New Season

Greetings all :)
The new Premier season is only 10 days away and it's time to get fired up after the short break.
Of course the new season actually started during the World cup so there hasn't really been a summer break, Celtic are already out of the Champions league along with several other British teams.
Hull will play their second Europa league game tonight hoping to at least make it to the regular season and get a few Sunday kick offs.

The lower leagues kick off tomorrow night with Blackburn v Cardiff, and the rest start on Saturday.
Interesting that the footie authorities have come out big against betting by footballers but allow the leagues to be sponsored by Skybet?
My local side Southend open with a glamour trip to Accrington Stanley (who are they?) at least all the new signings will get a chance to meet each other :)

On Sunday the first big game takes place with the Charity Shield game between Arsenal and Man City, although it's now known as the Ronald McDonald Community Shield (fries with that?) not sure if the money goes to charity anymore? probably not.

Predictions competition will be back in the next few days, plus an invite to join the NBTF Fantasy football leagues for anyone who's interested.
I'm currently compiling a list of the Premier league in's and out's to see who's been splashing the cash and to see if certain teams still have enough players left?
.. quick joke - The Premier league have announced they will be using vanishing spray this season after a successful trial at Southampton football club :)

Champions League

The Champions league group draw

Group A - Man Utd, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad
Group B - Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, Copenhagen
Group C - Benfica, Paris SG, Olympiakos, Anderlecht
Group D - Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Man City, Viktoria Plzen
Group E - Chelsea, Schalke, Basel, Steaua Bucharest
Group F - Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli
Group G - Porto, Ath Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna
Group H - Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic

First thoughts, Man Utd and Chelsea should stroll through, Man City should finish 2nd.
Arsenal have a really tough group and could struggle.
Celtic have little chance but will hope they can give Barcelona a tough time again.

Champions League Draw

Champions League Draw

Group A - Paris St Germain, FC Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Dinamo Zagreb
Group B - Arsenal, Schalke 04, Olympiakos, Montpellier
Group C - AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga
Group D - Real Madrid, Man City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund
Group E - Chelsea, Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Nordsjaelland
Group F - Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, Bate Borisov
Group G - Barcelona, Celtic, Benfica, Spartak Moscow
Group H - Man Utd, Sporting Braga, Galatasaray, CFR Cluj

Tough draw for Man City with the champions of England, Spain, Germany and Holland all drawn together!!
Celtic get Barcelona and 2 other hard teams.
The others look to have easier groups Man Utd and Arsenal should be really happy.
Chelsea have got Juventus and Shakhtar but should be good enough to go through.

Rangers v Rangers

People have been saying for years that Rangers and Celtic should be playing in the English league, well today Rangers got the chance of playing a league game across the border.
Berwick are the only English club in the Scottish league and they certainly didn't roll over today, holding the Gers to a 1-1 draw.
Not sure what the future holds for Rangers, they have not made a good start to this league and the remaining players are starting to leave and despite the massive support it is going to be hard to attract anyone to play in the fourth tier of Scottish football.
I'm trying hard not to be happy about Rangers problems as I've never been a fan of theirs.
I have various Scottish relatives who are big Celtic and Aberdeen fans who both hate Rangers with a passion, but personally I always liked Dundee United?