If I cast my mind back almost two years to mid-summer of 2010, I can recall it being one of the lowest points in my life as an England fan. Germany had just thrashed us 4-1 at the first knockout stage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It wasn't that we lost that was so agonizing, but the manner in which it happened.

One of my must do tasks as I start my day off is to catch up on the news from the BBC Sport website and to my surprise this morning, I read that Gary Neville, ex Man Utd and England defender, had accepted a four year contract from The FA to be one of manager Roy Hodgson's assistant coaches.

Someone asked me today if I had ever seen a day like this in my 45 years of watching football across the world, and after thinking for a few seconds, I had to admit that I had. I have to go back to that night at The Nou Camp in 1999 when Man Utd came back from 1-0 down in the last 3 minutes of injury time to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 and grab the Champions League title with goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunner Soljskaer.

Only four weeks ago, following Man City's losss to Arsenal at The Emirates Stadium, almost the whole of the soccer world were crowning Man Utd as Premier League Champions for the 20th time. Their massive eight point lead looked insurmountable especially given the experience and success of United's wily old manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

When the FA announced yesterday that current West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson had agreed on a four year contract to be England manager, it was one of those ho-hum moments where we are neither happy or sad, neither angry or calm. After the ups and downs of the Fabio Capello era where such budding promise ended in total chaos, England fans like myself have become somewhat immune to events like these, opting for more of a "wait and see approach", but today, in typical England manager fashion, Hodgson showed us that we are already heading down the wrong track.

Coming into the Manchester derby today, we were told that potentially 650 million people around the world would be glued to their TV sets to watch, what many people argued, was "The Game of the Century". It's been my experience over the years that matches which are hyped up the way this game was usually fizzle out as both teams fail to live up to their reputations.

To say that it's been an exciting week in football on the European stage would be quite an understatement. Anyone who would have envisaged Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid crashing out of the Champions League after failing to win their home games and Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola announcing his temporary retirement at the end of this season could have been accused of witchcraft, but it all happened, adding belief to the idea that nothing is a surprise in football.

Normally I don't steal other people's words for my blog posts as I like to stay as original as I can but I'm breaking my own rule tonight in favor of a Facebook post from my son who was commenting on Chelsea's epic Champions League Semi Final elimination of Barcelona at The Nou Camp stadium tonight.

Whilst watching Man Utd's incredible collapse against Everton today at Old Trafford, I was reminded of a scene from the hit movie "Top Gun", when, following a practice flight where Lt. Pete Mitchell, call sign "Maverick" had run his training officers ragged with his flying skills.

Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona | Champions League semi-final first-leg report | Football | The Guardian.

Along with a little Lady Luck, and a whole bunch of good old English pouring rain, Chelsea last night held on to a 1-0 lead to beat Barcelona in their Champions League Semi Final home leg, despite some heavy pressure towards the end of a pulsating game.

Here we are again, people. I know it's been a while but another howler of a decision by a refereeing crew in England today in a massively important football game has again thrust the issue of video technology onto the front burner again worldwide. Premier League referee Martin Atkinson ruled that Chelsea had scored following a frantic goalmouth scramble to take the lead in their FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley Stadium, London against Tottenham.

Brad Jones dedicates Liverpool's win over Blackburn Rovers to late son | Football | The Guardian.

Football sure is a funny old game as tonight's Premier League match between Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool presents Australian goalkeeper Brad Jones with a dream opportunity to play in Saturday's FA Cup Semi Final epic between Liverpool and Everton.

It's hard to fathom when looking back to December of last year, as Man City were sitting pretty at the top of the English Premier League, a full 8 points ahead of derby rivals Man Utd, that we would witness such a drastic change of fortune in such a short period of time. Many of us thought it would be a tough road back for the Old Trafford club as City appeared to be so dominant, despite the fact that we all knew how strong United traditionally were in the final third of the season.

Back in July 2010, Liverpool FC were in a state of turmoil as their UEFA Champions League winning manager Rafael Benitez had been dismissed, or in our PC world "left by mutual consent", for a continuing run of poor results and ever increasing calls from fans for a change, after having spent close to $300m on new players.

Earlier this morning US Central Time, I made a comment on Twitter whilst watching the Man Utd vs West Brom game from Old Trafford that sometimes proves to be prophetic or makes you look like a complete ass. United were precariously poised at a 1-0 lead whilst Man City were still at a 0-0 deadlock in Wales.