[SoccerShoutPodcast]

Phil covers the games in the Prem involving Chelsea, Villa, Charlton and Arsenal, and does a bit of a before-and-after thing looking at the league either side of Christmas.

Please post below if (a) you're team is worse than Chelsea or (b) you want to tell us whether you think Mourinho is any good or not.

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[skywalker89]

hey phil, wanted to speak about things u said on the podcast.
1) a friend of mine is a supporter of nottingham forest and fact is theyre the only european winners in history to play outside of their country's first 2 divisions. So, the leeds supporter are better off than nottingham forest's supporters(atleast for the time being)
2)About Mourinho: I'm a gooner and like all gooners, I despise Chelsea but I cant deny the fact that Mourinho is a good coach. Lets just talk statistics now. He joined porto in january 2002 and guided them to a third place finish in his first season. In 2003, he won the title with Porto and that too with the maximum tally of points every accumulated in portugese league history. He also won the UEFA cup that year.Next season, he won the title again and then won the Champions leaue with Porto, they eliminated the likes of Manchester United and Lyon on the way. And then he moves to Chelsea and wins two successive titles(albeit, with a lot of financial resources). Claudio Ranieri(Phil he's the ex-chelsea guy, u cudnt remember) too had the resources for a while, but cudnt do much. I believe that problem with Mourinho is that he is just not used to losing, especially in the premiership, he's not used to being behind anybody. In his first 2 seasons in charge, chelsea dominated all their games and blazed a trail at the top of the table. To add to his woes, his captain and talisman John terry isnt fit. His signings in the summer havent dont much(He might call Ballack an untouchable, but its clear the Ballack hasnt dont anything so far). But mourinho is a very shrewd and capable manager and I wont be suprised if chelsea are still able to come out on top at the end of the season, (Though personally im hoping for both chelsea and united's form to drop, so arsenal win). Although manchester are clear favorites, Chelsea have more than just a chance and If i were a manchester supporter, I wouldnt be engraving my team's name on the title just yet..

[vurt]

Kiwi Kim here,

I think I can safely say I support a team worse than leeds...

I give you the New Zealand Knights:

The New Zealand Knights F.C., from Auckland, New Zealand, (known as Football Kingz Football Club until 2004), are the only professional football (soccer) team in New Zealand. They play in the recently-formed Hyundai A-League, which is Australia's premier football competition.

Despite having a squad boasting several players with extensive experience in English football, many pundits did not rate the Knights as serious contenders for the A-League title, and they were considered favourites for the wooden spoon. These predictions turned out to be true, with the New Zealand Knights proving to be terribly out of their depth in their debut A-League season.

The FFA announced that it had revoked the competition licence held by the Knights' owners. An arrangement with NZ Soccer will see the national body step in to manage the club for the remaning five weeks of the regular season, with former All White's player Ricki Herbert to fill the role of Head Coach [6]. It is unclear at present whether NZS will seek to bid for the licence which now becomes available for the 2007/08 season

Now the team is completely falling apart, and are in danger of being banished from the A-League all together after problems with securing another A-League lisence, dreadful attendance figures and an inability to fully pay the player's wages

The risk of relegation is one thing, but getting banished from existence is quite another!
What makes it even more dissapointing is that New Zealand have had quite a few good players come through over the years but most of them just join up with the better A-League clubs while we have to make do with overaged rejects from other countries.

Look out for Jeremy Brockie who joined of Sydney FC from the Knights this season on a two year contract. He is touted as the bright hope of NZ football and with a bit of luck might make it to the EPL. I used to play against him and his club (Suburbs FC) in little old Nelson (south island NZ) and he used to put us to the sword!