Here’s a collection of drawings from the 2014/15 season.
November
England beat Scotland in a friendly in Glasgow, but it was their fans who made the headlines with their repertoire of songs:
October
The month began with a touchline confrontation between Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger, who shall henceforth be known as The Mantis:
Or at least, he will be in my living room.
Roy Keane and his impressive beard also found themselves back in the media spotlight as the second installment of Keane’s acerbic autobiography was released. Here he lays down the law:
Raheem Sterling was the focus of negative attention when he was rested for an England match, having apparently complained of tiredness. Chief among his critics was Alan Shearer, who stated that the ‘working man’ would be furious:
However, attention was soon diverted to Sterling’s Liverpool colleague Mario Balotelli, who committed the cardinal sin of swapping shirts with Real Madrid’s Pepe at half time during a heavy defeat at Anfield. Poor old Mario was only following instructions though,
Arsene Wenger found himself on the end of some probing questions on Match of the Day. Not something he’s really accustomed to:
September
Images from England v Norway set to the lyrics of ‘The Dead Flag Blues’ by Godspeed You! Black Emperor:
Later in the month, Manchester United came unstuck against newly-promoted Leicester. Things were not going according to Louis Van Gaal’s plans:
August
Pre-season brought the news that Steven Gerrard had decided to step down as England captain. However, every problem presents a solution (it doesn’t), and here was mine:
Crystal Palace parted ways with their manager, Tony Pullis, just days before the Premier League season kicked off. Thankfully, it was all part of a broader strategy:
Palace thought they had a replacement lined up in Malky Mackay, but those paragons of equity, The Daily Mail, broke the news of a series of offensive text messages sent between Mackay and Palace’s Iain Moody:
The League Mangers’ Association (LMA) jumped to the defence of Mackay, stating that the offending text messages had simply been “banter”, which I have nominated as word of the month.
Despite that unpleasantness, everyone was delighted that football had returned:
The Football League is clearly in safe hands, but what of the Premier League? Before the season started, Chief Executive Richard Scudamore addressed criticism about high ticket prices:
Much was expected of Manchester United under their new manager, Louis van Gaal. However, they got off to a bad start with a 2-1 home defeat by Swansea. During the match, television cameras captured the moment when Ashley Young caught a mouthful of bird poo. An occurrence that wasn’t quite as coincidental as it first appeared:
It was an uncomfortable month for Manchester United, the nadir of which was losing 4-0 at MK Dons in the League Cup. Who could argue that the MK Dons story really was a fairy tale:
Still, Van Gaal retained his sense of humour and was more than happy to indulge in the latest charity craze sweeping through social media:
As the month ended, the transfer window closed. QPR’s transfer policy is explained here:
Transfer Deadline Day has become something of an event for Sky Sports News, who have taken to sending reporters to training ground car parks across the land. At Everton, their reporter had his live broadcast interrupted by a supporter pushing a purple sex toy into his ear; a career-defining moment.