Football News: Football, full of surprises

This season has shown that football still has the capacity to surprise. In Scotland, Heart of Midlothian, in the midst of a financial meltdown, were relegated from the top flight finishing bottom with no signs of hope, other than a takeover stabilising the club financially.

This season, in the Scottish Championship under rookie manager Robbie Neilson, with no money to spend and a team mostly made up of kids, they are streaking away with the title. This despite facing cross city rivals Hibernian and the vastly experienced Rangers sides in the battle for the top spot.

The whole club is now on the up, despite all the troubles, and they are also closing in on a handover to full fan control. Hearts fans must be pinching themselves to check it is all real after the disaster that was the Vladimir Romanov era and the fall out which put them in severe danger of vanishing for good.

In England the summer saw Southampton go into what was described as a meltdown. Players forced their way out and the manager also left for pastures new. The arrival of Ronald Koeman and the impact he has had is beyond even the wildest dreams of the most optimistic Saints fan. Taking the club from a midtable spot last season into a Champions League place at this point of the season, despite losing Luke Shaw, Ricky Lambert, Adam Lallana and Callum Chambers, plus the disruption of having Morgan Schneiderlin requesting a transfer, is nothing short of a minor miracle.

Even better for the fans, all of those that left are now at teams below Southampton in the league placings. It is the ultimate example of the grass not always being greener on the other side. Credit must go out to both Koeman brothers for Saints form, as Erwin's individual training sessions have done wonders as well as Ronald's management.

On the other side of the coin, perennial title challengers Borussia Dortmund, are struggling badly against relegation. Jurgen Klopp, the much feted head coach of Dortmund, has even come under fire from some quarters, despite the wonders he has achieved in the past. Is it just a season too far for him in Dortmund? It certainly looks that way at this point.

Written by Tris Burke January 22 2015 12:11:23