English clubs will be back

For the first time in seven years England don't have a single team in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

But while I absolutely agree this is disappointing and dispiriting, I don't share the train of thought that suggests it is the beginning of the end for Premier League teams in Europe's top competition.

For the best part of a decade, English clubs have been one of the powerhouses of the Champions League. They may not have won that many titles, but they have always had a strong presence in the latter stages of the contest.

In fact, it was only a couple of seasons ago when three of the four semi-final spots were occupied by English teams before, almost inevitably, we had the first ever all-English final.

However, just because this season's competition has not gone according to plan for England's four contenders, it doesn't mean the clubs themselves are in decline. In fact, the reality is more to do with the rest of Europe catching up.

It is just a quirk of fate that all four happen to have been eliminated early in the same season.

Liverpool aside, the rest breezed through the qualifying stages in a way that suggested they were up for it. At that point, in fact, you would have put serious money on at least one of them making the final.

Then, bit by bit, it started to go horribly wrong.

Chelsea were undone by a combination of an Inter team desperate for European success, a former manager returning to haunt them, and Sunday league refereeing which is becoming their traditional cross to bear in Europe.

Arsenal were simply played off the park by Barcelona in general and Lionel Messi in particular. But the reality is that any team, and I mean any, would probably have been destroyed by that Barca side over two legs. Arsenal's exit was not a reflection on their abilities but a reflection of their opponent's brilliance. I wish Messi was English. Heck, I wish the entire Barcelona team were English.

Of all the teams I think Manchester United were the unluckiest. Despite Sir Alex Ferguson's bizarre Fawlty Towers-style rant about 'typical Germans', which was rather pathetic, the truth is United should have beaten Bayern Munich comfortably.

A moment of madness by young Rafael da Silva combined with a moment of brilliance from Arjen Robben eliminated them when in reality they could and should have been six up by half-time.

Again, with the exception of Liverpool, the other three clubs all went out for reasons that could have happened to any club from any country at any time. It was a not a particularly English affliction.

There is, of course, one man who I am sure is overjoyed by the fact that the semi-finals are English-free, and that is Uefa president Michel Platini.

The Frenchman was in Ukraine last week where he was banging his head against the (uncompleted) wall of a football stadium and wondering why he gave his most prestigious tournament to a country that can't build stadiums in winter. And then can't afford to finish them in summer.

But I am sure England's capitulation would have cheered him up a little and brought a smirk to his face. After all, he made no secret of his unhappiness when English teams were dominating proceedings a couple of years ago.

Sadly for Platini, I confidently predict English football will be back next season with a bang and that this will prove to be no more than a blip.

Arsenal, United, Chelsea and Liverpool, collectively and individually, have been hurt by their combined failures this season. None of those teams takes part in the Champions League just to make up the numbers. They are in it for the glory (and financial reward, of course) that comes with victory.

They will spend a few weeks licking their wounds and recovering from their setbacks, but come next season they will be stronger for their experiences.

The Premier League isn't out of European contention. It is just taking a short break from success.

Tooned in

Hats off to Newcastle United for bouncing back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

At the end of last season the club was in a mess. The fans and the owner were not talking to each other, the club was up for sale and the players gave up their top flight status without so much as a fight. Even local legend Alan Shearer had not been able to halt the barcodes' freefall.

Now, just eight months later they are celebrating promotion with five games to spare. It just goes to show what a bit of stability and everyone pulling in the same direction can do for a team.

And we shouldn't underestimate the contribution of the manager in that equation.

Up until this season, Chris Hughton has always been a bridesmaid rather than bride. He has been an assistant manager for about a hundred years at Spurs and then at Newcastle. There have been occasions during his career when he has filled a manager's boots on a caretaker basis after one sacking or another.

But for the most part he always seemed destined to play second fiddle to other, more glamorous 'gaffers'.

Although I think his appointment on a full-time basis had more to do with Mike Ashley trying to save money than any genuine belief in his abilities, why he got the job should have no bearing on how he carried it out.

Newcastle's football may not have been the purest this season, but it has by a long way been the most effective. They have led the Championship pretty much from the beginning and were always the team to beat. Or fail to beat, to be more accurate.

When the party stops on Tyneside, the question the fans will want answering now is whether the owner will just be happy to be back dining at the top table or whether he has genuine ambitions to make Newcastle a force once again.

The last time they were promoted, Kevin Keegan was given plenty of cash to spend and took the club to within a whisker of the title. Will a similar pattern play out this time or will Ashley just be happy to sell the club now it has been restored to a more valuable asset?

In the past, I have had severe doubts about the owner. I questioned both his motives for buying the club and his ability to run it. And it seemed my suspicions had been vindicated when they were relegated in such dire fashion.

But I think he should be given the benefit of the doubt. I don't expect him to pump fortunes into buying new players but I am fairly sure he will do enough to ensure Newcastle become an established Premier League team once more.

And that will be a good starting point to build for the future. A future that, 12 months ago, looked painfully bleak.

The coast of living

If anybody ever asks you for the definition of the phrase 'landing on your feet', forget about cats and just show them a photo of Sven Goran Ericsson.

The former England manager has, yet again, found himself a cushy job, this time taking charge of the Ivory Coast for this summer's World Cup.

Despite underachieving with England, being next to useless with Mexico, and spending the past few months hibernating at Notts County, another team has turned to the bespectacled one to lead them to glory.

And, as usual, he doesn't come cheap.

Ericsson will pocket a rather comfortable £22,000 a day during the tournament, all the more staggering when you consider more than half of Ivory Coast's population survive on the equivalent of £3 a day.

That's an awful lot of money to spend to get knocked out at the quarter-final stage. On penalties. Probably to Portugal.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com