Football Emporium

 
At the end of every season it is most interesting to see how the game has progressed – or regressed, at all levels. 
Sadly, this season has seen football exposed to corruption on a World level. England being overlooked for Russia is quantifiable, what isn’t, is the most newly progressive League in World football, missing the invaluable promotion if its development in favour of Qatar. Australia may be a backwater in football terms, but surely they deserved a shot at hosting by 2022. 
On a domestic level we have seen more expansive use of tabloid exposes to turn football players into celebrities – how football has become rock music is anyone’s guess.
The money swishing around at the top remains there, but it certainly hasn’t heralded improved competition. The battle for fourth place in the Premier League was the nearest to a highlight in that particular League calendar.
The Championship, on the other hand, featured some player registration skulduggery by QPR, but apart from their obvious status as the best team, we very nearly saw the previous season’s League One promoted teams: Norwich, Leeds and Millwall, finish in the top six. They say the talent will filter down with the influx of foreign players to the Premier League, but instead it appears it’s the money problems that feature more prominently, as many of the division’s big guns fought fiercely for mid-table mediocrity.
League One saw a similar mix – Southampton’s millions saw them up, but with an incentive of a new ground to look forward to, Brighton were their superior. The basement division of the League saw Chesterfield summon up lessons learned from near extinction to take the glory. 
It is clearly to those League divisions that football should look for its reality check and its passion. So, as I write this on the eve of a Stoke City v Manchester City FA Cup Final, it is with great sadness that I have to say I can’t imagine a single non-City supporting football fan that would want them to win.