (not in a pervy way) and more children (not in a paedophilic way). It was more a spectacle than a tribalistic show of passion, as football has wont to be in the UK.

The ground is divided into several sections, as per usual, but one of them is ‘Supporters’ – this is a specific (and small) area for the vocal, passionate and I assume more thuggish element, but the rest of the ground was relaxed and chilled out for the most part.

There were only small queues for the drink and the food – and they served booze, and you could take it in and drink it at your seat. I mean that alone is enough for me to prefer it. But the fact the fans are ‘trusted’ with that shows how much more respectable they are than their British equivalents.

However, what was gained in convivialness was admittedly lost in the quality of the play. Uniquely in the MLS, some of the players are just-over-the-hill international class footballers – in this game Rafael Marquez, Thierry Henry, and Juan Pablo Angel – whereas some are part-timers on a few hundred dollars a month. Chris Wondolowski, top scorer in the league, also has a part time job as a coach to make ends meet. Which is a little bizarre.

So whilst there was some quality on view, there was some shit as well – particularly at the back. If you’re going to go for a marquee signing it does tend to be an attacker, so the defences are, relatively, poor. Weirdly that doesn’t seem to lead to a proliferation of goals though. Can’t quite explain that.

The American love of stats was on full view – ‘Post Game Season Most Goal Assists’ ‘All time MLS Shut-outs’ ‘All time MLS Shots on Goal’ and so on were beamed on the screens before the game.

The fans seemed no less informed than your average Brit – admittedly in the UK the vocal ones are usually the spastic hooligans who know nothing about the game anyway – but the occasional woop and holler came in about the same level of understanding. They cheered and boo’d at the right times.

It would have been interesting to hear some post match analysis – I doubt it would have been much worse than ‘fuckin’ ‘ell they were fuckin’ shit’ which is the kind of insightful post match reaction you get exiting the County Ground.

Overall, it was an immensely enjoyable experience. San Jose won 3-1, a shock result that gave them a 3-2 aggregate win and passage to the final. Thierry Henry, who was carrying an injury, only played the last ten minutes or so – with no impact – which was the only real downside. It was more an event, a showcase, a spectacle, than the gang warfare that so often constitutes British football.

There were many empty seats in the 25,000 arena which shows that ‘soccer’ still has a long way to go in the US (bearing in mind this was the Eastern Conference Semi-Final featuring the largest city’s only team) – and the away support was minimal – but absolute respect to these San Jose Ultras who made the journey across America:

I happened to read Marcotti in the Times yesterday, he was there too, and contrasted it with his visit to the Red Bulls’ first game – an interesting read, even if he is a fat arrogant cunt. I can’t link it or paste it because of the Times’ stupid paywall. Summary being, American football has come a long way, but still has a long way to go. Which after my visit seems a fair synopsis.

The only worry is that the further it goes, the less enjoyable it will become.

Smoking is cool. Here are some footballers rocking nicotine chic. With a couple of notable exceptions…

Being a bad-ass, of course Man City’s new signing Mario Balotelli smokes. Indoors. With fit women.

Slaven Bilic rocking a Marlboro. Not strictly a player anymore, but still cool.

The first to buck the trend, Ashley Cole having a puff and looking like a saggy-assholed rentboy.

Back to form. Dimitar Berbatov is the epitome of cool. He smokes, cigarette hanging insouciantly from the corner of his mouth.

Retro. Jack Charlton having a toke at Leeds training.

Fabian Barthez loves to reduce his lung capacity and increase his risk of cancer. He looks like he has it anyway, so who gives a fuck. Not Fabian.

Man United’s Federico Macheda showing that teenagers should also smoke.

Wayne Rooney another to let the side down – he just looks like a pasty, ginger chav smoking a Lambert and Butler in a municipal swimming pool. Not cool.

Zidane, one of the finest players of any generation, showing that smoking actually makes you better at football.

Remember kids, smoking is cool. Get on it early, like Macheda, and one day you might end up like Zidane.

Others I’ve tried to find for the rogue’s gallery, having been informed they love a tab, are Johan Cruyff (lending weight to the theory smoking makes you better), Robert Prosinecki, Claus Jensen (another who looks like he has cancer already), Didi Hamann (twenty a day, allegedly), Gianluca Vialli (another cancer victim doppleganger – but considering he smokes forty a day he probably has it), Giuseppe Meazza, Steed Malbranque (I can imagine him having a shady one round the back of the bike sheds, little scrutter), Paul Robinson (fat keeper not fat defender), Roberto di Matteo (who has hilariously started smoking since taking over West Brom), Henrik Larsson, and of course Tugay.

Any images of them – or others – you could send through would be gratefully received – contact@footballsup.com