Its time for part 2 of our review of the season as we move onto the month of September where things really started to hot up on and off the field. The first managerial casualties were claimed, the first of the top 4 clashes produced a surprise and one of the top 4 were all but out of the title race by the end of the month. Oh and the city of Newcastle ground to a halt as one of the strangest saga’s in English football history began.

So once again here is a recap of the Premier League season so far, with all September’s most memorable moments from the PitchSlap point of view.

September

Curbishley resigns

Alan Curbishley had the distinguished honour of being the first manager to part company with his club this season as he left the West Ham hot seat after only 3 games being played. Surprisingly citing the sale of second choice full back George McCartney as the reason for his resignation Curbs complained that he was not being consulted about the sale of players.

The club however responded by revealing that Anton Ferdinand had refused a new contract offer and McCartney had handed in a written transfer request showing no one really wanted to play under Curbishley. There was also the small matter of the £50m he’d spent in under a year with no discernible improvement, a sack-able offence alone in the credit crunch era.

The Newcastle saga

The biggest fiasco in English football began at some point during the transfer window when Kevin Keegan was informed he would have to sell players in order to finance new recruits. After being unimpressed by the shortlist of possible transfers drawn up by Director of Football Dennis Wise and Tony Jimenez Keegan was asked to identify his own targets. King Kev’s wishlist featured such fanciful names as Thierry Henry, Beckham and Lampard as well as Modric, Arshavin and Danny Guthrie. When only Danny Guthrie and 2 Spanish misfits arrived at the cost of England prospect James Milner, Keggy got the hump only to be angered further by Wise and Jimenez’s attempts to sell Owen and Barton behind his back.

Then it really hit the fan as the Geordie messiah went AWOL amid rumours he’d been sacked by Ashley. This news caused the toon army to besiege St James Park 24 hours a day alongside the obligatory Sky and Setanta sports reporters. With the anger of the fans clearly directed at Mike Ashley and his cockney cronies Wise and Jimenez the fat millionaire moved to dismiss speculation Keeganhad been sacked, they were just having a 3 day boardroom chat. With Kev still nowhere to be seen the League Managers Association cleared the whole mess up when they issued a statement confirming Keegan had not resigned. Well where was he then and who was running Newcastle in the meantime?

We may never know. What we do know is Keegan officially left the club on the 4th of September and as expected the toon army protested against Ashley and goons calling for Wise and Jimenez to leave. Always up for a bit of scapegoating Ashley sacked the pair meanwhile Keegan filed for an £8m severance payment. Sick of the aggro Ashley put the club up for sale and promised that we would no longer see his rotund face on the terraces which meant we would no longer see him downing pints on telly – gutted!

Walcott hat-trick destroys Croatia

Much maligned for being a spare wheel at the 2006 world cup, Theo Walcott finally came of age in an England shirt as England waltzed through their toughest game in the 2010 qualifying group. Theo’s pace and direct style rattled the Croatian defence from the outset and despite a few nervy moments early on Theo showed great composure to finish all 3 chances that came his way including a memorable one on one for his hat-trick. If he can just convince Arsene Wenger to give him a game every week then we might finally see the emergence of England’s brightest young talent.

Liverpool beat Man United

Rafa Benitez finally broke his Man United hoodoo in this enthralling North West derby despite going a goal down early on after United’s new signing Berbatov had teed up Carlos Tevez in the opening minutes. In the past United would’ve gone on to win at a saunter or hold on for the 3 points but not this time as a Torres-less Liverpool battled back to equalise in the first half. The reds went on to dominate and outplay the European champions in the second half  and thanks to the late introduction of Gerrard and Babel were able to find a deserved winner scored by the latter. There was even time for Vidic to collect a red card for 2 reckless challenges as the United backline was overran.

Respect the Terry campaign begins

Newly re-installed England captain John Terry was centre of attention once again, not for bottling bouncers or carrying his moneybags to the bookies this time, but actually for his antics on the pitch. With Chelsea on their way to a comfortable away win JT decided to rugby tackle City’s Brazilian striker Jo as he was about to show Captain Marvel a clean pair of heels. A straight forward red card decision which was for once administered by an unintimidated referee, but as we’ve seen in the past Terry doesn’t take kindly to seeing red.

Rather than make a grab for the card itself Terry used his England sway to have his card rescinded in a ridiculous u-turn by the referee’s chief Keith Hackett. Only a month into the season and Respect the Ref was over, replaced by the ‘respect the Terry’ campaign backed by the FA, newspapers and even MOTD’s finest. The only person who wasn’t a fan was one Sir Alex Ferguson who realised the removal of Terry’s suspension would free him up to play against the other team from Manchester. Never backward in coming forward Fergie offered his opinion:

‘If it had been a Manchester United player Hackett would not have done this.’

Styles awards another phantom penalty

Rob Styles made the worst penalty decision ever in the first week of the 07/08 season gifting Chelsea an undeserved point at Anfield, this season it took him until the end of September to award another phantom penalty. This time for Man United as they struggled to break Bolton’s spirited resolve at Old Trafford. After the Anfield debacle it emerged he had paved Roman Abramovich’s driveway, which isn’t as some believed a sexual favour, but in fact a legitimate building term. It begs the question what has he been up to with Fergie?

Bolton and Liverpool fans should take heart from the fact that after awarding yet another phantom penalty for Newcastle against Man City last season he subsequently readdressed the balance this season by red carding Habib Beye in the return fixture, a decision that was immediately rescinded by the FA. So Mr Megson and Senor Benitez please bide your time or book his building firm to do your driveway ASAP.

Hull City beat Arsenal

This was the shock result of the season as newly promoted Hull outfought Arsenal to win a see saw Emirates encounter. Many sides had previously gone to Arsenals fortress and taken the lead only to crumble at the last as the gunners piled on the pressure but Hull went a goal down against the run of play and looked like they would be overwhelmed by a confident Gunners side.

But while Arsenal proceeded to overcomplicate and overplay in an attempt to wow their fans and humiliate their opponents, Hull stuck to the task and countered brilliantly to first equalise with a Geovanni screamer then punish Arsenal’s defensive frailties with a set piece winner. The game encapsulated Arsenal’s season: processional passing, a lack of bite in midfield and a porous defence, all making the North London side easy pickings. Defeats to Stoke, Man City, Burnley and top 4 pretenders Aston Villa saw the Gunners slip to 5th place.