Way back in January, we spent some time going over this season’s transfers of each team in the Premiership. After continuing to update the information as the season has progressed, we’ve seen some movement in the table we built to track the most economical teams, in terms of points gained vs. money spent. We’ve also included some other facts that we worked out at the time, such as the tidbit that the total cost of all transfers in 2007/08 is an estimated 615,507,256 million pounds (this is the same as the GDP of Ghana or Bahrain).

As of March 21st 2008 the table of Cost per point won in the Premiership stands at

Blackburn £94,522

Reading £175,714

Arsenal £301,493

Aston Villa £379,571

Everton £415,179

Wigan £491,079

Birmingham £590,704

Bolton £595,920

Chelsea £686,154

West Ham £687,674

Portsmouth £814,980

Middlesbrough £908,065

Newcastle £917,241

Man City £ 982,292

Man Utd £1,035,714

Liverpool £1,049,631

Fulham £1,266,261

Derby £1,594,800

Tottenham £1,611,111

Sunderland £1,622,222

As we can see from this table, the most economical team in the Premier League is Blackburn, who are currently sitting 9th in the table. Mark Hughes has only made a few additions to his squad this season, with the only significant amount of cash going towards Roque Santa Cruz from Bayern Munich. This is an indication of the solid squad that they had at the start of the season.

While Arsenal are the most economical team of the “Big Four” in terms of points-per-pound, perhaps given their recent dip in form in the league they may have been better off splashing more cash on bolstering their squad in the January transfer window?

Sunderland find themselves propping up the bottom of this table; however, they invested over £40M in players in the effort of remaining in the Premier League, which, given the financial stakes, seems understandable. Tottenham, on the other hand, are renowned for paying large transfer fees and yet they sit second from the bottom of our table.

Finally we come to Derby and Fulham, who have both spent heavily as well and not seen the payoff from these investments. These teams find themselves in the wrong end of all the tables under discussion, and with games running out to turn it around, the clubs face dire consequences.

Some other stats gleaned from this research were:

• Average cost of a transfer in the Premier League this season: £3.344 million
• Average cost of a transfer by the “Big Four” this season: £7.071 million
• Average cost of a transfer by the rest of the league this season: £2.413 million

And now the final stats and the title of the post what is the price of Premiership Success?

• With today’s exchange rate, 1 point costs an average of £811,017
• To build a Premiership winning side you would need to spend £69,504,178 (based on the average points totals of the previous winners)
• To survive in the Premiership you would need to spend £32,873,229 (based on the average points totals of the teams which finished 4th bottom and survived relegation)

We have put together a rather cool table, showing which nationalities have scored the goals in this season’s Champions League. As it is, it is pretty interesting to see who has been scoring the goals in the most lucrative club competition in the world, but what is most interesting is the pattern that you can see between the countries scoring the goals in these competitions, and the most successful national sides in the world. Certainly, it seems obvious that the most successful sides in Europe will buy the best players, but there also seems to be a pattern suggesting that having players in the Champions League improves the standard of a national team. And if you have players that can score goals at the highest level…

There are some surprising results. You would have thought that the most successful leagues - England, Spain and Italy - would have more players getting amongst the goals than other countries. Each of these countries has four representatives in the Champions League this season, and so there should be more opportunities for homegrown goals. However, it is surprising to learn that the Yellow Cowdenbeath - Brazil - have more goalscorers than any other nation- by a very long way. Argentina and the Netherlands are also well represented. We will make sure that we keep these tables up to date, so we can track just who the other winners of the Champions League are!

The table of goals, sorted by nationality

This is even more interesting when you show the current World Rankings. Only two of the current Top 10 sides in the World are not present in the Top Scorers in the Champions League…(these sides are marked in red)

And finally, as a special treat. Which teams are scoring the goals this season? Who are the leading scorers in the Champions League? Teams still in the competition are in italics.

This season’s Premiership title (and relegation battle for that matter) may not be won or lost at Old Trafford, Anfield, the Emirates or Stamford Bridge. It is just as likely to be fought out several thousand miles away in Ghana, where the 2008 African Nations Cup will be contested. Such is the standard of some of the players going to the tournament, that the fates of several clubs could be decided by their form during the three week long tournament. There have been calls for the tournament to be played at a time in sync with other international football tournaments (ie, during our Summer months), and to play the Cup every four years rather than every two. There should be little surprise that this causes managers so much concern, as several clubs will be without their African contingent for up to seven games- more if they should return injured or exhausted. Just how much bearing on the Premiership could this have?

Most of the focus on the negative impact of the African Nations Cup on the Premiership has been on the problems it will pose for the top sides. Chelsea are set to lose Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou,  John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien, and as a result are probably the most affected club. Drogba has been the catalyst for much of what Chelsea have produced over the past two seasons, while Essien is arguably their most complete midfield player. Losing both of these players, and their understudies, means that if Chelsea want to improve their league form (they are currently six points from the top) they will have to spend. It is likely that Nicolas Anelka will come in as a replacement for Drogba, unless he is more tempted by a return to Manchester City, but it is in midfield that Chelsea may have a problem. Lampard is still sidelined, and so it may fall to Michael Ballack to steer the club through January. Arsenal also look as if they will need to buy to cover players going to Ghana. They can probably cope with losing Emmanuel Eboue and Alexandre Song, but Senderos has yet to prove he is an able deputy to Kolo Toure.

Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City should look to January as a time when they can dominate proceedings. Of the three clubs, only Momo Sissoko will be a high profile absentee. Liverpool should (should) have more than enough cover to deal with this.  However, it looks likely that Portsmouth- one of the successes of the season- will be hit hardest by the African nations tournament. Like Chelsea, they are losing four first team players, at least two of which have been regulars this season. Losing Kanu, John Utaka, Sulley Muntari and Bouba Diop for several weeks could be the difference between Harry Redknapp managing in Europe next season. They can take some comfort from the fact that Everton will be equally as troubled, with the hugely influential trio of Yakubu, Yobo and Pienaar all missing this season. Everton have scored 37 goals this season, and 18 of these goals have been scored or created by Yakubu or Pienaar. It is hard to say how much they will miss Yobo, other than the fact he has missed one game this season- a 1-0 defeat to Reading.

One manager who will not be looking forward to the African Nations Cup is Sam Allardyce. He is already under pressure as Newcastle manager, and his cause will not be aided by the fact he will lose Obafemi Martins,  Geremi, Abdoulaye Faye and Habib Beye. At least he will have some money to spend, and has players with the potential to lift the club into the UEFA spots- Damien Duff and Michael Owen especially- coming back to fitness.

The one place where the impact of the 2008 tournament could be felt the most is amongst the bottom clubs. While it is apparent to all but the most optimistic of supporters that Derby County will be relegated, there are still two clubs from around seven who could go down. The one club who might find January costly at the end of the season is Bolton. Although they are only losing two players, being without El-Hadji Diouf for several games could be the difference between their continued participation in the Premiership. Losing Diouf, coupled with the departure of Anelka, will be very difficult for Bolton to cope with. The estimated £15M they want for Anelka will need to be very wisely invested if they are to replace a 20 goal a season striker, and very quickly. The stats make for even more alarming reading, as Bolton have only scored 23 goals this season. Of these, 19 were either scored or created by Diouf of Anelka. If Gary Megson is given a sizable amount of the Anelka fee, then he must replace not just a goalscorer, but someone to provide chances.

Several other clubs will be without important players for January, with notable absentees at Spurs (Didier Zokora), Sunderland (Dickson Etuhu) and Birmingham (Mehdi Nafti). However, few will feel it as hard as the likes of Chelsea, Bolton, Everton and Newcastle. It could be an ideal time for clubs unaffected by the African Nations Cup- both Manchester clubs, Aston Villa and Fulham- to get results and change their fortunes. Manchester City face Everton and Arsenal during the African Nations Cup, and it could be a perfect time to get results against their rivals. Manchester United face both Portsmouth and Newcastle while Fulham face Bolton and Arsenal in the same period. Both clubs will be far more confident of vital results (for different reasons) if their opponents are missing so many key players. At the end of May, it could well be the results over this period that are shown to be decisive in the 07/08 season.

So, with the end of 2007 almost in sight, we thought we would look over the year gone past and choose our ten favourite goals from the past 12 (ok, 11 and a half) months.

James McFadden (for Scotland vs France). Yes, the goalkeeper should have done better, and for technique McFadden probably scored at least two better goals than this one in 2007. But none of them resulted in Scotland beating France. In Paris. This clip is worth it for the commentary alone. Although if you were watching on Sky, Gordon McQueen’s reaction is almost as good.

Nery Castillo (for Mexico vs Brazil). Nery Castillo was arguably the star of the Copa America this year (Robinho aside), and there were rumours abound that he was set to leave Olympiakos for one of the bigger clubs in Europe. It was of some surprise when he signed for Shakhtar Donetsk for a 20M Euro fee that broke all sorts of transfer records. When Mexico beat Brazil 2-0 in the Copa America, Castillo was the architect. This goal shows exactly what he can bring to the game, perfect timing, an incredible first touch and composure in front of goal.

David Healy (for Northern Ireland vs Denmark). Healy broke Davor Suker’s record for the most goals in a qualification tournament when he scored 13 in Northern Ireland’s campaign. This is the pick of the bunch, completely deceiving the goalkeeper, and putting the ball in the one place that nobody could get close to it. All of this while off balance and in the most unlikely of shooting positions. As one pundit commented, “Roy of the Rovers reads David Healy comics”.

Lionel Messi (for Argentina vs Mexico). Another goal from the Copa America. There could easily be at least two or three more Messi goals in this compilation, not least his Copa Del Rey goal against Getafe. However, in the interest of fairness, and because of the vision involved, we have decided on just one and gone for this delicate lob in the semi-finals of the Copa America. The fact that he can get that much lift from an almost stationary ball is one thing, the fact he can put it in the bottom corner is another altogether. This redefines the phrase “delicate chip“.

Scott Severin (for Aberdeen vs Rangers). The last team you want to face in a must win game on the last day of the season is Rangers. Aberdeen needed 3 points to be guaranteed third spot, and a place in the UEFA Cup. After a frenetic opening period Aberdeen got a half chance on the edge of the box. The ball fell to Scott Severin…

Cesc Fabregas (for Arsenal vs Sparta Prague) One of the stars of 2007 has been Cesc Fabregas. His emergence as Arsenal’s key man has been astounding, not least because they haven’t seemed to miss Thierry Henry at all. The most important new asset in his game is goals. And plenty of them. While his strike against Manchester City was individually brilliant, it was his goal against Sparta that really exemplified what Arsenal have done so well this year.

Maxwell (for Inter vs Parma). Inter have dominated the Italian league for the past two years. They boast the only unbeaten record in Italy (or England, Scotland, Germany, France, Spain…) and look unstoppable in their quest for another Scudetto Title. Probably the best goal they have scored this season came from Maxwell, the heir apparent to Roberto Carlos’ Left Back spot for Brazil. It starts with him nutmegging Damiano Ferronetti and only gets better from then on.

Clarence Seedorf (for Milan vs Shakhtar Donetsk). Seedorf seems to have been around for ever, and yet he is only 31. Milan have been far from their best this season in the league, but look like the team to beat in the Champions League. Seedorf’s double against Shakhtar at the San Siro was something special. The technique for the second was sublime.

Mancini (for Roma vs Lyon). Everyone loves seeing a player beat an opponent with a quick stepover. Or four. Watching it in slow motion is equally as hypnotic. He doesn’t exactly place it in the bottom corner either…

Fernando Belluschi (for River Plate vs Velez). One of the best players in Argentina at the moment. His short career has been blighted with indiscipline, but at only 24 he could still make a much bigger name for himself. Against Velez he was unstoppable. He scored a hat-trick, and while the second was good, and the third was visionary, the control and power required for his first made it the pick of the three.

A few months ago, we started a 5-a-side team in the office. We signed up for Footie Fives in Cambridge and the journey began.

Mao Tse-Tung once said “every journey starts with a first step”. Well, our first step was more like a stumble than a step, as our rag-tag bunch got absolutely hammered 13-0. Pretty impressive for a 28 minute game. I should’ve spoken to our friends at Guinness World Records to find out if that was some sort of record.

Staggering off the pitch, I gasped “what happened” to the guys running the show. “Oh, as you joined half way through the season, we put you in Division 1 to see how you fared. You were so bad, that next week we’ll only charge you half-price for subs.”

So a consolation of sorts.

Well, I am pleased to announce that after several intensive training camps and a re-routing to Division 6, where we feel much more at home, Boca Texperts are competing for honours!

Season 25 started 3 games ago, and our proud record reads Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1. And we was robbed in that defeat, I tells youse. It was a game of two halves, the lads gave 110%… (etc).

We stand 3rd in the table and are planning a Christmas training camp to get our fitness to a new higher plane (we are aiming for the fitness of a 55 year old mother-of-three with a chocolate habit).

Watch out KPMG and What A Kerfuffle, we are coming to get you!