Two days to go...

It's been quite a while since I last posted to this blog. Life generally has been getting in the way of contributing articles as regularly as I would wish, and, let's face it, I don't really hold with Bill Shankly's famously held view on football and life.

However, I do derive a certain satisfaction from getting these thoughts down on a more permanent medium, and even more so from the comments left by others. Hence I have decided to give this another try, but with a more reduced frequency of posting; perhaps once or twice a week, as time permits.

I am also conscious that Real Madrid is on the verge of potentially winning a title in a couple of days' time; something that looked much more remote when I last posted. I did not want this new resolution of mine to continue to post to be associated with triumphalism in the event of Real Madrid winning the league title on Sunday, so I am posting this when there is a chance that it'll all go disastrously wrong, and I'll continue to post next week whatever happens.

Calderón's latest stunt at the Romareda following Real's last gasp equaliser against Zaragoza and Tamudo's goal for Espanyol 18 seconds later, maintaining Real at the top of the league standings with one game to go is not a surprise. He's consistently shown himself to be a loose-lipped populist president, and clearly does not carry himself with the dignity required of the post. Then again, given the average Spanish First Division president, he could be a lot worse.

Calderón's still waiting to see how things fall out this Sunday before deciding what to do about Capello and next season. The time for planning next season should have been weeks ago, not left until after the season's over. That leaves precious little time to decide who's going to be playing and how. The only reported movement in the market is Metzelder as central defender (on paper a good deal as he's on a Bosman).

This week also saw David Beckham's last press conference before leaving the club for the LA Galaxy. It is sad that after nearly 4 years of living and working in Spain, his grasp of Spanish is still so poor. Steve McManaman spent a similar time at Real and clearly immersed himself much more in local life, and the fans loved him all the more for it.