We’ve survived the Y2K bug and rattled along into 2001. To set the scene of who is on top of the world as we cross over into 2001, here’s the manager of the month awards so far this season:

Brian Little’s Aston Villa are again coming on strong, and they’re only going to get better with this signing:

That’s Fowler, Owen & Yorke on their books now. Brian Little is a genius.

One man who is definitely not a genius is Gordon Milne, who follows up his 8-3 defeat yesterday with a 5-0 home defeat to Forest in the Cup

Speaking of the FA Cup, here’s how the important stages are shaping up:

Arsenal however will be doing this without Arsene Wenger, who has been tempted by Bordeaux, who are the Cup Winners Cup holders which has probably enhanced their reputation in the game somewhat.

It’s worth pointing out Arsenal are 15th in the Premier League at this moment, so they go for my replacement at Wimbledon John Toshack, just because.

Wimbledon go for Mick Harford, so that’s nice. Here’s how the Premier League looks with a couple of months to go:

Blackburn’s run of form is remarkable, they were really struggling earlier in the season. Coventry’s Giovanni (of Barcelona and Olympiacos fame) is the league’s top scorer. At the bottom, it looks bleak for Bolton but somehow Gordon Milne has got Chelsea to 17th. I fear for Wimbledon under Harford but I hope they survive, I’d feel partially responsible if they don’t.

As ever, the first cup final of the season is the league cup and it’s Liverpool again in the final, this time against Villa

For those keeping score, Villa are in a final, a semi final and 2nd in the league. They lost to Real Madrid on away goals in the Champions League. On that note, two of the Champions League Semi Finals I expected. The other two however…

Nope, I can’t explain that either.

Meanwhile in France it’s still going better than I could have expected. I’ve had no cup runs and we were well beaten by Fiorentina in the last 16 of the UEFA cup, but we’re still in with a shout in the league

Once PSG & Marseille win their games in hand it will be back hdown to third but with both teams still to visit Auxerre, we’ve got a chance. Amazingly we have 11 wins out of 12 at home, with one draw, so that bodes well. Even finishing 2nd would represent a huge achievement given the resources I’ve had compared to the “big two”

As ever, in the next update we’ll run down who wins what, and find out if anybody can beat Marshaliev to World Footballer of the year