THE MIGHTY sport of Football finally returned over the Weekend and as both Football and the great sport of Racing are linked so closely Red House Stables has decided to give a light-hearted weekly review of the action.  However we don’t deal with just any old team here at Red House, only the elite sides will make this column, namely Newcastle United, West Ham United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Ebbsfleet United and despite their obvious lack of a defence Southampton.  These are all teams that are in some way linked to Red House and their fortunes are followed closely as the weeks (and chances of promotion) go by. 

Let us start then from the bottom with the newly re-branded Ebbsfleet United, known until this season as Gravesend & Northfleet.  Association with the new Channel Tunnel rail link at Ebbsfleet has prompted change.  This has caused much controversy amongst the fans mostly due to the fact that a favoured chant “Oh when the ‘Fleet go sailing in” has been rendered useless; “Oh when the ‘Fleet arrive at Platform 2” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.  Nevertheless, Ebbsfleet got off to a winning start, victorious, as they were, 2-1 over Northwich.  Ebbsfleet scored the first goal of the Blue Square Premier season through livewire striker Luke Moore.  However, the main event of the game was the mass brawl which broke out after a less than welcoming challenge from Ebbsfleet’s Smith on Townson.  Both players were asked to leave the field by the referee.  Clearly, despite their re-naming, Ebbsfleet’s style of football hasn’t fallen far from the Gravesend tree.

Southampton’s ambition of being a Blue Square Premier side was dealt a boost with a shambolic display against Crystal Palace.  Striker James Scowcroft helped himself to a hat-trick for the first time in nine years; or rather Southampton helped James Scowcroft to his first hat-trick in nine years.  Clearly the board’s decision to sell the defence during the summer has been vindicated!

Moving into the Barclays Premier League, Saturday saw both Newcastle and West Ham in action.  The imposing figure of Big Sam returned to the Reebok Stadium to face Little Sam’s Bolton.  This unfortunate coincidence obviously confused the Bolton players who were taking instructions from the wrong Sam and allowed Newcastle to waltz to a 0-3 lead inside 30 minutes.  Big Sam’s got an impressive record of achieving great things with small teams and he’s now got a chance to prove it at a higher level.  However with Mike Ashley as the new owner Allardyce is likely to only have one season with these players before the “Closing Down Sale, all stock must go” signs are slung up around St James.  Don’t believe me? He’s tried to sell the Magpies on already!

A closing down sale might be of interest to West Ham who’ve spent most of their time recruiting rejects from other sides.  The Irons put up a “flat” performance to quote their manager losing 2-0 in a video nasty against Manchester City.  Thaksin Shinawatra’s takeover of Manchester City has gotten off to a good start but West Ham may feel like implementing a rule from his homeland.  Apparently Thai police who misbehave and perform poorly have to wear a pink armband with the Japanese ‘Hello Kitty’ character on it.  Pink and Claret don’t clash do they?

London’s big two (because Tottenham aren’t a big side if Sunderland can beat them) returned to action on Sunday.  Arsenal certainly lacked some Va Va Voom but still managed to win thanks to good old London boy Alexandr Hleb. Arsenal had trailed after only 50 seconds but luckily for Jens Lehman his manager couldn’t see his error from where he was in the dugout.