The Spanish season kicked-off on Saturday and millions of viewers worldwide will have seen Sevilla’s Antonia Puerta have a heart attack during the first half of his team’s game against Getafe.
To read more about the story, visit the BBC News website.
All of us here at DigitalFC would like to wish Antonio Puerta a speedy recovery.
Football is finally back tomorrow with all 4 English leagues starting up. It’s been a big spending summer, with some fantastic buys and some dodgy dealings, but what will that mean any change in the destination of the major trophies?
Despite Liverpool’s big spending, we see the title as another two horse race between Man Utd and Chelsea. Liverpool may push their rivals a little closer this season, but we think it’ll take too long for Benitez’s men to gel.
Tottenham have also spent big this summer, and with Arsenal losing their French superstar, we can see Spurs taking 4th place.
Newcastle look a good bet for the top 6, and we expect Everton to be there or thereabouts too.
Down at the bottom, the promoted three could all find it difficult and we suspect that Roy Keane’s inexperience and questionable signings (Michael Chopra) could lead to Sunderland making a quick return to the Championship.
It’s not all about the promoted three though. Wigan only narrowly avoided relegation last year and we expect Reading’s honeymoon period to be over too.
DigitalFC Premiership Predictions:
Champions: Manchester United
Runners-up: Chelsea
Champions League Places: Liverpool, Tottenham
Relegated: Derby County, Reading, Sunderland
The three relegated teams are normally the favourites to go back up, and it’s no different this year.
Sheffield United were unlucky to be relegated last season and they’ve managed to keep most of their squad together and make a couple of good acquisitions in Billy Sharp, James Beattie and Lee Hendrie.
Like Sheffield United, Watford have kept their squad mostly in-tact and we expect Marlon King’s goals to fire them to promotion.
Charlton however, have seen wholesale changes to their squad and although they’ve made some good Championship-level signings, we expect them to struggle to adapt to life at the lower level and take time to find their feet.
The Black Country duo of Wolves and West Brom will be there or thereabouts, however West Brom have been severely weakened with the loss of Jason Koumas and Diomansy Kamara.
Of the promoted clubs, we believe Bristol City have the best chance of staying up and Lee Trundle’s skills and goals should see to that.
Blackpool and Scunthorpe will both struggle, however they will not be alone. Teams like Barnsley, Colchester QPR will have difficult seasons and either of the East Anglian clubs could also be dragged into a relegation fight.
DigitalFC Championship Predictions:
Champions: Sheffield United
Runners-Up: Watford
Play-offs: Charlton, Leicester City, West Brom, Wolves
Relegated: Blackpool, Colchester, QPR
League 1 will see two massive clubs fighting it out for promotion. Nottingham Forest start their third season in England’s third tier and Leeds United will be looking to bounce back in their first ever season at this level.
However, Leeds’ promotion bid looks to be over before its started as the Football League imposed a 15-point penalty for financial irregularities. It could be a long, hard season for Leeds.
We expect Forest to be at the top end of the table, but automatic promotion may be beyond them again.
So who will go up? Luton have made some great summer signings in Paul Peschisolido, Don Hutchison and Darren Currie and we fully expect them to be in the mix come the end of the season. Oldham, Doncaster and Swansea will be up there too.
At the bottom, Bristol Rovers, Walsall and Swindon may find it difficult, but we expect Hartlepool to survive in mid-table. Look for Cheltenham and Leyton Orient to struggle too.
DigitalFC League 1 Predictions:
Champions: Luton Town
Runners-up: Doncaster Rovers
Play-offs: Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Swansea City
Relegated: Cheltenham Town, Leeds United, Leyton Orient, Swindon Town
There are a lot of big clubs in League 2, all hoping to take a first step up that footballing ladder.
We feel that the 4 relegated teams from last year will struggle to make the grade. Stuart McCall will need time to settle in at Bradford, as will Mark Robins at Rotherham.
Paul Ince should have the players to take MK Dons up and could it finally be the year for Lincoln to escape England’s bottom tier?
At the foot of the table, look no further than Accrington and Hereford who will both struggle to keep up with the rest.
DigitalFC League 2 Predictions:
Champions: Darlington
Runners-up: Lincoln City
3rd Place: MK Dons
Play-offs: Peterborough United, Shrewsbury Town, Stockport County, Wycombe Wanderers
Relegated: Accrington Stanley, Hereford United
Following on from our Top 5 transfers of the summer, here’s our Worst 5:
5. Titus Bramble
Possibly the worst defender in Premiership history? May provide the mistakes to send Wigan down. Could prove to be a very expensive signing for the Latics, even though he cost nothing.
4. Darren Bent
How Darren Bent is worth more than Thierry Henry is beyond us. Bent is a decent striker and will probably do well at Tottenham, but £16.5m is a hell of a lot to pay for him.
3. Craig Bellamy
If you can’t find your feet at Newcastle and Liverpool are you really going to shine at West Ham? £7.5m is a lot of money for a player with a proven attitude problem.
2. Michael Chopra
Congratulations to Cardiff on pulling-off one of the greatest transfer deals ever! How they got £5m for Chopra we will never know. Although a good Championship player, Chopra is untried in the Premiership and we don’t know if he’ll be able to make the step up. He could be a very expensive mistake for Sunderland.
1. Thierry Henry
We can understand Henry moving to Barcelona (where we think he’ll win the La Liga title next season), but what we can’t understand is Arsenal letting him go. Henry is their all-time top goalscorer, and one of the Premiership’s greatest players. He will be sorely missed and may cost Arsenal their place in the top 4.
With just over 3 weeks to go until the start of the new season, we thought we’d have a think about the transfers that have taken place so far this summer. Here’s our Top 5:
5. Owen Hargreaves
The off-again, on-again transfer has finally gone through. We all know what Owen Hargreaves can do in an England shirt, and we expect him to do even better for Manchester United.
4. Florent Malouda
The Frenchman has signed for Chelsea from Lyon for a fee of around £10m. The pacey frontman will be an excellent acquisition and a good replacement for Arjen Robben should he leave the London club.
3. Ryan Babel
Babel was part of the Dutch Under 21 team that won the European Under 21 tournament this summer. He is a pacey attacking player, and we all know that speed is a great asset in the Premiership.
2. Maceo Rigters
Who? Rigters is a team-mate of Ryan Babel from the Duth Under-21 side. Signing for Blackburn will be a shrewd move by the former MAC Breda star – he should be a regular in the Blackburn starting line-up and will be in the shop window for a possible move to a bigger club in a couple of years. We believe the Dutch Under 21 star will shine in the Premiership.
1. Fernando Torres
Spanish ace Fernando Torres has joined Liverpool in a deal worth around £20m. We believe the powerful ex-Athletico captain will be an excellent acquisition for Rafa Benitez’s side. Can Liverpool break into the top 2 and challenge Man Utd and Chelsea for the title?
DigitalFC allows football clubs of all ages to have their very own website. The websites are customisable, professional and easy-to-use. A demo website can be found at: www.digitalfc.com/examplefc.
Before our official launch next month, we are looking for 6 local football teams to test the system for us. As a reward for your testing, your website will be free for the first 2 years (a retail value of £100).
There are no formal testing requirements. You will simply be asked to use the system and report back to us on your experiences, such as:
To become a tester, head over to the DigitalFC website and create an account for your team. When the site asks for your payment, contact us: http://www.digitalfc.com/contact/ and I will set your website to be free for 2 years (be sure to include your team name).
If you have any questions, please email me at: rob@digitalfc.com, or reply to this post below.
Please note that there is a limit of 6 free test accounts on a first-come, first-server basis.
England Under 21s face their Dutch counterparts tonight in the European Under 21 semi-final.
England will be without Tom Huddlestone after his harsh red card for swearing at the linesman (sorry, referee’s assistant) against Serbia on Sunday.
The game kicks-off at 5.15pm, line on Sky Sports 1.
