Whether or not Holland lift the World Cup for the first time on Sunday, captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst will hang up his boots after a long and illustrious career.

Gio, as he is affectionately known, has not only captained his country to the World Cup final but has lifted two Scottish Premier League titles, two Scottish FA Cups, and a Scottish League Cup with Rangers, an English Premier League title and two FA Cups with Arsenal, two La Liga titles, two Spanish Super Cups and the Uefa Cup with Barcelona and two KNVB Cups with current and final club Feyenoord.

Could he cap it all with a World Cup winners medal? There’s no doubting he deserves it.

Here’s some of his best bits right from when he was a kid. Enjoy.

Sky have announced the games they’ve chosen to be shown on Sky Sports for the first half of the season. The first batch of 115 live games next season sees, unsurprisingly, Tottenham Hotspur resume last season’s rivalry with Manchester City on Saturday 14th August, live on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports HD2.

Ford Super Sunday will feature Liverpool versus Arsenal from Anfield on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports HD1, while the first Monday Night Football welcomes Newcastle United back to the Premier League as they visit Manchester United at Old Trafford, also on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports HD1.

Not a bad weekend of football, especially for High Definition viewers.

FULL LIVE SKY SPORTS FIXTURES

DATE	GAME	KICK-OFF
AUGUST
Saturday 14	Tottenham v Man City	12.45pm
Sunday 15	Liverpool v Arsenal	4pm
Monday 16	Man Utd v Newcastle	8pm
Saturday 21	Wigan v Chelsea	5.15pm
Sunday 22	Fulham v Man Utd	4pm
Monday 23	Man City v Liverpool	8pm
Saturday 28	Blackburn v Arsenal	12.45pm
Sunday 29	Bolton v Birmingham Aston Villa v Everton	1.30pm 4pm
SEPTEMBER
Sunday 12	Everton v Man Utd Birmingham v Liverpool	1.30pm 4pm
Monday 13	Stoke City v Aston Villa	8pm
Saturday 18	Stoke City v West Ham	12.45pm
Sunday 19	Man Utd v Liverpool Chelsea v Blackpool	1.30pm 4pm
Saturday 25	Man City v Chelsea	12.45pm
Sunday 26	Wolves v Aston Villa Newcastle v Stoke City	2pm 4.10pm
OCTOBER
Sunday 3	Chelsea v Arsenal	4pm
Monday 4	Wigan v Wolves	8pm
Sunday 17	Everton v Liverpool Blackpool v Man City	1.30pm 4pm
Monday 18	Blackburn v Sunderland	8pm
Saturday 23	Tottenham v Everton West Ham v Newcastle	12.45pm 5.30pm
Sunday 24	Stoke City v Man Utd Man City v Arsenal	1.30pm 4pm
Sunday 31	Bolton v Liverpool Newcastle v Sunderland	1.30pm 4pm
NOVEMBER
Monday 1	Blackpool v West Brom	8pm
Saturday 6	Bolton v Tottenham	12.45pm
Sunday 7	Arsenal v Newcastle Liverpool v Chelsea	1.30pm 4pm
Tuesday 9	West Ham v West Brom	8pm
Wednesday 10	Man City v Man Utd	8pm
Saturday 13	Aston Villa v Man Utd	12.45pm
Sunday 14	Everton v Arsenal Chelsea v Sunderland	2pm 4.10pm
Sunday 21	Arsenal v Tottenham Fulham v Man City	1.30pm 4pm
Monday 22	Sunderland v Everton	8pm
Saturday 27	Aston Villa v Arsenal	12.45pm
Sunday 28	Newcastle v Chelsea Tottenham v Liverpool	1.30pm 4pm

The Premier League fixture list for the 2010/2011 season has been released and sees champions Chelsea host newly promoted West Brom at Stamford Bridge on the opening day, Saturday 14th August.

That’ll make for a nice return to the top division for West Brom. The same goes for Championship champions Newcastle, who travel to Old Trafford for a reunion with Manchester United while Blackpool get their first ever taste of Premier League action at home against Wigan. The Tangerines will be well pleased with the tie at Bloomfield Road as it gives them a great chance of getting some points on the board early.

The tie of the opening weekend is undoubtedly Arsenal versus Liverpool at Anfield. Liverpool, presumably with a new manager in place, will look to get off to a good start to provide the foundation for a more successful season than last year but they won’t find it easy against Arsene Wenger’s men. Expect this one to move to the Sunday for Sky coverage.

The two teams that battled it out for fourth place last season, Tottenham and Manchester City, get to resume their rivalry early as City travel to White Hart Lane in a potentially mouthwatering clash that could also be chosen by Sky.

Premier League Opening Day Fixtures

• Aston Villa v West Ham
• Blackburn v Everton
• Blackpool v Wigan
• Bolton v Fulham
• Chelsea v West Brom
• Liverpool v Arsenal
• Man Utd v Newcastle
• Sunderland v Birmingham
• Tottenham v Man City
• Wolves v Stoke

Full club-by-club season fixtures here.

In the end the better team won the match and deservedly claimed the final Champions League spot by finishing fourth in the Premier League.

Crouch goal enough to beat Man City

Tottenham Hotspur, under Harry Redknapp, have looked a quality side this season and this is just reward for their – and his – hard work. At the risk of coming over all hypocritical following yesterday’s article lambasting clubs for targeting a fourth place finish, Sporting Fare is well pleased for Spurs and Harry. And at the bigger risk of angering Manchester City supporters, we’re equally pleased they didn’t qualify for the Champions League.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way. As we said in yesterday’s piece, the fact that a club with the amount of money City have aimed only for fourth grated on us. You aim low, you get low. City, as many Manchester United fans will take great joy in telling you, consistently find a way to fail, so it beggars belief that targeting anything but the title is deemed worth the risk.

Mark Hughes was sacked because the club’s billionaire owners felt he wouldn’t take the club up to fourth. Mancini was then presumably hired to deliver just that. He’s failed – will he get the boot too? Time will tell, though it would be harsh on the Italian. At the end of the day, the squad put together by Hughes wasn’t good enough and Mancini could only work with what he had. He certainly hasn’t had enough time or opportunity to put his own mark on it.

But stop for a moment. Was the appointment of a relatively green coach in Mancini all that ambitious in itself? Surely a club with the riches of Manchester City could have attracted a bigger, more successful and more experienced manager? It smacks of settling for second best.

Spurs, on the other hand, are aiming high. Their sights are now firmly set on grabbing third from bitter rivals Arsenal and you can bet next season Harry will have his men shooting for the stars – the Premier League title and the Champions League. So let’s leave Spurs to celebrate for now.

Where does this leave City? With no Champions League football they will be hard pressed to attract football’s biggest names. No matter how much money you offer, that fact will always be a consideration – except for the real mercenaries in the game, and they are unlikely to be the sort you want to sign to help you achieve your aims (see Robinho for example).

Spurs will now have the money – and the appeal – to strengthen their squad. Manchester United, Arsenal and without doubt Chelsea will all add players after the World Cup to increase their grip on the top three spots. City will find it difficult to match them in the transfer market.

Yes, they will no doubt spend big again in the summer but will the quality of players they are able to bring in be good enough to overhaul the likes of Tottenham et al? The evidence so far suggests not and they are going to find it more and more difficult each season.

Their Arab owners may begin to question the wisdom of their investment as well and if they decide to pull out City will find themselves sliding to the wrong end of the table.

Last night’s result was a bitter blow for a club aiming to become one of England and Europe’s best – but we can’t help feeling they didn’t aim high enough when it mattered. They will pay a heavy price for that lack of ambition. Around £200m so far and counting in fact. It may take another £200m based on what we’ve seen this season.

Back to Harry Redknapp. Sporting Fare are huge fans of his. It’s great to see an ‘old school’ manager doing well and Harry, at 62, has waited a long time to pit his not inconsiderable managerial skills against the best in Europe.  As he said himself:

“I know I’m good at my job. You don’t last 1,100 games in management if you’re a mug. People didn’t keep me just because the chairman liked me. Most of them actually probably didn’t like me.”

Thumbs up for Redknapp

Very true, and many don’t like him. But you can’t dismiss his achievements. We’re looking forward to seeing how he does in the Champions League.

Redknapp, along with Wenger, Ferguson and Hodgson, is a good example to young up and coming managers. Managers like Mancini for example. They would do well take note of how these managers go about their business, there’s a lot to learn.

Not least that if you don’t aim for the very top you’ll never reach it.

Remember when you were a kid, kicking a ball about with your mates on the park, using jumpers for goalposts, playing fly keeper if you were a few ‘men’ short and not worrying too much about sidelines? Of course you do.

Remember pretending to be your footballing hero and dreaming of lifting the FA Cup or the First Division title? Of course you do.

Remember thinking you weren’t quite good enough for that, but were happily consoled by the fact you’d probably finish fourth in the League and claim a lucrative place in the European Cup? Of course you don’t!

Aim higher or prepare to fail!

Yet as Manchester City prepare to face Tottenham Hotspur at home tonight in what is effectively a play off for that now coveted fourth spot the anticipation and excitement is palpable amongst both sets of fans. Sporting Fare sees that as the most telling sign that football has lost its way.

That a fourth place finish in the Premier League is a target for clubs is a horrible situation. That the only real reason for it is money is even more horrible. Sure, the supporters of whichever club finishes fourth will tell you there is pride in breaking the near decade long monopoly held by Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, but that isn’t really true.

Everton did it most recently, for one brief season. They entered the Champions League qualifying round, earned a small fortune and, presumably, basked in the glory of it all briefly. But in the end, it hasn’t actually helped them progress. David Moyes has done a wonderful job at Goodison and long may he reign there, but surely the target has to be winning the League, not just qualifying for the Champions League and earning a mint?

The argument, we’re sure, will go that most clubs cannot compete with the financial might of Chelsea and to a lesser extent Manchester United and that is undoubtedly true. But that shouldn’t stop you trying! And if, at the end of a long hard season, you HAVE qualified for the Champions League and are set to earn a wedge that may help you compete better the following season then that’s the icing.

It shouldn’t be the cake.

Manchester City, of course, don’t need Champions League qualification for money. They are the richest club in the world and suffer in the transfer market only due to their lack of success over the last few decades. The ability to offer Champions League football next season will help them no end in that regard. Yet they have publicly stated that this was their aim from the start of the season. What, that’s it?

The richest club in the world is aiming to finish fourth in their league? What’s up with that? They, like everyone else, should be going for the title, even if it does appear out of reach.

We’re willing to bet that if you asked Harry Redknapp, who himself has done a fantastic job at White Hart Lane, if finishing fourth was his target he’d say no. He’d say winning the League was his target – but it’s a building job, and while he may not think it’s likely, it will be his aim, because you have to aim high to achieve.

Fourth place and July football in the Champions League is not, in our opinion, high. It’s adequate. The very reason that Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have been the top four for so long is that they all aim to win the League (and the Champions League). None of them would have been or are satisfied with fourth.

Except, of course, Liverpool recently. And look what’s happened to them.

So…as City and Spurs do battle tonight for that less than impressive achievement we hope they begin to realise that you need to aim higher to achieve real success. Settle for second best (or fourth best) and that is all you’re ever likely to get.