England, Setanta and Serbia

Wednesday, 10 June 09, 06:40 PM · Comments(6)

By Michael Sinnerton

So, England v Andorra. I haven't seen a game that one sided since, well since the Champions League final actually but you get the point. Glen Johnson particularly impressed me and I was pleased to see someone other than Matthew Upson given a chance in central defence but other than that and the 3 points it was a game to gain relatively little from. I'm sure Arsene Wenger will have been delighted to see Theo Walcott play the whole 90 minutes though.

In more pressing news perhaps, Setanta seem also certain to collapse which may have dire consequences for the financial state of the game. The Premier League, with ESPN waiting to step in Setanta's grave, will be fine. The huge sums the teams gain from TV revenue may take a slight knock but in the long run should have no noticeable effect with many clubs tightening their belts anyway.

Where the impact could really be felt is in Scottish and non-league football with both the Scottish Premier League and the Conference due to suffer massive shortfalls in television deals. Unlike the Premier League, these packages seem unlikely to be picked up elsewhere due to, let's face it, a deal of apathy and a relatively small demand for the product. The FA may also suffer badly, with ITV and BBC the potential bidders for the FA Cup rights and England internationals both in some financial difficulty. This may lead to a situation where Sky can pick and choose the packages they want on the cheap. Little wonder they decided against saving Setanta with a £50million loan.

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A 2-0 win in the Faroe Islands for Serbia, whilst not exactly headline grabbing nor it must be said a particularly good performance, has put the Serbs one step closer to qualification for the World Cup. Having garnered 18 points from 7 games with their only defeat coming away to France, Serbia are now 8 points clear at the top (albeit France have two games in hand). September 9^th sees the two clash for the second time with the winner likely to progress, although Serbian victories at home to Romania (whom they beat 3-2 away) and away to Lithuania could well see them qualify regardless. With Russia hugely impressing at the Euros, Serbia could well be the next Eastern European team to take the world by storm at the 2010 World Cup.

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