The Necessity of the Loan Market

Loaning players is an integral role within the transfer market. It allows clubs to send young talent to gain first team football, let rising stars make a name for themselves and bench players to see 90 minutes; all vital roles in the development of a professional football player.

Take for example Chelsea, who have two of the worlds brightest young Belgian talents out on loan this year, Romelu Lukaku at Everton and Thibaut Courtois at Athletico Madrid.
After joining Chelsea back in 2011, West Bromwich Albion and Everton have both seen Lukaku at his best after season long loans at each club. Lukaku had a vital role in keeping West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League, even outscoring his Chelsea teammates in the 2012/13 season with 17 overall. Currently on loan at Everton, he has scored 13 which has helped propel the Toffee's into 5th place in the league, with only four games of the season remaining.

His Belgian teammate Thibaut Courtois has been a revelation since joining Athletico Madrid on loan back in 2011. Only 21 years of age, and currently regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, it's fair to assess that the development playing first team football at Athletico Madrid has far exceeded the development he would have gained sitting behind Peter Cech at Chelsea.Chelsea now have two of world footballs brightest young talent, with successful first team experience, at their disposal for next season. Which shows that when executed correctly loans can benefit both clubs.

However it doesn't always work out perfectly with some players just not being able to make an impact when sent out on loan.
Andros Townsend, who is only 22, had been on loan at nine different League One and Championship clubs and gathered a reputation as a journeyman. But after proving his worth with a series of impressive performances for Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane and England at Wembley, Townsend is now definitely in contention for a place in the England 2014 World Cup squad.

Whether you like it or not, the loan market is an option that many managers exploit for a variety of reasons. If they want their new signing to gain first time experience, need to reduce their overall wage budget or simply cannot afford to spend the millions that it now costs to buy a player, the loan system is a tool that is there to be used. 
With many managers showing that with the right player, a loan can be just as successful as a permanent transfer, alongside the rising costs of buying a player; will more players be moving out on loan in the summer transfer market?
I think its inevitable. 



twitter: @ryanmcevoy

The Excitement of the Play-Offs

This is the best time in the football season, and that's a fact.

Ignoring the Premier League, and how Steven Gerrard will deservedly lead Liverpool to their first league title since 1990, it is actually the Championship where most of the final months excitement will take place.

Only 9 points separate 5th place Wigan and 12th place Middlesbrough, with nearly all the teams within those places playing each other in their final four fixtures. Every single point gained or lost has an impact on the race for a play-off spot.


Side-note: As an Ipswich Town fan currently in 8th place, I have a sense of anticipation that I haven't been able to feel since the 2004/2005 season when we missed out on automatic promotion by 2 points, lost to West Ham in the play-offs, before selling all of our most influential players and tailing off into obscurity for 9 years. (I'm not bitter West Ham fans, I promise)

Every single team in the Championship is chasing the illusive dream of one day playing Premier League football once again, or even for the first time.
But I can't help but feel that chasing the dream is actually more exciting than living it.
Chasing the 3 spots to the Premier League offers more drama, up's and down's and feelings of will they/won't they than the race for a mid-table finish in the Premier League.

Last years play-off semi final between Watford and Leicester not only provided one of the most memorable finishes in 2013, but in football history. 
(you can watch that again here)

These moments are exactly the reason the Championship is more exciting than the Premier League. Watching your team that you've grown up with fight to succeed, not fight to avoid relegation is one of the best feelings that you can truly experience.
Experiences that many bandwagon fans of successful Premier League teams will never get to feel. 

Which is why from now until May 3rd my eyes will be glued every weekend to Soccer Saturday, Twitter feeds and video streams for the latest Championship scores, and yours should be too.

Twitter: @ryanmcevoy

Moyes In?

Should David Moyes be given more time at Manchester United?

If it's not obvious by now, Manchester United fans are frustrated. After years of being the most successful team in the world with a record 20 league titles, 11 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and  20 FA Community Shields, it seems the era is coming to an end.
But should David Moyes really be feeling the pressure in his first year as the Manchester United manager?

After following in the shadow of one of the most successful and influential managers ever in the game (Sir Alex Ferguson), Moyes had big boots to fill. Big boots for man that had never won a trophy as manager of his once beloved Everton. 

But Manchester believed. They believed that Moyes could continue the success of his elder compatriot and keep the Red Devils at the very top of their game.

But look closer, Moyes was inevitably going to perform poorly at first. He inherited a team that did win the Premier League last year, but in a poor Premier League season which offered little competition to their crown.

He inherited a team inadequate of young talent, a team that relied on Robin Van Persie to save them numerous times and a team of aging players that were used to winning everything. But Moyes shouldn't panic, and neither should the Manchester United faithful. A record of 7 losses from 22 games does shout mid table finish, but the writing was on the wall before the season even began back in August. 

Many are shouting for Moyes to put his hand into the transfer market and spend in January, but this will surely do more harm than good. Panic buys are never a good investment, in the long term anyway. Moyes clearly couldn't get who he wanted before the season began, so why would they leave to join now with Manchester in the mediocre position that they are (by their own high standards).

However you view the results, Moyes deserves more time. He needs the summer to rebuild and reinvest, make the team his own and build his own brand of football. This season he is breathing the Ferguson mentality, team and tactics. 

Next season he has to make it his own, or I can offer no more excuses. 

twitter: @ryanmcevoy

The Sherman Deliberation

Richard Sherman's live rant is the talk in every household, but why?

If you haven't seen Richard Sherman speak his mind during a live post-game interview with Fox, where have you been hiding? (See it here) 

It once again brings Sherman straight into the spotlight for saying exactly what he thinks, regardless of who it's about. After Sunday's interview (post NFC Championship victory over rivals San Francisco 49'ers), Sherman has been called every explicit in the Oxford dictionary, but the word on most peoples mind is classless.But why?

It shows how much the game means to him, how much it meant to be a part of the winning play, how much the man wants to be better than his opposition.

Sherman argues that Micheal Crabtree (San Francisco 49'ers wide receiver) had been talking all game, but it's Sherman that hits the spotlight. Not for running back into the changing rooms like most players, but for showing true emotion in the heat of the moment. It shows that the game was not only real, but hit him emotionally. Who doesn't want more moments like that, where athletes that are idolized show that these games matter and are not just another paycheck.

With Sherman it's easy to label him a thug, but bear in mind that this is a man who graduated from Stanford (and coincidentally played there under Jim Harbaugh). A man that grew up in the streets of Compton, arguably one of the roughest areas in the USA, but still managed to 'make it' to the NFL. He has said that he is used to hearing people talk about what he is not able to do, and so far he's proved most of them wrong. 

While Sherman can talk as fast as he can run, he can also back it up. That's the person that he is. Why are we pretending that this is the only man who trash talks while playing; every player does. So why during a game where you're legally allowed to 'hit' an opponent to the floor using brute force we draw the line at trash talking. Why are we also pretending that players should love each other, embrace each other after the game and tell the other how beautiful the other played during the game. Rivals don't like each other, Sherman even acknowledged post game, “A lot of what I said to (Erin) Andrews (Fox reporter) was adrenaline talking, and some of that was Crabtree. I just don’t like him.”
Naturally when you make a game winning play against someone you just do not like, the adrenaline speaks. In my opinion, we need more Richard Sherman's. People who are not afraid to speak out and say it exactly how it is.
But no matter what you think about the cornerback, he sure is unique.

Twitter: @ryanmcevoy