The Premier League 2008/09 Season Review (Part One)

So that’s it. The curtain has fallen on another season in English football and what a season it has been too! We’ve seen Manchester United look as though they would win every conceivable trophy and yet their season ends with ultimate disappointment. Liverpool’s recent form was the stuff of champions but in a campaign that looked to be promising so much, they ended up winning nothing.

In one of the most intriguing relegation battles ever witnessed it was heartache for West Brom and Middlesbrough and Alan Shearer failed to create the fairytale dreamed up in Geordie land as trips to Scunthorpe and Peterborough await the three relegated clubs.

To summarise it’s fair to say that over the past ten months we’ve witnessed both the exceptionally good and the terribly bad but there’s certainly never been a dull moment in England’s top flight. So as the Premier League wave’s goodbye to leave us in a state of depression, here’s a look back at some of the highlights of the season in England.

August

After a summer full of transfer speculation, Ronaldo stayed while Robbie Keane swapped White Hart Lane for Anfield. Throughout August it had looked rather ominous that Gareth Barry would be joining Keane at Liverpool, although in true Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Cristiano Ronaldo or Kyle Lafferty fashion, the deal eventually fell flat on its face.

Meanwhile there was actually some football played in August too would you believe with Chelsea on top of the pile at the end of the month and looking every bit potential Premier League winners under Luiz Felipe Scolari.

After a steady if not overly impressive start to the defence of their title, Manchester United lost out to Zenit St. Petersburg in the European Super Cup in Monaco and Stoke revealed their secret weapon for the season - and no I’m not referring to the signing of Dave Kitson.

September

The transfer window should always close on 31st August right? Well Richard Scudamore obviously forgot to slam it shut when he went to bed that Monday night and look what managed to sneak in the following day.

The footballing world was in a state of shock as Man City suddenly became mega rich and it was party time for their fans as Robinho signed for the club, yes that’s Manchester City Rob, not Chelsea, for £32 million. Elsewhere, well just next door in fact, Sir Alex did his fair share of last minute window shopping too as sulky or silky striker Dimitar Berbatov eventually got his ‘dream’ move.

Alan Curbishley and Kevin Keegan were the first manager’s to walk away from the Premier League with Gianfranco Zola (along with Steve Clarke) stepping in at West Ham and Joe Kinnear arriving at Newcastle with a for sale sign visibly on display outside St James’ Park.

There was plenty of clowning around at Sunderland with Roy Keane at the forefront while Tottenham were sliding into disarray. Further north Manchester United were six points off the pace down in the deepest, darkest doldrums of...eleventh place and Hull pulled off a truly remarkable feat by beating Arsenal at the Emirates.

October

When Harry met Sally Levy and consequently left Pompey things finally started to look up for Spurs. Bentley scored this goal and Zaki scored that goal, a marvellous strike that would incidentally induce the Wigan man into many Fantasy teams across the country.

October also saw the now rather infamous Joe Kinnear rant. As if you need reminding, the then Newcastle boss swore at a group of assembled journalists an amazing 52 times! F*** me, indeed!

Back to matters on the pitch and Liverpool were looking every bit serious title challengers with four straight wins. Among them was a victory over Chelsea that brought to an end the Blues 86 game unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge. Benitez clearly meant business.

November

November instigated all that chat about Arsenal’s young guns and how they may just go on to achieve world domination...well sort of. Although a 3-0 victory over an experienced Wigan side in the Carling Cup certainly made everyone stand up and take notice.

Manchester United would lose ground in their pursuit of the title by slipping up at Arsenal although it wasn’t so rosy for the Gunners a couple of weeks later as Aston Villa showed their credentials for a top four finish with a surprise 2-0 victory at the Emirates.

Elsewhere remember I mentioned Scudamore’s window antics earlier? Well it’s lucky FA headquarters isn’t based in Merseyside or the transfer situation could have got a whole lot worse as yet another Liverpool player’s home was burgled.

Oh and have I mentioned Heurelho Gomes yet? Well another gift-wrapped Gomes gaffe afforded Fulham a win against Spurs at Craven Cottage, bringing an end to Harry Redknapp’s honeymoon period at the club.

December

You wouldn’t believe what the talk of this month was! Well rather than lauding fantastic strikes or enthralling finales the press seemed to be more concerned with a certain Roy Keane and his facial hair to be exact.

And Keane was to be in the headlines once again later in the month as he resigned from beleaguered Sunderland with Paul Ince not far behind him in the queue at the doll office. Ricky Sbragia and Sam Allardyce would be announced as their respective replacements charged with the job of staving off the threat of relegation.

December should be a time for festive cheer although try telling that to Andy Griffin and Ricardo Fuller. Yet despite probably not being on each other’s Christmas card list on this occasion, who knows, they may just exchange a present or two next year.

How can I possibly move onto January without mentioning that half-time team talk. Was Brown inspired? Outrageous? Outright stupid? I’ll let you decide on that one.

In other news Manchester United travelled to Japan to compete for the FIFA World Club Cup, a tournament they would end up winning by beating Ecuadorian’s Liga de Quito (yeah them) 1-0 in the final. Question marks surrounded United’s ability to cope with the ensuing fixture pile-up and Cesc Fabregas took his place on the long-term casualty list at Arsenal.