Greatest ever comebacks

10. Chelsea 2-3 Arsenal, Premier League 1999

In terms of one man comebacks, Nwankwo Kanu’s hat-trick in the final 15 minutes, to rescue Arsenal from the brink, is definitely up there. At a rainy Stamford Bridge, Tore Andre Flo gave the home side the lead six minutes before half-time before Dan Petrescu doubled it. With just a quarter of an hour remaining Kanu latched onto a Marc Overmars shot to poke home his first, before beating Ed De Goey at his near post to equalise in the 85th minute.

With the clock reaching injury time and both sets of players seeming content with the draw, Kanu kept plugging away. That persistence was rewarded when he beat De Goey to a ball on the edge of the box and curled a shot, from the cutest of angles, over the heads of two Chelsea defenders and into the corner of the net, to grab all three points for Arsenal.

9. Leeds 4-6 Preston, Championship 2010

The Championship last season produced a classic high-scoring comeback when Leeds and Preston met at Elland Road. In a game that had it all and produced a whopping ten goals, Preston found themselves 4-1 down after just 39 minutes despite taking the lead through Jon Parkin.

Parkin however netted his second just before half-time to give the visitors a glimmer of hope. Keith Treacy made it 4-2 not long after half-time and skipper Callum Davidson equalised just before the hour mark.

Six minutes later Parkin had his hat-trick and Preston now had their noses in front. Things soon got worse for Leeds as Iain Hume made sure of the points in the 79th minute. Leeds were left to contemplate quite how things went so wrong.

8. Charlton 7-6 Huddersfield, Division One 1957

You would think that putting six goals past your opposition would be enough to win any football match, but not for Huddersfield way back in 1957. 

You may be doubting the validity of this because of the lack of video footage, but I assure you it's true. Bill Shankly’s side were leading 5-1 against ten-men Charlton with just 27 minutes remaining. 

Charlton’s Johnny Summers soon added four goals to the one he scored in the first half and set up the other two, with John Ryan completing the turnaround in the 89th minute.

To this day Huddersfield are the only team to score six goals in an English Football League game and still be on the losing side. Never has the old adage of ‘scoring one more than your opponent’ seemed so true.

7. Angola 4-4 Mali, Africa Cup of Nations 2010

Mali fans that made the journey to Angola for the opening game of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations could be forgiven for leaving the game 12 minutes early. At 4-0 down there was surely no way back for one of the pre-tournament favourites but somehow they walked away from this game with a point – that’s four goals in the last 11 minutes. 

Two Seydou Keita goals, one from Frederic Kanoute and an injury-time equaliser by Mustapha Yatabare was enough to both ruin the hosts’ party and spare their own blushes.

6. Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal, Premier League 2011

The throwing away of a 4-0 lead by Arsenal to Newcastle last season was the first time in Premier League history that a club had lost such a lead. Riding high in the league, as well as still being in three cup competitions, including a Carling cup final, the game looked dead and buried at half-time thanks to a 44 second goal from Theo Walcott, a Robin van Persie brace and a Johan Djourou header.

Abou Diaby (before he disappeared off the face of the earth) getting himself sent off didn’t help the Gunners cause but the game still looked beyond Newcastle. Two Joey Barton penalites, either side of a Leon Best goal, however soon left the Magpies in touching distance, with little time remaining.

Cue an 87th minute long-range volley from Cheik Tiote to break Arsenal hearts and set the precedent for the rest of their season, as they went out of each cup completion and slipped to a fourth place finish in the league. 

5. Manchester United 2-1 Bayern Munich, Champions League Final 1999

Never has a team, and fans alike, been transformed from the feeling of such despair and desperation to the that of sure bliss and ecstasy, in such a short space of time.

Mario Basler gave the Germans the lead early on and, despite hitting the woodwork twice, that was how their lead stayed as the game headed towards stoppage time.

United however had not read the script. A David Beckham corner fell to Ryan Giggs, who’s mis-hit shot landed at the feet of substitute Teddy Sheringham who found the bottom corner. Before Bayern even had time to regroup United had another corner, with Beckham finding the head of Sheringham whose flick-on was finished off by fellow substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United celebrated their treble to the backdrop of Samuel Kuffour banging the ground in frustration. Sir Alex was for once left nearly speechless, “Football. Bloody hell.”

4. Tottenham 3-4 Manchester City, FA Cup 2004

Another example of classic Spurs before the days of old ‘Arry. Against Manchester opposition, again they led 3-0 at half time. Goals from Ledley King, Robbie Keane and a Christian Ziege free-kick were surely enough to book their place in the next round of the FA Cup.

City’s Joey Barton did his team no further favours by getting himself sent off. They did however find the strength from somewhere to pull goals back thanks to Sylvain Distin, Paul Bosvelt and the rather offside-looking Shaun Wright-Phillips, who lifted the ball over Kasey Keller to equalise.

With the game heading for extra-time Jon Macken headed past Keller to complete the comeback. An all too familiar feeling for the jeering Spurs fans and they couldn’t even use the excuse of having lost to a team full of big money signings back then.

3. Tottenham 3-5 Man United, Premier League 2001

Back in the days when Spurs’ best chance of European football was through the fair-play league and Manchester United didn’t have to worry about their noisy neighbours, the pair produced this classic.

Eight million pound man Dean Richards made a dream start to life at White Hart Line, opening the scoring on his debut. Les Ferdinand and Christian Ziege compounded further misery on Sir Alex’s men, making it 3-0 before half-time.

This however was when Spurs were a load of rubbish and so in the second-half they allowed a rejuvenated United to thump five past them. Andy Cole and Laurent Blanc pulled two back, before Ruud van Nistelrooy equalised. Juan Sebastien Veron hit the winner, before David Beckham added insult to injury by scoring the fifth. 

2. Portugal Under 17's 5-5 Cameroon Under 17's, FIFA Under 17 World Cup 2003

As far as U-17 World Cup matches go, in terms of excitement, this one will struggle to be beaten. An unbelievable comeback by the Indomitable Lions, yet it still proved a case of too little too late. 

The Portuguese, needing just a point to qualify for the quarter-finals, led 4-0 at half-time, with Manuel Curto having scored a hat-trick as well as Vieirinha scoring from his own half.

It was soon 5-0 after 52 minutes and that was how it stayed with just 20 minutes remaining. Six minutes later it was 5-3, before Joel Nguemo pulled another back with two minutes left on the clock. Etoundi Mbia then volleyed in the equaliser in stoppage time. Needing just one more goal to qualify at their opponent’s expense, they still found time for one more opportunity, only to watch their effort bounce back off the bar.

After all that effort you think they could have managed just one more goal. 

1. Liverpool 3-3 AC Milan, Champions League Final 2005

It doesn’t get too much bigger than the Champions League final and where better to perform surely the greatest comeback of them all?

If conceding a goal in the first minute was the worst start possible for Liverpool then things were to get disasterous, heading into the changing rooms 3-0 down at half-time.

The story goes that the odd Liverpool fan ripped up their ticket, chucked their scarf to the ground and headed home at this point – they surely will not make a worse decision for the rest of their lives.

Three goals in the space of just seven minutes levelled things for Liverpool and when Djimi Traore clears a shot off the line, instead of bundling it in, you know luck is on your side.

Keeper Jerzy Dudek took it upon himself to be the hero with a miraculous double-save from Andriy Shevchenko in the dying minutes of extra-time, before denying the Ukrainian again in the penalty shoot-out, with his ‘spaghetti legs’, to win the trophy for Liverpool.

Dudek’s reward for making history – to watch new signing Pepe Reina take his no. 1 spot the following season. 

Get McClean on the plane to Poland and Ukraine

Giovanni Trapattoni has announced his Republic of Ireland squad for their upcoming friendly with Czech Republic and unbelievably James McClean, one of their most exciting young prospects for years, has been left out.

McClean’s choice to represent the Republic over Northern Ireland surely paved the way for Trapattoni to pick the in-form Sunderland player who has found the net four times since December for Martin O’Neill’s resurgent side, including against Arsenal on Saturday.

However, Trapattoni has backed his old guard for the clash at the Aviva Stadium on February 29 after already saying the players who helped Ireland qualify for Euro 2012 deserve to go to the finals.

Frankly, that’s a ridiculous stance to take. Surely the next England manager won’t ignore late surges from the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?

Trapattoni’s team face a testing time at Euro 2012 against Spain, Italy and Croatia, and to make the quarter-finals will likely require a Herculean effort. A raw talent like McClean could be the secret weapon Ireland need.

What if McClean continues to have a stormer for the rest of the season? Then will the Italian take notice? The Sunderland man has to be in the next squad and more importantly on the plane in the summer even if it is at the expense of someone like Keith Andrews, as hard as that may seem for Trapattoni.

Once mighty Sven has fallen so far

With the furore surrounding the England manager’s job all over the newspapers last week, another story passed by relatively unnoticed. Ironically it was about a man who once used to call himself the England manager.

Sven-Goran Eriksson, according to Leeds chairman Ken Bates, applied for the current vacancy at Elland Road only to receive an instant flat-out rejection. This in itself speaks volumes for how the once mighty Swede has fallen. 

Formerly one of the most coveted managers in the world, the former England boss has only been able to stand back and watch his career take a drastic slide to near oblivion since he left ‘the hardest job in football’ back in 2006.

Uninspiring, disappointing and all too brief spells at Manchester City, Mexico, Ivory Coast and Leicester City say it all. Throw a strange few months as Director of Football at Notts County into the mix and you’ve got a very depressing few years for a man with 17 major trophies to his name. 

That the unemployed Swede was one of the first to put himself forward for the Leeds job suggests he now sees himself as a Championship-level manager. That he was turned down is purely an embarrassment, especially when Bates gives the reasoning as wanting the next appointment to be “the big one”. 

Evidently Sven’s career is all but dead and buried. Who knows, perhaps in a few years Fabio Capello will be getting told where to go by Barnsley?

Sanchez not detered by underdogs label as he seeks a return to Wembley with Barnet

In tonight’s Johnstone Paint trophy southern area final second leg against Swindon, Barnet are definitely considered the underdogs.

Under the guidance of Paolo di Canio, Swindon currently lie second in League Two and are playing some of the best football in the division. They also take an away goal back to the Country Ground tonight after the 1-1 draw in the first leg at Underhill. If that’s not enough to suggest they are favourites to reach Wembley then just a quick glance at the last time the two sides met at the County Ground this season will show you that Swindon trounced the Bees 4-0.

However this massive game comes at just the right time for Sanchez’s side as they currently find themselves on a five match unbeaten run, including four consecutive victories in the league. This recent fine vein of form has lifted Barnet from out of the doldrums of the relegation zone, that they so often seem to find themselves attracted to, and up to 17th place, nine points clear from danger, with two games in hand over 23rd placed Plymouth. 

For a team that usually dice with death every season, and not too long ago were purveyors of unglamorous non-league football, this run has come at a much needed time for them, and is one that brings uncertainty as to where they will be playing there football next season, after being told they cannot play at Underhill, their home for nearly 105 years. 

With a trip to Wembley as the prize there is no reason why Sanchez’s men can’t translate their league form into tonight’s game and set up a final with Chesterfield. Having already claimed the scalp of Portsmouth at Fratton Park in the Carling cup earlier this season, as well as boasting League Two’s top scorer in Izale McLeod, Barnet will fancy their chances.

If they make it to Wembley it will surely be one of the biggest games in the club’s history. Sanchez has overcome adversity as the underdog before in his playing career and he would like nothing more than to share some of that Wembley success he had as a player with his team. Just 90 minutes stand in way of a chance to make history.

Henry leaves on a high, no matter what

As Thierry Henry put the icing on the cake to Arsenal’s 7-1 desolation of Blackburn with the final goal on Saturday, a sense of relief was felt all around the Emirates. A feeling that the goal will help to paper over the cracks of the deficiencies in Arsene Wenger's flagship January signing.

After his (second) debut heroics against Leeds last month started things off for the Frenchman so perfectly, that fully-charged momentum hasn’t exactly kept up the same pace since. 

Mark Lawrenson’s prediction that he would struggle to score again in his two month spell seemed to be bearing some sort of fruit after the fairly ineffectual performances against the likes of Swansea and Bolton. 

While his footballing brain, which could teach Theo Walcott a thing or two, still works as well as it ever did, it is safe to say his pace, fitness and, at times, his first touch are not quite what they used to be. 

After five minutes of being on the pitch the heavy puffing begins and his arms form a position on his hips that Tony Adams in his prime would have been proud of.

With Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh leaving for the African Cup of Nations last month, Andrey Arshavin’s lack of form and complete disinterest, and Arsene Wenger’s total lack of mistrust for Chu Young Park, Henry was the man brought in to help ease the load. It seemed like the perfect answer. In hindsight maybe it was a touch of the head up in the clouds syndrome. 

If Henry has not been the exact remedy needed then thank God for the emergence of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as his introduction at just the right time has meant it has not really mattered. He looks an immense talent and with his rise to prominence, Wenger can now keep Henry safe on the bench ready for the odd cameo.

His goal on Saturday may have looked a little different had it fallen to the Henry of old - the space he found himself in would have been utilised to perfection by his pace. 

However Saturday’s goal was the Henry of new, a nice bit of link-up play whilst still having the huge slice of luck from a big deflection to drop into the back of the net. 

But it doesn’t matter anyhow as he is Thierry Henry. His goal against Leeds will forever stay in Arsenal hearts and for many that alone has justified the move. He can do no wrong and Arsenal fans love him all the same whatever he does. 

228 and counting...

Steven Gerrard prefers a medal over fourth place...

On the eve of Liverpool’s momentous Carling cup semi-final defeat of Manchester City at Anfield the other night, captain Steven Gerrard spoke with passion of his desire to overcome the league leaders and go onto Wembley and win the cup. Amongst the Roy of the Rovers rhetoric that is so often synonymous with the man came a telling admission. An admission, that in today’s money driven age of football, is such a rarity and delight to hear amongst the usual drivel of wage demands and all the other things that seem to preoccupy the modern day footballer’s mindset. His words came on the subject of, believe it or not, actually preferring to win the all so often derided Carling cup over the the holy grail, the meat and two veg of football today, finishing fourth and qualifying for the Champions League. Gerrard proclaimed, “I understand there is a balance for the club financially, I understand that being in the top four is massive. At the beginning of the season, it’s probably the main aim, but I don’t want to say I finished in the top four, five times. I want to look back and say I won the Carling Cup three, four or five times.” The man has got a point.

Sadly not everyone in the world of football shares Gerrard’s philosophy. Even sadder, most simply cannot afford to. If a team wants to make it today as one of the best in Europe or even be relatively close to being considered in the same breath, qualifying for the Champions League, or finishing at least fourth to give it its less glamorous name, is both the be all and end all, and paradoxically for some clubs, the bare minimum required. The financial incentives as we all know are huge. As well as performance-related fees, clubs also receive a percentage from the vast television market pool. Manchester United, in their run to the final last season for instance, earned a cool total of €53.197million. It’s easy then to see the potential earnings a club could miss out on if they weren’t able to make it to football’s promised land. The club owners require their managers to deliver them this as if they miss out, and their rivals don’t, then they will be the ones falling behind. Clubs like United are so used to qualifying that the money earned from the competition is almost taken for granted. Only if they fail to qualify then do they realise how much they relied on this not so ‘guaranteed’ source of income.

If the owners get want they want, then in turn they will have sufficient funds to feed to their managers. A manager with a lot of funds to spend on players usually means, in today’s world, a successful club. A manager without funds - a not so successful club. In turn, the clubs ‘without’ will simply be replaced by the clubs ‘with’. It is not just the money gained from the Champions League that can help attract the higher calibre of players, but also the status acquired from participating in Europe’s elite competition. The best players want to play at the best level and won’t accept second best – especially when it goes by the name of the Europa League. Manchester City were the perfect example of needing to qualify so as to be able to attract the top players. As the new threat to the Premier League, after their Arab billionaire arrived a few years ago, the one thing holding them back was not being in the Champions League. Whilst having the money to afford anyone in the world, the fact that they weren’t playing Champions League football meant that for every Robinho that joined for simply for the wads of cash on offer, there was a Kaka who resisted the allure of Arab oil money as he preferred to ply his trade at a world class club, at a world class level. It was the one thing in the way of global domination. Fast-forward a few seasons, and with a third place finish under their belts anyone is game. That they did then drop out of the Champions League at the first hurdle is inconsequential. They’re on the ladder and they will probably be on there for the foreseeable future. You wouldn’t bet against them challenging for the trophy next season either.

Managers share this ambition with their owners. Most managers of any club, with a realistic aim of playing in the Champions League, would, at the start of the season, have their ambitions in this order: 1) win the league 2) win the Champions League (1 & 2 are interchangeable) 3) qualify for the Champions League 4) win a domestic cup. Even if aims one and two never happen, three will always remain ahead of four. Arsene Wenger and Arsenal are the perfect example in this case. Wenger has not won a trophy since the FA Cup way back in 2005, which most Arsenal fans believe is far too long for a club of their stature. Yet to his credit, since 1998 Wenger has qualified for the Champions League in every full season he has been at the club. No doubt the men above him are delighted with the financial stability this consistency has provided the club and the fans have loved the Europeans nights at both Highbury and the Emirates, as well as their run all the way to the final in 2006. Yet after nearly seven years without a trophy there is unrest among fans for some cup glory. Fair enough they came close last season with the Carling cup final defeat to Birmingham, but their trophy cabinet still remains bare. This drying up of trophies has led to key players Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri both leaving last summer claiming a desire to win some medals. Despite the unrest, given the opportunity Wenger would still pick finishing fourth over winning the FA Cup. And you can’t blame him as it would be a disaster if they didn’t finish fourth this season. If they can then their chances of keeping hold of Robin van Persie increases. On the other hand, another year will pass again without a trophy.

The importance of the rat race to finish in the top four has been highlighted by both Manchester United and City being eliminated from this season’s Champions League at such a premature stage. While obviously they now cannot win Europe’s biggest prize, they will also miss out on the funding they presumed they would be receiving. Even if they were to go all the way and win the Europa League, which they now find themselves in, they would only make around €4.6million from performance related fees. In stark contrast, just for reaching the first knockout round of the Champions League they would have received €3million, another €3.3million for reaching the quarter-final, an additional €4.2miilion for the semi-final and either €5.6million for finishing as runners-up or a whopping €9million for winning the competition. As ridiculous as it sounds, it is better, i.e. more financially rewarding, to be knocked out at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League, rather than actually winning the Europa League. It’s easy then to see why there is such a fine line between finishing fourth and fifth. Then for those who do finish fifth, playing in the Europa League only ceases to get in the way of trying to finish fourth the following year, as witnessed with Tottenham this season, who chose instead to field weakened teams.

Anyway, I seem to have digressed with all this talk of finishing fourth. Back to Mr. Gerrard’s comments. How great it is to hear a player, a captain as well, say something that nobody is really allowed to say or believe in this politically correct day and age. Next to all the facts and figures, the financial statistics of the Champions League, the life or death necessities of finishing fourth, how our whole football world is driven soley by money, and just the pure cut-throat ‘if you can’t deal with this tough as there is someone else behind you perfectly happy to abide by the rules, so please step aside’ nature of today’s game, it is simply refreshing to hear such words. Words that transport us to a parallel world where money doesn’t matter, where the main aim of playing football is, believe it or not, to actually win things, and be able to look back at your career and show your grandkids your stash of medals medals. But no, unfortunately we live in a world where most players, with their grandkids on their knees, will only have but a figurative fourth place recollection, now derived of any meaning, along with the last of their deteriorating wage packets to show for themselves.

Everton hitting a brick wall.

When called upon to think of the greatest managers residing in today’s Premier League the obvious names that first spring to mind are Sir Alex Ferguson, followed by that of Arsene Wenger. Both have obviously won a bucket-load of trophies between them and have been at their respected clubs long enough to have formed a lasting legacy in their names. Another fixture on that list would have to be Everton’s David Moyes. The Scot took a team that quite had quite often flirted with relegation and moulded them into a unit that consistently finished in the top six and were the next club outside the traditional ‘big four’. He went one step better when even managing to break into that quartet, which is no mean feat. It was an achievement that also brought along with it Champions League football, even if it was to be over before it started. After Ferguson and Wenger, Moyes is the third longest serving manager at a club in the top tier of English football, having been in operation at Everton for what will soon be coming up to a ten-year anniversary in March. Like messrs Ferguson and Wenger he has served at his club long enough to create his own dynasty, something which is becoming rarer and rarer in modern day football. It is no surprise then that he has often been linked as Ferguson’s long-term successor when the great man finally steps down.

Moyes’s Everton of today however certainly seem an age away from the side that finished fourth back in 2005. A lot can change in football, especially if given enough time to bloom, or in this case wither, and the fortunes of Everton and Moyes certainly have in recent times. Finishes of eighth in 2010 and seventh in 2011, as well their current standing of eleventh place this season, have been footnoted by a woeful array of financial problems at board level. It seems that in times of late Everton may have hit a brick wall and even stagnated. Through no fault of his own, Moyes is in danger of undoing all of his good work, with people only remembering Everton, unfairly, as the unambitious mid-table team they have unfortunately become, rather than as the next team who could realistically break into the top four.

It was announced at the beginning of the season that Barclays bank had cut the club’s overdraft facility after calling in debts totalling £45million. This basically meant Moyes had no transfer kitty to work with whatsoever, and even if funds were raised from outgoing players, that money would be used first and foremost to help pay off the club’s debts. For this reason Moyes’s only transfer acquisitions last summer were the three loan deals for Royston Drenthe. Denis Stracqualursi and Eric Dier. How can Moyes be expected to build a team with players that will be gone the following season? At the same time his hand was forced to sell strikers Jermaine Beckford and Yakubu as well as star man Mikel Arteta. How is Moyes supposed to build on last seasons seventh placed finish when his hands are tied, whilst every other club around him is spending the money needed to compete in today’s ruthless Premier League?

It’s not just this season that he has had to prepare for in such difficult circumstances. The past few campaigns have seen him having to bring in free transfers, loan deals, and players on minimal transfer fees. You have to go back to September 2009 for the last time Everton really spent fairly big on a player and that was with the £6-7million paid for John Heitinga. But even then Moyes had to sell first in order to buy – the £22million raised a few days earlier with the sale of another key player, Joleon Lescott, to Manchester City no doubt helped fund Heitinga’s arrival. You can throw in the likes of James Vaughan and Steven Pienaar to that ever-growing ‘players out’ list as well for good measure. The days when Moyes had the luxury of breaking the club’s transfer record not once, nor twice, but three times, with the signings of Andy Johnson, Yakubu and Marouane Fellaini respectively, which incidentally went hand in hand with the top six finishes, are clearly a thing of the past.

In such circumstances Moyes continues to do a great job. Drenthe has proven to be an astute signing – but one who has surely attracted many suitors and will no doubt be at one of these come next season. The manager still has to be applauded for the signing even if the reality is it will not help build a team in the long run. That is something that he has probably ruled out worrying about for now, knowing that at any time a Phil Jagielka or Leighton Baines could be the next needed to be wheeled out in order to raise funds and pay off debts. It is a foregone conclusion that Jack Rodwell will be on his way out of the club soon, especially if he features in Euro 2012. The recent acquisition of Darren Gibson for around £500,000 however is a great signing for Everton. Sure, there are better players in his position but given the budget Moyes has available these are the kind of deals that he is restricted to these days. The sum could prove to be a snip if Gibson can settle into the team.

The current transfer window has also seen the return to Goodison Park of Landon Donovan, who again like two years ago, joins the club on a short-term loan deal. That it is a repeat of an old trick, that he is now two years older and debatably not as effective as two years ago, and that he will be gone in two months time all suggest that the deal smacks of desperation, much like the resigning of James McFadden, who has struggled to make an impact since his arrival. But obviously these are desperate times and given the context the Donovan deal is a positive move. If he can help improve the team for two months then the deal will be a success for Moyes. It may be a short-term philosophy, but that is the state of affairs he is dealing with.

You just feel however that there is only so long he can take of ‘doing a great job under the circumstances,’ becoming an almost charity-like case, and that if the board don’t sort out something soon or a miracle happens, i.e. some major foreign investment, then he may want out soon. And you wouldn’t blame him. As it stands there isn’t really much to gain for Moyes. It is almost like a lose-lose situation in the sense that Everton have hit a brick wall and Moyes has taken them as far as they can go – their record under Moyes can only recline. Mid-table mediocrity awaits, something that Moyes himself acknowledges: ”It will be really difficult to finish in the top ten. I think we are going to have a big struggle. Look at the spending of Stoke, Sunderland, Fulham and West Bromwich Albion.” He is realistic and knows that they will struggle to compete when Newcastle are the only team in the league with a lower net spend than themselves over the past two and a half seasons, which even then is only down to their whopping £35million sale of Andy Carroll. The days of qualifying for the Champions League must seems like an age away and it is pretty obvious Moyes is probably not enjoying himself as much as he did back then.

If things were to stay as they were for the next few years Moyes would be in real danger of undoing his good work. While still doing a great job, he will be less remembered for building a team that cracked the top four and more just a manager who has worked well on a tight budget. He is better than that. Given the current context he has clearly taken the club as far as they can go and unless a billionaire sheik is soon to arrive from halfway around the world, as hard as it sounds, he would to do well to part with his club of nearly ten years in search of a new, fresh challenge. Somewhere that is not in danger of turning sterile and somewhere that he will be able to shine once again. His superb managerial skills deserve to be remembered for winning things and breaking new ground with teams, something that now seems no longer possible at Goodison Park. This is also the criteria that the suits high up at Manchester United will be looking for when searching, whenever that may be, for Ferguson’s successor.

Things are looking up for Yeovil Town

The announcement of Gary Johnson returning to Yeovil Town for a second spell as manager can only be seen as much needed good news for Glovers fans. They will relish a return to their glory days under arguably the club’s most successful manager and he will certainly be looking to prove a point of his own after his disappointing spell at Northampton Town.

Yeovil had always been a club with potential long before Johnson arrived in 2001. Despite never having escaped the realms of non-league football since their foundation in 1890, they had already earned themselves a reputation in English football thanks to their heroics in the FA Cup over the years. The club hold the record for the total amount of ‘giant-killings’ with 20 league scalps, the most famous occasion coming back in 1949 with their fourth round victory over top-flight team, Sunderland. Their home ground at the time grew to earn them something of a name too, due to its notorious pitch, featuring an eight-foot side-to-side slope.

Despite all the league scalps they had taken, a place in the football league had always eluded them, however with Johnson’s appointment success was soon imminent. In his first season in charge he guided the club to their first ever FA Trophy success, after beating Stevenage 2-0 at the Villa Park final. He followed this up immediately by going one better the next season and winning the Conference, but most importantly, finally gaining promotion to the football league, joining the big boys in Division Three.

His side took to the new stage like a duck to water. Rather than struggling in their new surroundings at the bottom end of the table, they finished the season in a very respectable eighth position, just missing out on the play-offs. The following year, in the newly christened ‘Football League Two’, they were champions and gained promotion into English football third tier.

After such success it was inevitable Johnson would attract many admirers. Despite turning down offers from Plymouth and Derby he finally agreed to leave Yeovil and join Bristol City in September 2005. Johnson’s former assistant Steve Thompson led Yeovil to 15^th that season, before Russell Slade took over and guided the club to the play-off final at Wembley in 2007. Yeovil were one game away from being in the Championship, yet they were beaten 2-0 on the day to Blackpool.

While Blackpool would go on to gain promotion to the Premier League via the play-off system just three years later, Yeovil fell in the opposite direction. An 18^th place finish the next season was soon followed by Slade’s departure. Club captain Terry Skiverton, who had been there in Johnson’s glory days, was given the job at the age of just 33. Despite keeping the club clear of relegation in his first season, finishing 17^th, he struggled to really build on it. Whilst improving with 15^th and 14^th placed finishes respectively over the next two seasons, the early success of Russell Slade, based on the platform Gary Johnson had built, has eluded Skiverton. He certainly has not done a bad job though. He has steadied a ship and kept it in League One for three seasons and all this whilst still only being 36 and having never had any managerial experience before. His place as a club legend is certainly still secure. Yeovil Town certainly couldn’t have expected promotion to the Championship when appointing a managerial novice. This season however, with the club having been flirting with relegation all season and currently lying in 21^st position, they have finally decided to intervene.

Meanwhile, since Johnson left Yeovil for Bristol City, he went on to guide them to automatic promotion to the Championship in his first full season. The following season he led them to being within just one game away from the Premier League in the play-off final, where they ultimately lost out to Hull. From Johnson’s arrival at Yeovil to this disappointing day at Wembley, nobody can argue with his quite unbelievable track record in which every new season has brought further progress. However that was as good as it got for him and within two years he was out of the club. An unfulfilled spell at Peterborough followed before the disappointments at Northampton. He is definitely a manager with some unfinished business.

Johnson’s return to Yeovil can only be viewed as dream move for all parties involved. Yeovil have arguably their most successful ever manager back, one who is now a more experienced manager than when he left, knowing what it takes to crack League One and compete in the Championship. Johnson, on the other hand, gets a return to the club he loves and one that loves him. After a difficult past few years that is exactly what he needs. It is the perfect platform for the man to rebuild on his once almost unbeatable reputation. Skiverton meanwhile will remain at the club as assistant manager to a man he knows very well. He will be able to learn and develop his coaching skills under Johnson, which can only help him and his future. A place in the Championship within the next few years suddenly seems like more of a possibility than it did a few days ago for Yeovil Town.