I’m a Liverpool fan. I have been since the age of seven when I went to see my first football match, Tottenham v Liverpool at White Hart Lane. What I recall as a fantastic end-to-end game finished 3-3 with Robbie Fowler scoring a brace. It’s very strange supporting a club who were ‘fairly recently’ the best team in the country but in your ‘supporting life’ have probably only been close to claiming the title once. Of course there have also been years with cup successes and nights of European football that I will never forget so in many ways I’m lucky. I support one of the best six teams in the country and a club that has the resources to keep that status up for the foreseeable future. I’ve often been disappointed supporting Liverpool, nearly always frustrated, but I’ve never been really embarrassed…until now. Let me start my saying I think Luis Suarez is one of the best players in the Premier League. Watching him play at his best is genuinely thrilling, but the club’s handling of the Evra v Suarez case almost overshadows all the positive attributes he has brought to Kenny Dalglish’s side. There’s no need now to go into how badly Liverpool handled almost every move they made – a blow by blow account can be found elsewhere I’m sure. But if you were, somehow, on the fence over the club’s decision to put Suarez on t-shirts, as if he’d died rather than racially abused someone, or over the way Liverpool attacked Patrice Evra’s reputation for little reason then perhaps the incident in Friday’s game against Oldham will have shown up just how badly Liverpool responded to the allegations. The 5-1 FA Cup victory over Oldham was, understandably, hugely overshadowed by what appears to have been racist abuse aimed at a fan or fans at midfielder Tom Adeyemi. It’s hard to not think the abuse was at the very least related to the club’s stance which seems to indicate a toleration of racism (certainly to individuals with those inclinations). Suarez’s use of the word ‘negro’ was at best unwise and at worst racist. Even if you take a huge leap of faith and accept that he refers to black people he knows as ‘negro’ in a friendly way, referring to anyone as ‘black’ in an argument with them is simply unacceptable in England. A simple statement from the club accepting that the word shouldn’t have been used towards Evra and that Suarez was unaware of its implications would have been a good start. That along with an apology, a pledge not to repeat the behaviour and a donation to a relevant charity (as has been mentioned elsewhere) would have enabled Liverpool to move on quickly – and in all likelihood would have enabled them not to lose their best player for eight games. Liverpool’s acceptance of the ban, the length of which could be argued as harsh given the amount of homophobic and general abuse that players give each other all the time, was the one good decision that’s been made. The toddler-like statement (it's not fair!) accompanying that decision and Suarez’s half-apology were fairly ridiculous but the most recent cause for embarrassment is Dalglish’s insistence that the public still don’t know things the club do. If there’s something that ‘we’ need to know then please tell us. With the prolific media coverage of the case I find his statement extremely hard to believe – I find it hard to even think of anything that could change my mind. Finally, I work in the communications team at Crystal Palace FC and find it hard to believe that the statements put out by Liverpool were written by/the idea of the professionals in similar jobs there. Matters of such importance understandably need the input of the CEO, manager and so on but those with better knowledge of the how the media works and how to balance an argument should have been given more say. If they had the situation may well have turned out better for everyone involved, and a 20-year-old might not have been racially abused. I can only hope that the actions of the idiots on Friday night will have acted as a huge wake-up call in the corridors of power at Anfield.

Having the likes of Henry Winter (Telegraph), Oliver Holt (Mirror) and Barry Glendenning (lazy journalist Guardian) on Twitter provides a great insight into the thoughts of three respected and (generally) well liked journalists.

Following each individually can be informative and entertaining but the beauty of Twitter, for me, is that by following both you can eavesdrop (or perhaps that should be pry) on their conversations and thoughts.

The most recent topic of discussion followed on from the latest British Olympic Association farce on Tuesday, when the organisation announced a “historic agreement” had been reached to field a Great Britain football team at the London 2012 Olympics.

Within an hour the Scottish and Welsh FAs had denounced the statement, stating that no discussions had taken place, nor had any agreement been made. Hugely interesting and newsworthy as that was, it sparked Winter to later remark on Twitter: “Olympics a wonderful event that should be pinnacle for sports. World Cup is football's pinnacle. Football shouldn't be at the Olympics. End of.”

In all my widsom, I replied “@henrywinter surely that's not the debate. Aren't we (the English) thinking we're more important than we are again.” With Winter having nearly 125,000 followers it was unlikely that I would get a response, and I didn't, but later he reaffirmed his views with a reply to the Guardian's Richard Williams. While earlier Holt had backed up Winter's views “Absolutely right Henry. And same applies to golf and tennis.”

It's hard to argue that the Olympics shouldn't be the pinnacle of any particular sport, and I'm inclined to agree that ideally that would be the case. If I had any control over the 'new sports' introduced into the Olympics I certainly wouldn't let golf in. In fairness I probably wouldn't let football in were the decision being made now either. I think where Winter and Holt, perhaps reflecting the lack of appetite for the football tournament in England, have missed the point though is that the appetite for the tournament globally is much bigger.

Glendenning and Williams made this point on Twitter, with Williams putting it much better than I ever could: “I think you're being a bit Little Englanderish here, chaps. To some pretty big football nations, (he mentions Spain, Brazil and Argentina) the Olympics have always been important.”

As a country blessed with a free, diverse and generally excellent sporting media where we arguably do go wrong is being too 'anglicised' with our views. It is this that leads to the 'Golden Generation' and for years a misunderstanding of how good our England team was technically, compared to, for obvious example, Spain. While our coaching is clearly miles behind many of those on the continent, in terms of quality and quantity, it feels like only in recent years has there been an acceptance of a real talent gap between England and the world's top sides.

Where once it seemed the problem was, 'why can't these players perform for England like that can for their clubs?', it now seems to be generally accepted that our talent isn't actually good enough – in particular the depth of it. One way of developing our talent better could be exposing our young players to more tournament football against other countries best teams – so maybe we should take the Olympics more seriously?

The other thing is that football IS in the Olympics, so saying it shouldn't be doesn't really get us anywhere or spark any debate (I appreciate the irony of me writing about it). Perhaps the questions we should be asking are, how has this situation been allowed to come about? Do we as a country have an interest in entering an under 23 team into a global tournament, and if not, why not? Do the players want to play? And so on.

We have an opportunity to give a group of ten or more young English players some real tournament experience against the world's best, with what is still a huge prize on offer. Where's the catch?

To the best of my knowledge the Italians choose their captain on whoever is the most senior player, i.e. the player with the most caps. I think the Swiss work their captaincy out so that each player gets an equal share and the Brazilians to the least skillful player as a consolation prize. One thing's for sure, there's never been such a farce over who wears an armband before.

And the man of the head of that farce is an Italian, making it all the more baffling. The obsession with the captaincy was supposed to be an English thing - we were actually winning at it - and then Fabio came it took it up a notch. First taking the captaincy away from John Terry after his off-field dalliances, which at the time seemed a fairly reasonable decision, although you could argue one that didn't need to be made if Capello was going to continue to pick Terry.

Then earlier this year, many of us took amusement at the sight of the armband being passed around the England side to anyone but the former skipper. One man who didn't was the manager, feeling sorry for poor Terry who surely after a year had been more than fairly punished for the minor offence of sleeping with his best friend and team-mates' girlfriend.

And so the decision was made to give the poor lad back the captaincy. A decision that in my opinion was needless, for me it is the character of the player that makes the difference - not the title, but even if you think the captaincy that important then Capello's handling of the whole affair must have left a bad taste in the mouth.

With today's wages and all the trappings that being able to kick a football competently brings (I'm a touch jealous, yes)  it's hard to feel sorry for these 'world-class' players but that's how you felt for Rio Ferdinand when Fabio made the decision without giving a second thought to having a quiet word with his discarded skipper. Regardless of Capello's claims that Ferdinand avoided him, the England manager really has no excuse for not making the trip to see him personally either at Carrington or elsewhere.

The final twist in the captaincy tale is that John Terry has been released by Fabio after the 2-0 win over Wales and so England's "permanent captain" will take no part in the Ghana friendly. Lampard, Cole, Dawson and Rooney have also been released, ahead of upcoming Champions League quarter-finals in a move that makes political sense for Capello - and one that will hopefully be remembered by the top clubs in future. But with, my tip, Joe Hart, Gareth Barry or someone else to take over the captaincy against Ghana it does make you wonder why Fabio went to all that bother.

The relegation picture seems to have cleared somewhat even in the fortnight between this blog and the last. The season so far has already thrown up a number of surprises, with all three of the promoted teams chasing promotion or the play-offs at the moment and a number of established Championship sides struggling.

Preston are propping up the division after the unsuccessful spell of Darren Ferguson and the so far ill-fated attempts of Phil Brown. Ferguson's sacking over the New Year was something of a farce as Manchester United immediately recalled three players from loan, Stoke recalled two and star striker Jon Parkin was sold to Cardiff in a matter of days. Nonetheless I expected Preston to bounce after Brown took charge and was surprised to see them lose to a poor Bristol City side, let alone go down 4-0 at home. There's a long way to go but Preston look in big trouble and it will be a hell of a job if Brown keeps them up.

Scunthorpe won't stay up. Perhaps the Iron are the easiest team to write off in the Championship, I'm sure I've been tipping them to go down for years but this time they will go. The sale of star players and more recently management has finally caught up with them and  no win in eight tells its own story. They simply don't have the players to stay in the league and have the worst home form in the division - I would wager that that basically always means relegation.

 The third relegation place looked like it was going to be a straight battle between Crystal Palace and Sheffield United but it may not turn out that way. United though are another team in terrible form, three points from 24 and are the lowest scorers in the division. At the moment it is hard to look beyond them - particularly following a weekend where the bottom three all lost by three goals or more.

Palace's home form looks like it could be enough to keep them up, with the Eagles currently on a run of five wins and three draws from eight games. They have also gone the last seven home games without conceding, an extraordinary achievement for a side in 21st. Dougie Freedman's appointment seems to have calmed and galvanised the dressing room and if he can make even the slightest of improvements in the club's away form (the worst in the football league with one win this season) the Eagles should be fine.

Among the other contenders for relegation are Portsmouth, who are in terrible form and have plummeted but probably have a strong enough first team and two good goalscorers (Kitson and Nugent) to keep them up - particularly if they get enough investment to get Michael Brown et al. back in the team. As well as, Middlesbrough who i expect will be fine now Tony Mowbray has taken over. Boro have a great youth system, Joe Bennett their 'new' left-back is certainly one for the future, and a number of proven Championship/Premier League players should be enough for them to climb the league.

Bristol City, who were probably the worst team to visit Selhurst Park this season, have just signed Andy Keogh on-loan and, like James Vaughan at Palace, he may just make the difference. With David James at one end and Keogh at the other I think City might just have enough to compensate for a fairly average team.

Finally Derby who I expect to continue to struggle before sacking Nigel Clough and experiencing enough of a feel-good factor under a new manager to stay in the league. Having sold Kris Commons, I'm not entirely sure where Derby's creativity will come from but again the Rams should have just enough to stay in the division - more from the fact that they have already accumulated 35 points than anything else.

Year in, year out, the Championship seems to be the most difficult league to call in English football but having won a little money this weekend (by backing Leicester and Norwich) I think I'm beginning to get to grips with it. Here are some thoughts on the season so far and how it will all pan out. Part one focuses on the promotion race.

I'll start at the top, I'm not convinced QPR are actually the best team in the division but I do think Neil Warnock has bought brilliantly well. Adel Taarabt at £1m will probably be the league's player of the season, Jamie Mackie (pre-injury of course) was an astute purchase but more than that it's that the spine of the team now has huge experience. It is the likes of Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill, Sean Derry and Heidar Helguson that enable them to compete in every game and then, when the flair players are on song, Taarab, Faurlin etc they are too good for the majority of the league. For me the signing of Wayne Routledge, proved excellence at this level, has wrapped up promotion.

Outlandish statement time now, I think Nottingham Forest are the best team in the division. Forest should win promotion this season under the shrewd management of Billy Davies, who will hopefully be allowed more of a shot than he was at Derby if they do so. If Forest win their two games in hand they will go second, and anyone watching Crystal Palace play Bristol City this weekend will expect them to win the first (on Tuesday v Bristol) with relative ease and a clean sheet. Chris Cohen and Lewis McGugan strike me as two of the better midfielders operating this level with the latter offering a goal of the season contender more often than not this season. I've always liked Rob Earnshaw, who basically guarantees goals and Lee Camp offers them a safe pair of hands. The other thing about Forest is that if they only make the play-offs, they really should make the final because their home form is that good.

As a Crystal Palace employee, I'd say Swansea are the most impressive team to have come to Selhurst Park this season, Brendan Rogers has them playing excellent attacking football based on solid defensive foundations - which let's face it is basically the way to build a successful team. They will be there or there abouts but the lack of a top-drawer striker may count against them, particularly if anything happens to Scott Sinclair.

The other Welsh side, Cardiff, are a strange one given that they perennially start the season on fire. The lack of strikers is not a problem for the Bluebirds whose consistent spending threatens to ruin my Forest-QPR promotion prediction but there's still something that at this moment fails to convince me about them.

The two promoted sides Leeds and Norwich have had phenomenal seasons and I'm a big, big fan of Canaries boss Paul Lambert but a lack of spending may just hinder both sides promotion ambitions and let's face it even reaching the play-offs should be regarded as a brilliant season both in Yorkshire and East Anglia.

I see Reading and Burnley as the sides most likely to gate-crash this top six, although Leicester's spending in the transfer window may yet give the season another twist. Yakubu is just a brilliant signing for a side at this level.

Burnley have close to the side that competed well in the Premier League, and have rid themselves of Brian Laws (a terrible and obscure appointment in my eyes), so I think they might make a run at the play-offs while Reading have finally got a striker scoring (Shane Long) so I can see them going close. What I have seen from Watford has been excellent but their small squad will, I think, come back to haunt any promotion ambitions they may have.

Forest, QPR and Cardiff to win promotion then. My blog on relegation and mid-table mediocrity will follow in the week.

Tottenham have been such an easy team to ridicule in recent years. Any dawn has almost inevitably proved to be a false one, with a 'what goes up most come down' feeling to the expectations of their fans. This year though they look like a talented team who are worthy of their place at the top table.

Talk of a five-way race for the title is wide of the mark and I expect Spurs to lose points again on their travels once the Champions League comes round but as a Liverpool fan it pains me to see the sheer strength in depth in the Spurs squad.

It's difficult to start a sentence praising Tottenham this season without using the words Gareth Bale but, as has becoming more and more recognised in the media, Luka Modric has probably been the side's stand-out performer in terms of consistency. Playing slightly deeper than perhaps conventional wisdom would say is ideal, the little Croatian should, but probably won't, be in the running for the PFA Player of the Year. Like a deep-lying Samir Nasr, almost everything this north London club have done right has gone through him.

Elsewhere the competition for places up front, I'm a Pavlyuchenko fan myself, is the envy of most other fans - although some would argue they still lack that (on-form) world-class Torres or Drogba figure. The ridiculously cheap and talented Van Der Vaart does give them that attacking talisman though and the value of the pace of Lennon and Bale on the wings can't be underestimated.There are a lot of cliches repeated in football almost without thinking (Mr Shearer) but the fact that pace frightens any defender is one of the truest. Wilson Palacios' return to form can only be a good thing and gives Spurs a midfield that I honestly think is the envy of anyone in the league.

If Tottenham are to miss out on the top four, which I think they will, it will be down to a weakness in defence.

That weakness hasn't affected them badly at White Hart Lane particularly but away from home comforts they have conceded four more goals than any of the top four. Alan Hutton in fairness seems to be improving from a weak start, but Benoit Assou-Ekotto just isn't a top-class full-back.

Gallas, Dawson and Bassong are all good players who would probably get starts for Arsenal and Liverpool but even the most ardent supporter would have to admit they are some way short of Ferdinand-Vidic or Alex/Ivanovic-Terry.

With players like Defoe, Kranjcar and even the relatively decent and much maligned Jermaine Jenas available from the bench though Harry Redknapp has assembled a squad that should see Tottenham fight it out at the top for the next few years rather riding that inevitable roller-coaster that ends with opposition fans grinning whilst talking about 'same-old Spurs'.

Manchester United have impressed no-one this season, but somehow they sit top of the league by three points, with a game in hand, after tonight's 2-1 win against Stoke.

Being unbeaten in the Premier League going into January is so rare that normally the team in question would be lavished with praise. The Red Devils have a phenomenal home record, 10 wins and one draw so far, and Sir Alex must be delighted that Old Trafford has recovered it's status as an absolute fortress.

But it is United's away form that has stopped the plaudits from flowing, seven draws in nine away games is a shocking return for champions in waiting, even if the other two were wins. A leaky back line containing the inexperienced Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans has managed to stem the tide through the return of the Ferdinand-Vidic partnership.

Up-front United are nowhere near firing on all cylinders, Dimitar Berbatov has been something of a one-man band in recent weeks (with wonderful cameos from Hernandez) with Wayne Rooney still nowhere near his, or to be honest what feels like my, best. Anderson's return to form has been timely but slightly exaggerated and Paul Scholes has perhaps been less influential this season than ever before.

Ryan Giggs continues to impress, me at least, and Nani has provided a genuine spark this season, but Michael Carrick, Darren Gibson and the rest have all been bit parts with none really making their mark

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your view, the other title challengers seem to have regressed or stagnated. The juggernaut of six-game Chelsea has faded to a shadow of its former self. Arsenal have finally beaten a 'big team' or at least the shadow of one but won't win the title until Wenger listens to, well basically everyone who's ever watched them, and signs two proper centre-halves.

Spurs have been brilliant this season and have actually progressed, but the Champions League has and will continue to stall their league ambitions, for this season at least. While on the other side of Manchester, City have bought brilliantly in Yaya Toure and David Silva but seem to have too little fight on the pitch and too much on the training ground.

Sadly it seems that United are wandering away with the title with a series of good but not very good performances.

The fruit of choice at Christmas has long been the satsuma, the real fruit of the football season though is the tangerine.

Defying pretty much all footballing logic, or at least any of mine, Blackpool are eighth in the Premier League after 17 games. They lie two points behind Sunderland and have three games in hand, and four points behind Owen Coyle's widely praised Bolton with two games in hand.

This was the line-up that Ian Holloway sent out against Sunderland Kingson, Crainey, Evatt, Cathcart, Eardley, Vaughan, Grandin, Sylvestre, Taylor-Fletcher, Varney, Campbell.

To anyone with a passing interest in football, the reaction to that team would be...who? Even some keen followers would struggle to tell you the first names of that eleven. Holloway's strikers Varney and Campbell were relative flops at Derby and Leicester respectively. Both have five goals this season and have been key to wins over Stoke, Wolves, West Brom, Liverpool and so on.

It doesn't seem unusual for a promoted club to hit the ground running anymore. What we expect now though, particularly after watching Hull and Burnley last season, is for that start to disintegrate into a tumble down the league. The same could happen to the Seasiders but I for one expected it to have happened already.

Taking the team as individuals, you feel Blackpool should be relegation certainties, with only Charlie Adam really likely to have serious offers from other Premier League clubs if they were to go down. Again, it feels like Holloway should strengthen to preserve the Tangerines status but it's got to the point now where the style they play and their strength as a whole means I for one can't predict how the season will go.

Surely they will drop out of the top ten, I'm still half awaiting that collapse but Blackpool have responded well to defeats this season and their fairly cavalier style of football has seen them pick up five wins out of ten, and fifteen points on the road.

If they are to stay up, which they should now, they will need to invest on under-soil heating, keeping their best players and trusting Holloway who has shown that he can work wonders in the transfer market. Of course, like most of you, I'll still be waiting to tip them to go down next season, but you imagine for Holloway that's all part of the fun.

The news today that Ronaldinho is to return to his boyhood club, Gremio, was probably met by the majority of fans with a little sadness and a touch of nonchalance.

As Milan moved to sign Antonio Cassano, it was noted by many that there were perhaps one too many egos in the Milan dressing room, and it seems to be that the Brazilian will be the one to make way. Whilst few in Europe will mourn the loss of a player well past his best, most should take a moment to remember one of the best players of the modern generation.

At his best Ronaldinho, the little Ronaldo, was irresistible. The man who always played with a smile on his face tore defences to shreds with his dribbling and his ingenuity. The most recent 'El Clasico' was one of the best team performances you are ever likely to see and, while Leo Messi was truly brilliant, it will rightly be remembered for that. The 2005/06 Clasico in Madrid though was a one-man show. Ronaldinho scoring twice and receiving a standing ovation for his contribution as Barcelona ran out 3-0 winners.

His brilliance for Barca saw him twice win the FIFA World Player of the Year, in 2004 and 2005, and in those years he really was streets ahead of anyone. There was no Messi v Ronaldo debate then (not that there should be now in my opinion) with the smiling assassin collecting three times the votes of runner-up Frank Lampard to collect his second award.

Those two seasons saw Barcelona win the league twice and the Champions League in 2005/06. He was unable to follow-up that season's performances in the World Cup as Brazil fell at the quarter-final stage but was part of the famous attacking triangle, with Ronaldo and Rivaldo, that saw off England in Germany 2006 before beating the hosts in a one-sided final.

His form began to drift for the Catalan club and with Leo Messi's star on the rise he was moved on to Milan where he sparkled but could never quite recapture the brilliance that once came so easily to him. He may not be hugely missed in Italy, nor in England, but the man who invented and perfected the flip-flap should be revered by fans everywhere.

I can remember the first time, and only time, I saw him at the Nou Camp. The sense of expectation as he got the ball and the absolute elation when he pulled something out of the bag.

Barcelona's first goal that day (against Deportivo) was a thing of beauty, with Ronaldinho controlling the ball on his chest before flicking it over one defender's head. From inside his own half he then played a perfect through-ball for Messi who lofted the ball over the helpless on-rushing 'keeper.

And so the baton passed from one great to another, but I know there will only ever be a handful of players who could make the hair on my neck stand on end quite so easily as Ronaldinho.

Manchester United have extended Anderson's contract until 2015, thanks in part to the Brazilian's return to something like his best form over the last few games.

Anderson was certainly impressive against Arsenal and I've always been a bit of a fan, but I think he still looks nervous in the final third. What's crazy about that is how good he looked going forward for Porto and presumably for Gremio where he scored six goals in 19 games.

Earlier this year, John Obi Mikel was urged to quit Chelsea by Nigeria coach Samson Siasia. Siasia had seen the player who thrilled him in an attacking role at the 2005 U20 World Cup become little more than a defensive shield. Mikel was voted the second best player of that competition behind the little known Argentinian Leo Messi.

Anderson has, of course, scored only twice for Manchester United. Mikel has no goals in 127 league appearances for Chelsea.

Lucas Leiva is another player whose attacking instincts have been curbed at Liverpool, the box-to-box player many hoped for when Liverpool signed Brazil's U20 captain rarely looking comfortable in front of goal. Lucas has scored one goal in just under 100 league games.

Some of these statistics and indeed the moves to more defensive roles could be explained by the quality of the Premier League. The step up in quality could well explain the positional adjustments and it's true that many players who began their careers as strikers had to move to more defensive positions to become successful.

Others will argue that the players I've chosen aren't actually very good. Lucas is of course much maligned. Even his wikipedia entry, "On 14th March Lucas played a key role in Liverpool's 4-1 victory over Manchester United", comes with the cruel caveat [citation needed].

More than anything though the point is this, is there a worrying trend of players having their creativity stifled as managers alter their tactics to a flexible but often defensive 4-3-3?

In this system, more and more, two of the three in midfield are expected to break up the game and often it' s the full-backs who provide more of an attacking threat than the central midfielders.

4-3-3 it must be added has revolutionised the game tactically, it's hard to think of a really top side who don't play that way.

Let's hope though it doesn't come at the expense of negating the attacking instincts of the young creative players of the future.