1, What I wished for: England showing up for a major tournament
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| Captain Gerrard comforts winger Young after his Euro 2012 penalty miss |
Did it happen? No.
With a new manager at the helm, nobody was quite sure how England would perform at Euro 2012 but in the end it turned out to be all too familiar. A sixth penalty shoot-out exit in ten major tournaments was the bottom line after Roy Hodgson's team had toiled through the group stages. An exciting 3-2 victory over Sweden proved to be the highlight for the Three Lions, sandwiched between a somewhat fortunate 1-0 win over Ukraine and a 1-1 draw with France which appeared much less impressive once it emerged how poor the French team really were. In the quarter-final itself, England could count themselves lucky to even reach the penalty shoot-out as Andrea Pirlo orchestrated an Italian team on course to reach the final. The Azzurri had 31 shots to England's eight and thoroughly deserved to progress. It wasn't all doom and gloom as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Welbeck emerged on the international scene and captain Steven Gerrard showed he could still perform at 32. But England still have a long way to go to make an impact on a major tournament, and I won't be holding my breath for anything different in Brazil 2014. Should they make it...
2, What I wished for: Barcelona retaining the Champions League title
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| Messi had a magnificent 2012 but couldn't get the better of Lampard's Chelsea |
Did it happen? No.
2012 has been a strange year for the Catalan giants. Still revered as the best club team in Europe, they were pipped to the league title by Real Madrid and knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-finals by Chelsea. Lionel Messi has torn up the record books, with 91 goals for club and country, but Pep Guardiola departed citing the pressures of the job as his reason to take a sabbatical in New York. Sadly the year has ended with his replacement, Tito Vilanova, requiring chemotherapy treatment for cancer in his saliva glands and facing a spell away from the dugout. Yet his club are in a fantastic position, nine points clear of Atletico Madrid and 16 clear of Real having only dropped two points so far this campaign. They also won their Champions League group and face a winnable tie against a sub-standard AC Milan side in the last 16. The Blaugrana might not have retained the crown they won in 2011 but they could well reclaim it this May.
3, What I wished for: Tottenham qualifying for the Champions League at the expense of one of the old 'Big Four'
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| Redknapp made the top four but bade farewell to White Hart Lane after Chelsea's European triumph |
Did it happen? Yes....but no.
Harry Redknapp's Spurs survived a late season wobble to clinch fourth place at the expense of Chelsea, who finish sixth. But the Blues had the last laugh by winning the 2011/12 competition, thus usurping Tottenham to qualify for this season's edition, and leaving the White Hart Lane outfit to toil in the Europa League. This harshest of blows proved the end for Redknapp at Spurs and, having surprisingly missed out on the England job, he now finds himself embroiled in a relegation scrap at the helm of Queens Park Rangers. Spurs look revitalised under Andre Villas-Boas, who may well guide them to the top four again this season but if the Portuguese hadn't been sacked by Chelsea and replaced by eventual European champion Roberto Di Matteo, then maybe Spurs would be competing in Europe's premier competition this season under Redknapp. A strange thought indeed.
4, What I wished for: Wayne Rooney playing consistently
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| Rooney has had a mixed 2012 for club and country |
Did it happen? Infuriatingly, no.
Wayne Rooney is one of the great enigmas of British football. He finished last season with 27 league goals, his best ever tally, yet flattered to deceive on many occasions. In one fixture with Aston Villa late last campaign, Rooney scored a brace yet misplaced passes and showed terrible ball control all match long. In Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Swansea City earlier this month he put in a terrible performance which resulted in his substitution. Rooney continues to blow hot and cold, at times looking omnipotent operating behind new strike partner Robin van Persie and at others looking a shadow of the energetic talent who lit up Euro 2004 and scored a hat-trick on his Champions League debut against Fenerbahce. It is this baffling inconsistency that continues to keep Rooney in the bracket of players well behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and even some distance behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Falcao and his new team-mate van Persie.
5, What I wished for: A universally popular manager replacing Fabio Capello
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| Hodgson was the surprise choice to replace the Italian Capello |
Did it happen? No, but only because he's not Harry Redknapp.
When I blogged a year ago, it was anticipated that Capello would be stepping down after Euro 2012. Little did I realise that he would walk out of his job well before the tournament began. The FA took their time in naming a replacement, and during that time the world seemed to make up its mind that Redknapp was a shoo-in for the position. In the end, Roy Hodgson was given one of the toughest tasks in football. Hodgson is a very popular manager, and respected worldwide for his achievements with the likes of Switzerland, Finland and Internazionale, but perhaps due to the clamour for Redknapp, he was not quite the universally popular figure I had hoped would be put in place and #HodgsonOut was trending on Twitter within minutes of his first squad announcement. Nonetheless, the former Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom boss has done a fairly good job in his first few months with the Three Lions. Having said that, draws with Ukraine and Poland in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers mean he has a huge challenge over the next year and a win in March's qualifer away to group leaders Montenegro is a must.
6, What I wished for: Club owners to stop raising ticket prices
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| Punters are still willing to fork out their hard earned cash for these |
Did it happen? Emphatically no.
In October, the BBC's Price of Football Survey revealed that not only had ticket prices in the top four divisions continued to increase, but the cheapest had gone up by 11.7% in the past year, more than five times the rate of inflation. Absurdly, season tickets at Arsenal can cost as much as £1,955 and the cheapest available matchday ticket at Chelsea is £41. But by-and-large attendances are still high and as long as the punters are willing to stump up the cash, the owners will continue hiking up the prices. The rest of the world suffers financially as the effects of the recession continue to be felt, but football is still trapped in its distorted bubble of £50m strikers, £250,000 weekly salaries and stratospheric television deals. Will it ever come out of it? Not any time soon.
7, What I wished for: Manchester City to fail for at least one more year
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| Captain Kompany and manager Mancini were both integral to City's success |
Did it happen? Not in the Premier League, but in Europe...
Roberto Mancini's team were incredible in claiming their maiden Premier League title last season with Sergio Aguero's title-clinching goal set to live long in the memory of all football fans. This showed that money can buy you success, but in Europe, the Citizens still have a long way to go to make their mark. A second consecutive Champions League group stage exit, this time with an abysmal record of no victories, sees the pressure mount on the Italian manager. The club have struggled to maintain the aura of champions and are yet to hit top gear in the Premier League this season, currently trailing leaders Manchester United by seven points. There is a long way to go but Mancini certainly has his work cut out. Sheikh Mansour is yet to reveal his attitude towards managerial dismissals, having stood by the former Internazionale, Lazio and Fiorentina boss since he became his first appointment in 2009. But if other rich owners are anything to go by, further success will have to come soon if Mancini wants the chance to build a dynasty at City to rival that across town of Sir Alex Ferguson.
8, What I wished for: No more stories of racism in football
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| John Terry was found guilty by the FA almost a year after the incident |
Did it happen? No, but perhaps things aren't as bad as they seem.
The John Terry saga ran for so long it does seem like there have been plenty of racism in English football stories running all year, but in reality that is not true. The odd fan has been caught and punished, and there are no excuses for some disgraceful behaviour, but there have been no more players accused of the offence all year long. Allegations made against referee Mark Clattenburg by Chelsea's Ramires and John Obi Mikel proved unfounded and the reaction from England to the racist chanting of Serbian fans in an Under-21 clash this year showed that the country is moving forward to fight against racism. As Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany recently said: "The fact people talk about it is a reflection that this country is a lot more evolved than other countries. England is a lot further than people might make out it might be." Terry was, admittedly leniently, punished, and it is clear that there is no place for racism in the game. In other parts of the world there is some way to go, as the Serbs exemplified, but in England things are moving in the right direction.
9, What I wished for: Sepp Blatter to be ousted from FIFA
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| Football's two biggest power-brokers are the centre of much debate |
Did it happen? Of course not!
Blatter was always going to remain in charge of world football for this calendar year, and will probably do so until the end of his term in 2015. He arguably took a step forward with the introduction of goal-line technology, which debuted (almost unnoticed) at this year's Club World Cup. But the man tipped as favourite to replace the Swiss at top dog of FIFA is current UEFA president Michel Platini, and the Frenchman has taken more of the headlines this year. Strongly opposed to technology of any kind, Platini is still advocating the pointless system of additional referees, where two more officials stand behind each goal. His idea to stage Euro 2020 across the whole continent has also divided opinion with many fearing that the tournament atmosphere will be completely ruined. The former Juventus star's brainchild of Financial Fair Play will soon kick-in and the success of that may affect his chances of the FIFA presidency. Either way, the bizarre actions of the bureaucrats of football are here to stay.
10, What I wished for: Wigan Athletic to be relegated and replaced by a club that can fill their stadium
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| Roberto Martinez has done a great job at the DW Stadium |
Did it happen? No, and I'm glad it didn't.
Over the past year, I've changed my mind about Wigan Athletic completely. Yes, it still infuriates me to see thousands of empty seats at every single home game but at the end of the day, that isn't the most important thing. Nor is it the fault of the manager and the players. In Roberto Martinez, the Latics have a gem of a manager and his attitude and tactical success make him one of the most likeable men in football. Pioneering a back three, Martinez's team played some champagne football, winning at Anfield and the Emirates Stadium, beating Manchester United 1-0 at home, and memorably thrashing high-flyers Newcastle United 4-0 in an incredible run of late-season form. In the summer they sold star man Victor Moses but replaced him wisely with Arouna Kone. Again tipped to go down by many, the club are currently outside the relegation places, and with the knowledge that they've done it before, James McCarthy and co can feel confident heading into the new year. Good luck to them.
To summarise, not a lot of what I wished for came to fruition at all. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a fantastic year of football. With new names dramatically appearing on the Champions League and Premier League trophies, and the likes of Lionel Messi, Robin van Persie and Falcao in dazzling form, 2012 has been a year to remember. 2013 has a lot to live up to.
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