It may sound like a broken gramophone but I cannot help lauding the brilliant work of that body in charge of arranging fixtures for the English Premier league.

The fixtures are done in such a marvelous way that you find excitement throughout the season, no wonder the EPL's worldwide appeal is never in doubt.

Take for instance the Chelsea- Manchester United first round match which was ruined by snow around Xmas.I have no idea whether the fixtures committee members are necromancers but fixing the match in the middle of the second round at the time it did added extra excitement.

In sharp contrast with the Xmas period when Chelsea were only three points adrift of United, it was only a necromancer who could predict that the Blues would be so far away from United that anything short of victory would have completely ended their hopes of retaining the title.

As things turned out, Chelsea definitely had more at stake than United and buoyed by some liberal refereeing by Martin Atkinson noted for his generous use of the card , the Stamford Bridge masters won the day through what the pundits call a soft penalty.

It is this so called penalty that incensed United manager Alex Ferguson to describe the referee as not fair and strong- comments that have landed him in trouble with football authorities and he could face sanctions.

I like the prompt manner in which decisions affecting the running of the game are taken in England. Very much unlike my home country where  a bungling referee, behaving like he was Colour blind said he could not distinguish between the jerseys of two opposing teams and cancelled an important premier league match between Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Berekum Arsenal.

It took the authorities nearly eleven weeks to fix a replay. This happened last season and just last week an FA Cup qualifying match between Asante Kotoko and  non league Deportivo had to be cancelled at the last minute because somebody suddenly realised Deportivo had an outstanding protest against them in a previous match which was yet to be settled  by the Disciplinary committee.

Can you imagine? It’s a real puzzle. Does it mean there is no coordination between the various bodies running the competition and Deportivo were paired against Kotoko when a big question mark hung around their qualification for the next round of the FA Cup.

I would like to suggest that since Ghana is so fond of her past colonial masters and are wont to copy the English  premiership  by changing from first division league to premier league and names like Berekum Chelsea, Berekum Arsenal, Madina Stoke City, Adabraka Manchester United  etc etc,  it is prudent to learn the good side of their perfect administration that puts a lot of premium on quick and prompt decisions  fully conscious of the fact that the game of football its self is stipulated to last 90 minutes.

The other day, a colleague who is fond of the English league like me made an observation that the English premiership is so perfect that even there is some unique art in the league table placing especially at the bottom rungs.  Check it out: Blackburn, Blackpool and Birmingham in that order occupy the top of the danger zone.

And the real endangered species, all starting with the letter W are West Brom, Wolves, West Ham and Wigan. Can you beat that?

May be I would have to concede that Berekum Chelsea also want to win the Ghana premiership in style and bring some more freshness into the system by becoming the second club from the Brong Ahafo region to win the league and note that its only their third season in the premiership.

They are fast establishing what could be an unassailable lead and it would not be a surprise if  they are presented with the cup even before the final fixtures are cleared  just like what Manchester United achieved  a couple of seasons ago. And this would be a record in Ghana.

There is so much to talk about football thrills that you find it sad news that some professional politicians who seem to claim ownership of certain countries are spoiling the party with their intransigence and the game of football is suffering the consequences.

Currently there is no football in the country that hosts the headquarters of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The date for an African Cup of Nations match between Egypt and South Africa is in dispute.

The fate of the upcoming Africa Under 20 tournament originally meant to be hosted by Libya is in the balance.

Football in Cote d’Ivoire is under threat but no one should lose hope.

All will be well, Cheers and keep loving sports