The big games just keep coming. Not only have we got the continuing promotion and relegation fights in the the Football League, we also have some intriguing ties in the plus the this weekend.
It was great for football to see Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan paired against Chelsea in Europe's top club competition. I think Mourinho has been a big miss for English football since leaving Stamford Bridge. When he was interviewed on TV or watching his team play, everybody's eyes were fixed on him to see what he was going to do next. Everyone misses his charisma and character.
The was an amazing occasion but I think the return fixture at Stamford Bridge will be even more special.
Mourinho has not lost a home game in seven years, which is almost unthinkable. He has a great squad at Inter and if everybody is fit he has an excellent side. Personally, I think Chelsea might just be a little bit too powerful for them, despite losing the first leg 2-1, but only time will tell. What do you think?
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Hi, there's been a lot of talk about the possible introduction of play-offs in the Premier League to qualify for the fourth place in the but I must say that I don't like the idea.
The play-offs are well established in the Football League and I really don't think they should be introduced to the Premier League.
To me, it wouldn't be fair if your team played a full season of 38 games and finished fourth, but then had to play-off to qualify for the Champions League. I just don't think teams who finish outside the top four should have an opportunity to qualify for Europe's elite club competition.
There is a huge incentive for teams to finish in the top four and players work their socks off all season to get into that position. If a team were to finish fourth and then didn't qualify for the Champions League because they were eliminated in the play-offs it would be very hard to take.
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I want to blog about the armed services this week, but I'd better start by congratulating our gaffer on winning the award. We won four out of five matches in the Championship during January and that coincided with the arrival of Alan Irvine.
When he came in, he had a long chat with the players and told us what he expects from us in his own way. He obviously got his point across because we started winning straight away.
Alan is very astute, he doesn't leave any stone unturned in preparing for matches and he doesn't leave anything to chance. I think that is the way it has to be because then we all know where we stand. He doesn't like it when players slack off and he never slacks off himself. The standards have been set so high that we don't want to let them drop.
With the on Tuesday night, we've now won five of our last seven matches. But we mustn't let our standards drop because there are still plenty of games to be won in the remainder of the season. We've got some tough, tough games coming up and we have to prepare right for them.
The gaffer is a gentleman, but he is also someone who will give you every opportunity to try to win games. We've been reaping the rewards of all the effort that we've been putting in and it's a great place to be at the moment. It's been a joy to come in for training every day and, because of the results, the players have all got smiles on their faces. The results have also seen us climb out of the bottom three, and we have to keep on winning so we don't slip back into the relegation zone again.
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Hi there, this week I'm going to blog about dealing with journalists and how I try to get away from the stresses of football, but first I was in the rare position of having a day off on Monday after our manager, , gave us a free day because of the hectic schedule of games.
We've had five matches in just two weeks but at least we won four of them!
It's not just the effort the players have put in physically, it's the mental strain as well. Three of the five games were against teams in and around us at the bottom of the Championship. The intensity is the same for both sides and it does take that little bit extra out of you.
It was only a matter of weeks ago when we were in the . It's very, very stressful in that position and believe me, not a nice place to be. You can see in training that the atmosphere is not the way you would like it to be so the four wins have been a bit of a godsend. You can see the change in the mood in the camp, it's now a more relaxed environment.
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Hi, I'm Michael Gray. I've played more than 500 league games for Sunderland, Celtic, Blackburn, Leeds, Wolves and Sheffield Wednesday over the past 17 seasons. I'm currently enjoying life at ambitious Sheffield Wednesday and the aim of my blog is to provide an insight into the life of a footballer.
