The beautiful season?

Is this the beautiful season for the beautiful game?  It certainly seems so as the English Premier League has got off to a very open start this year.  For as long as I can remember there have been three separate leagues in the English top flight. Each club has fallen into one of three categories:

Stalactites – the clubs that are always around the bottom of the league, clinging on and struggling every year to hang on to their place.  Usually the clubs that come up from the championship fall into this category and there are several yo-yo clubs that always seem to be involved in the fight to the death.

Stalagmites – this is the bulk of the clubs that make up the league. These are these clubs that fight it out in the middle table.  If they are lucky they might get close to the upper reaches, they might win a cup or at least get to a final and if they have a really good season they may be elgible for a Europa League spot which they end up paying for the season after.  With these clubs it seems that as soon as they have someone on their books who shows any sparkle they sell them for the much needed revenue.

Stellalights – these are the half a dozen clubs that fight it out for the top honours, that vie for the title and make up the Champions League places.  They are the clubs with billionaire owners (being a millionaire is just not enough now), who seem to have endless access to money and have the world class players.  Nearly everyone who plays in these clubs plays for their country.  Every fan wants their club to be in this elite group yet we all know in which league we really fit.

But this season things are different.  Ferguson has gone, Wenger seems to have got over his issues and Mourhino doesn’t appear to be quite so special.  There are imposters in the top half of the table with the new boys showing the way with the old guard on a bit of a wobble.  It’s early days though but with a sixth of the season over the table is wide open.  Fourteen clubs are separated by only four points and a couple of wins will shoot you up the league.

As a Newcastle fan I thought the season was over after the first Saturday but now I’m excited by what lies ahead.  Let’s hope that this is the season when many more clubs have a chance of taking the crown.  It will be good for the sport, good for the fans and will add beauty to the already beautiful game.