Monthly Newsletter - Feb 2025
Hello ballers,
Welcome to the February edition of my monthly newsletter. If you missed any of the previous months, you can check them out here: https://strivefootballacademy.com/blog
Is it just me or do we go from ‘wow this year is going so slowly’ to ‘we’re in March already’?!
Football Camps
The next camp is a double whammy - the two weeks of Easter holidays.
It’ll run from Monday 7th April - Thursday 17th April.
All details, as always, can be found at the link below.
https://strivefootballacademy.com/football-camps
Baller League
The draft is one week away (Monday 10th March) and can be viewed live on Twitch or Youtube from 6:30pm on Baller League channels - just search: ‘Baller League twitch/youtube’ to find their page. I’m still not sure on the details - all I know is there will be 12 managers picking 12 players from a possible pool of 160ish players. All players have apparently been labelled from 5 stars (the best players) to 1 star (not so good) which is how the managers will make their decisions. I filmed a short video the other day so you might see me get some screen time.
Football Chat
Liverpool seem to have unofficially wrapped up the premier League title with major thanks to Mo Salah who is having an incredible season. With a fair few games left he can still break three major Premier League records: Most goals in a season; he's on 25 and needs to beat Haaland’s record of 36, Most assists in a season; he’s on 17 and only needs 3 more to equal Thierry Henry and De Bruyne’s record fo 20; most goal contributions in a season (goals + assists); he’s on 42 and only needs 5 more to equal Andy Cole and Alan Shearer’s record of 47.
Salah’s incredible season brings me to an interesting conversation point: should we change the way we view players’ age. We used to look at 26/27 as a player's prime age. Mo Salah is 32 and arguable in the form of his life. Messi and Ronaldo were still performing ridiculously well well into their 30’s… so what is a player's prime and how long can players really play at the top level now?
Man City are the opposite of a team in form - really struggling this season in various areas, but why? They still have the core of their players, minus a few from injury. I know Rodri is a big miss but with him would we see their fortunes change that much? It’s hard to see.
Ask me a question
With Baller League coming up, I’ve been asked this a few times:
Of all the managers, is there one that you would prefer to be picked by?
In short, no. The managers are a mix of ex players (Figo, John Terry etc.) and YouTubers (Angry Ginge, Sidemen members etc.) so what each manager will bring to the table is completely unknown. Is it better to be playing for an ex player or someone who has more experience of navigating these YouTube themed events? I don’t know, and I don’t have a preference.... yet.
Got a question for me? Let me know…
Worth a watch
This video gives you a bit more insight on the Baller League:
https://youtu.be/g3YRrVLVHs4?si=8goi1lj_Nuyi2TYy
Barca beat Real Sociedad and played some great football: