There can only be one

January is a funny time in modern football. It's an opportunity for football managers, directors of flying footballs and the chiefiest of executives to scour the globe for bargains. Some will wait until the last day of the window to sign a couple of players much in the same way Daniel Levy has successfully done. Others will overlook the sense used by Levy and others to sanction the signing of the next Andy Carroll. It was truly "a hell of a deal" indeed. January is also a time where losing key players is to be avoided. At all costs? Last January, one Demba arrived to support another and this January one Demba leaves another.

12.12.2012 Quickies

Considering today's date is 12-12-12 regardless of preference for the British or American date format, here's a special set of quick musings for the month. Think pesky foreign managers in England and overlooked aspects of European competition.

Pick of the month: November

Each month, The Football Neutral will pick an article from the previous month worthy of being highlighted and revisited. It may be that the article is topical or that the issue merits greater discussion in football. The Football Neutral is not one for rehashing article's crafted elsewhere, it is better to allocate credit and kudos where it belongs. Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and all that jazz. November's pick of the month comes from Siddharth Mohan of The Hard Tackle on the perceived team of the moment, Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund are truly relevant once more on the biggest stage domestically and on the continent in a manner not seen since the mid 1990s under Ottmar Hitzfeld. Jürgen Klopp's Dortmund could repeat history. After all, Dortmund won the Bundesliga twice in succession and tasted Champions League success in the in the season following the retention of Dortmund's league title. Klopp's Dortmund have also won two domestic league titles in a row and have qualified, undefeated, for the knock-out stages from a group containing the champions of Spain, England and the Netherlands...in the season following the retention of Dortmund's league title.

Can Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund Echo Hitzfeld’s Champions League Success?

German football's inconsistent dinosaur

So there's a bit of a love-in with the Bundesliga at the moment, which is nice when you ignore hooligans, extremists and all. Borussia Dortmund has been propelled to European relevance and domestic success by general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke and trainer Jürgen Klopp. Nice. The club that exists to dominate all domestically and dine at Europe's top table, FC Bayern München, seems imperious once again with a mightily impressive squad. Behemoth. Schalke are proving to be a decent Champions League side too. Depth. Yet the interesting story is at Hamburger SV, Germany's oldest professional football club in its 125th year of existence under the guidance of head coach Thorsten Fink.

A regista among registas: Andrea Pirlo

So the Ballon d'Or shortlist is in and it's a mighty fine shortlist too. Barcelona's Lionel Andrés Messi features, the man who competes with Diego Armando Maradona and Edison Arantes do Nascimento. Then there's the goal machine Ronaldo (no, not that one) who competes with Lionel Messi. Finally, Barcelona has another representative in Andrés Iniesta whose feats for Spain in Euro 2012 drew merited praise. A fine trio indeed: Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Iniesta.

165 days & 159 days

I last posted an article up here 159 days ago. I'm wondering whether that's a long time in life. It can be. Some things change, some things stay the same. Sometimes you learn things. For example, I found out that I love cats and I now have two. I found out that for some people, you're just some people even if they're not some people to you. What about football? Specifically, a direction of a football club? Brendan Rodgers took over Liverpool 6 days before my last post and the only thing I wrote about his appointment was the following:

"I believe he will provide a progressive footballing philosophy which will make an impression on the club and fans. There'll be a post on this later but hope is a dangerous thing."

I still believe that and here is the "post on this later" albeit 159 days later. A couple of days ago, on the way back from a wedding, a very good friend of mine asked me about my blog. I said I didn't have time but that was a lazy hangover-induced lie. I just thought that maybe I should focus elsewhere yet I kept writing and posting my thoughts on the Guardian, the Times and elsewhere so I had plenty to say. So, here we are. 159 days later.

7.6.2012 Quickies

Sometimes there's no time to write a new article but I'd still like to comment on a few things that have been going on in football. Which is what "Quickies" are all about. Anyway, here are some thoughts for the day: