Is there any hope left in football ?

Hope, can mean anything to any one supporter, but for this article I’ll discuss hope as it stands as a word. Any flame of delight to shout about, when your teams losing 17-0 at home to Barnet (No disrespect intended) or when your team constantly goes 2-0 up to lose 3-2 .

I will start off with today’s news that Hope Powell; the England Ladies head coach has been sacked with immediate effect. At times it was a very promising era for women’s football, and her achievements in helping England get to the latter stages of tournaments, it definitely improved the coverage of the game in England. It was amazing to see the coverage of Women’s Olympic football, and it was definitely something the women’s game needed, though the men’s game, not so much.

I am sad to see the end of hope Powell's reign as England women's football manager. It has been good to see the spotlight on a sport which gets over looked especially one in women’s football. It has come from a long way of people saying, “Oh there was nothing on Television so I watched the women’s football Cup final”.  It was definitely a game which needed the presence of the Olympic Games to promote and show the world how glorious it could be.

 I do wonder, though, that in the high stakes game of trying to guess who the first managerial casualty of the season will be, how many of you thought this would be the first one? If you say you did, I’d call you a liar. Then I’d ask for proof, and when presented with the proof, I would then dis credit that proof, such as what is often done on Pawn Stars. At least football is back, and so begins week after week of asinine predictions, and stubborn on-lookers believing their team to be the best in the world, despite being in the 4^th tier of football.

On a different note, I can find hope in that Aston Villa will silence a lot of people this season, and shouldn't be anywhere near the relegation zone. As a Holte Ender, the noise will be loud and proud for the majority of the season, and we can definitely feel more secure in retaining the services of the Belgian Beast. Phew. Keep up to date with my in season thoughts about the club that I, and so many others Love, Aston Villa.

Here is a taster, a reflection on the opening weekend of the Barclay’s Premier League match Away to Arsenal at the Emirates. The match finished 3-1 in favour of Villa, and whilst I fancied a sneaky 3 points, I definitely didn't really expect such a clinical victory. Happy Days, unbeaten going into a home clash against Liverpool, but wait!

Firstly, they have to play Away to Chelsea, as on the original date of the fixture, Chelsea are due to play for the Super Cup so let’s play this week. Superb.

More on this game will be featured in my forward to the Liverpool fixture which will be released Week commencing August 26^th.

To sign off for this week, I will mention that with Alan Pardew’s recent comment that the Transfer window should be closed come opening Weekend. I agree, it would stop these sagas of will Wayne Rooney leave Manchester United, will Luis Suarez stay at Liverpool, or where will Christian Benteke play for the 2013/14 season ? Well, The Benteke saga was answered, when he withdrew his Transfer Request, and signed a new contract to stay exactly where he was, and The Holte End will have at least 18 goals to look forward to from him alone. To answer the statement, Yes, it should close when the season starts, as there are 2 months between seasons to get things done, to buy players, to sell players, to do whatever they need to do, and maybe if they miss a player, they can use Hawkeye to review their stupidity.

Thankyou for reading and I will see you at the same time, same place next week.

Maccie.