I recently read that football shouldn’t be a game of ‘what ifs.’ The sentiment is an excuse, and can be refuted with old adages such as ‘you make your own luck’ or ‘decisions even themselves out over the course of the season.’ This is mostly true. But after Nani’s goal against Tottenham sparked a debate like no other, I started to think; what if?

Everybody has an opinion on what happened at Old Trafford on Saturday. Aggrieved Spurs fans are bemoaning the officials and Manchester United fans have the convenience of another age-old saying; play to the whistle.

Many have used the incident as a catalyst to re-explore the introduction of technology being used in football. The general consensus after Saturdays bizarre goal was if they used technology, Nani’s handball would have been spotted and Gomes could have restarted from a free kick. True. My argument would be if that was the case, though, what would we spend the rest of the week talking about?

Football is a fascinating sport which can be turned on it’s head with any number of variables, one of which being human error. But was Mark Clattenburg’s decision even an error? Did he merely interpret the rules differently to some people? Using technology to determine the ‘correct’ outcome of situations like these would go a long way to cancelling out any kind of debate many of us sub-consciously love to have. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could get quite so passionate whilst declaring Wagner should never have gotten so far in X Factor.

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But if technology does find its way into football, where do we draw the line? Many believe that it should just be used in the goal-mouth to determine whether the ball does cross the line or not. This would give us transparency on decisive moments, but what happens when managers start moaning about other pivotal decisions, like penalty claims which have been wrongfully given? FIFA will be under immense pressure to use the technology readily available and there will be no telling where it would end: free kicks, throw-ins, yellow cards. The game which puts us through a whole host of differing emotions could turn into a three hour replay which leaves nothing to chance.

This discussion instantly brings to mind Frank Lampard’s goal-that-never-was against Germany in the world cup. But even the most biased of England fans surely can recognise how inferior we were that day and the most probable outcome would have been a defeat even if the ball was deemed over the line.

Football has survived without the use of technology for so long and I don’t see the need to change that now. If the game did adopt the use of such facilities we would be left with no ‘bad’ decisions to hide behind, no entertaining post match interviews and very little to debate on a Saturday evening. Apart from X Factor, that is.

Football shouldn’t be a game of ‘what ifs’ but as long as this debate carries on, there will always be one ‘what if’ that worries me the most: What if football was boring?

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David Moyes has admitted that John Heitinga could leave Everton in the January transfer window.

The Dutch defender has been linked with a switch to Bayern Munich after slipping out of the first-team picture at Goodison Park.

Moyes said:"I don't know if Heitinga will go in January, I really don't. There has been no official contact from anybody regarding Heitinga, and I don't know if Everton will cash in come January.

"His character and type is one who will battle, and I have no reason to think it's anything other than just speculation.

"I haven't heard from Johnny or any clubs. He has to get on with it. There is competition for places and he is involved in that."

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Heitinga has failed to find the net in 46 appearances for the Toffees since his transfer from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2008.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Whatever your feelings are about the situation Shay Given finds himself in at Manchester City, there can be no doubt the quality of the Irishman. In the case of Joe Hart, he has been given the jersey and hasn’t looked back. Shay Given under any other circumstances would be Manchester City’s number one, it shows the quality of Joe Hart rather than any faults in Shay Given. However, has Shay Given been put in an impossible situation by his employers.

It has been accepted that Shay Given will be allowed to leave Manchester City but where will he be allowed to go to? Roberto Mancini and Manchester City know the quality of their second choice goalkeeper and would be crazy to allow him to go to one of their rivals. For example. Arsenal should be in the market for a goalkeeper come January, but there is no way that Manchester City would sell to Arsene Wenger. It wouldn’t make sense, and would only come back to hurt them.

If we accept that as a fair argument, we start to question Manchester City a little bit. It is clear that Shay Given is not needed at Eastlands – having only started three Europa League games and zero Premier League games. He is surplus to requirements. They haven’t tried to keep him happy and he will be allowed to leave. But at what cost to his future? Why should Manchester City care where he was to go? If they truly believe that Joe Hart is their best keeper then it wouldn’t matter where he the Irish keeper goes. Shay Given will want to get back to the top – where he was last season. Manchester City, out of gratitude for his services should allow him to do this.

Even another route out for Shay Given seems to have been closed. It was expected that in January, Mark Schwarzer would be allowed to join Arsenal and Shay Given would be reunited with his old City boss Mark Hughes. However, Schwarzer has recently signed a new deal with Fulham, and will stay until at least the summer. Even though Fulham, with all due respect, would not be seen as a top team, Given would welcome the opportunity to work under Hughes again. Given reportedly led a player rebellion to the board room at City when Hughes was fired. The routes out of Manchester City seem to narrowing for Given, and it seems he will be penalised for being a top quality goalkeeper.

Manchester City have shown their hand in regards to their feelings on the keeper. Shay Given is not needed. It is clear to everyone. Roberto Mancini should respect the goalkeeper for what he has achieved in his career. Shay Given had a great couple of season at City and now it is time to move on. It would be sad to see Given drop down the leagues, just because he is seen as a threat. When the club has valued a player as a reserve, they should be allowed to leave to whoever they want. This transfer window is a big opportunity for Given to play out his final years at the top. He deserves that and is still good enough. For his sake lets hope if a big club come in to buy Shay Given, Manchester City have the respect for their goalkeeper and allow him to leave.

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Like what you read? Comment below on where Given should go this January. Also, Follow me on twitter

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An eclectic and eccentric view of football, business and management by media entrepreneur Chris Ingram.

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What?!  Bear with me I need to explain this as I know you’re not comfortable with the idea.

By now, all those who read these blogs (it went up to five last week), know that, when otherwise bright people buy a football club, it scrambles their brains and they make all sorts of wrong decisions.

Winston Churchill’s football club was Empire FC.  Here was a man of huge vision and a fantastic sense of history (and not a bad motivator either).  He invented the phrase `Iron Curtain’ and foresaw the Cold War with the communists well before any Western leader and spent ages trying to wake up the Americans to the threat.   And yet, when it came to the British Empire after the war, he couldn’t see and wouldn’t see that the world had changed fundamentally and the days of the Empire were over.

His brains were scrambled by his emotional involvement and sentiment for the idea of `Empire’ and he made a number of poor decisions after the War as a result.

The lesson here is that you don’t have to buy a football club to scramble your brains (although it does help). So here’s a key question for any of you running a business, charity or any type of organisation.  What, inside your organisation, are you unable to sort out objectively?  And when are you going to face up to it?  I guarantee you will deeply regret it unless you do.

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Chris Ingram is as passionate about football as he is about business. Owner of Woking Football Club, and a majority shareholder in the fast growing sports media business Sports Revolution, Chris is one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs.

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Recently celebrating 50 years in the media industry and still actively involved with Woking, Chris is ideally placed to comment on the business side of football.

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READ more of Chris Ingram’s work at our Football Business Section

With the current hype surrounding the Olympic Stadium, it brings into question the subject of ground sharing and why it could be a valuable and only viable option in the future of the game.

Soon Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United will know if their bids to take control of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford will be accepted. Both clubs are desperate to move grounds in order to expand capacity and increase revenue, thus competing with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.

Neither club can really increase capacity on their current grounds, mainly due to the local councils and planning permission, a common curse that especially affects clubs in the London area. The likes of Queens Park Rangers and Fulham currently have 20,000 – 25,000 capacity stadiums respectively but they have both reached their possible limits for any further expansion. There have been talks in the past for areas in which either club could move to in order to build a new bigger stadium, but it would mean moving out of the Hammersmith & Fulham Borough. Simply, there is very little space in London to build a football stadium.

A section of Spurs fans are against the move to Stratford, seeing as their club will no longer be situated in North London, which would give their rivals Arsenal an upper hand in bragging rights. The irony of this is that Arsenal are not even originally from the north side of London, having been formed in Woolwich (South East London). They’re not the only London side to move from their roots, QPR originate from the Queen’s Park area of London (NW6) but pride themselves of being the only club in West London with a west London postcode (W12) with Chelsea and Fulham being (SW6).

Would a viable option for the future be ground sharing? It’s worked in Italy, especially between fierce rivals like AC and Inter Milan and it can be seen across Europe. If Fulham and QPR both buy land to build a new 50,000 seater stadium in West London and split everything 50/50, it’d benefit both clubs greatly as much as they’d want their own ground but at least it wouldn’t moving to the likes of Surrey or Middlesex.

Would it work if Tottenham and Arsenal shared the Emirates? West Ham and Leyton Orient share the Olympic Stadium and Crystal Palace and Charlton share a stadium in South London. Perhaps there is too much tribalism, history and legacy to start ground sharing for football clubs in this country but with the growing lack of space for new stadiums it makes you wonder that it is only a matter of time.

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Cellar-dwellers Willem II broke through to win their first game of the Eredivisie season, triumphing over over Vitesse 1-0 on Saturday.

While Willem are still three points shy of second-last VVV Venlo and 11 points adrift of safety, the beleaguered club finally gave their fans something to cheer about by chalking up their first win in 20 games.

Teenage striker Rangelo Janga was the hero for Willem, scoring in the 26th minute at the Koning Willem II Stadion.

De Graafschap brought up their second-consecutive win in thrilling fashion, beating Feyenoord away at De Kuip courtesy of an 88th-minute goal from Leon Broekhof.

NAC Breda twice pegged back NEC at the Stadion De Goeffert to force a 2-2 draw with their mid-table rivals.

Bjorn Vleminckx continued his standout season with a 39th-minute strike, but it was cancelled out 13 minutes from time by Breda’s Nemanja Gudelj.

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NEC’s John Goossens quickly restored the home side’s lead two minutes later, but they were denied victory by a 90th-minute equaliser from Marvin van der Pluijm.

AZ Alkmaar could not penetrate the defence of Heracles at the Polman Stadion in their 0-0 draw.

New Wales boss Gary Speed has an injury crisis on his hands as his side prepares to take on Ireland in the Carling Nations Cup on Tuesday.

The Cup, which is a round-robin tournament between Wales, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland, kicks off a big mid-week round of friendlies across Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Wales will face Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, minus the services of stars Gareth Bale, Craig Bellamy, Aaron Ramsey, Boaz Myhill, Danny Gabbidon and David Edwards.

The injury crisis leaves Speed with some serious headaches ahead of his first match in charge, but striker Robbie Earnshaw said the players who are involved will be determined to impress their new manager.

“For me it’s no friendly,” Earnshaw told RTE Sport.

“It’s a huge game. We are going there with a freshness about the camp as Gary has taken over and everyone wants to do well for the new manager and that can have a big effect.”

Wales have won just one of their last six matches, and will need to vastly improve against a Republic of Ireland side who sit second in their Euro 2012 qualifying group.

The other Nations Cup match pits Scotland against Northern Ireland, also at the Aviva Stadium.

Injuries have also hit the Northern Irish hard, with captain Aaron Hughes, West Brom playmaker Chris Brunt, Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty, Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor, Blackpool defender Craig Cathcart and Coventry midfielder Sammy Clingan all among those ruled out.

Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher will be absent for the Scots.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Sweden will look to recover some form ahead of their upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers when they travel to Cyprus for a knockout tournament with the hosts, Romania and Ukraine.

Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast meet African neighbours Mali in Valence, France and Panama travel to Peru.

On Wednesday, the Czech Republic face the challenge of a visit from Croatia.

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The Balkans side have not lost a match since September 2009 and will be determined to put their best foot forward in their last warm-up game before Euro 2012 qualifiers resume in March.

The Netherlands have named a near-full strength team to face Austria in Rotterdam, with Arsenal’s Robin van Persie, Manchester City’s Nigel de Jong, Mark van Bommel, Dirk Kuyt and John Heitinga all named in Bert van Marwijk’s 22-man squad.

In the pick of the other European action, Euro 2012 co-host Poland face Norway just two days after their 1-0 win over Moldova, Greece welcome Canada to Larissa, Serbia travel to Israel and Belgium face Finland.

In the Americas, Honduras will host Ecuador, Venezuela face Costa Rica and Mexico travel north to play Bosnia-Herzegovina in Atlanta.

Watching Jack Wilshere usurp Gareth Bale as the ‘greatest player in the history of association football,’ against Barcelona at the Emirates last night, I couldn’t help but be a tad jealous of the Gooners.

Wilshere was a contender for man of the match and the fact he’s only 19 years-old means he has a very bright future ahead of him, one that may or may not be at Arsenal.

Whilst watching Wilshere, put in a performance that by rights no teenager should be putting in against the ‘unofficial’ world’s best team, it dawned on me that despite his youth his apprenticeship has already been well served.

Wilshere was given the chance to mature at Bolton last season, where he excelled for Owen Coyle’s side and got used to not only the pressure but also the pace and physical nature of top flight football, which no amount of reserve games can truly prepare you for.

I couldn’t help but think of United’s very own Tom Cleverley, currently enjoying a tough loan spell at relegation candidates, Wigan. When I say tough, I’m certainly not inferring Cleverley has found the going tough, as he’s been one of the Latics few bright sparks in a typically difficult season. Cleverley recently returned from a one month lay out to come off the bench against both Blackburn and Liverpool. In both games he showed Roberto Martinez exactly what he’s been missing, tightening things up against Blackburn and showing his attacking abilities in the game against ‘King Kenny’s rejuvenated Liverpool’ side.

With Wigan’s next game being against United it’s not going to be until March when the youngster will get his chance to face ‘former’ title challengers, the massive club in the world- Manchester City.

Regardless of how long before Cleverley next plays, there can be no denying his time at the DW has been a huge success and three goals plus an assist in only ten starts-plus five more as sub- is not to be sniffed at.

Last season Cleverly went on loan to Watford where he scored 11 goals in 33 games and was the club’s player of the season. This season Cleverley’s shown his worth to the Wigan side, and his game seems to have progressed as not only as he made the step up from Championship to Premier League but also that he is more than just an attacking midfielder.

He’s been used in several positions and has shown that he’s not afraid to get stuck in and mix it up a bit, just like his more famous Arsenal counterpart.

Although, Wilshere is two years younger than Cleverley and has arguably progressed a lot quicker, by giving him a run in the side- he’s played all but three EPL games for the Gunners this season- Wenger is now reaping the benefits.

Cleverley and Wilshere have played for the England Under 21′s together and both were tipped for a bright future. Wilshere’s ascendancy has been nothing short of meteoric going from the U-21′s to the England first team in a matter of months. While he was originally thought of as an attacking midfielder, Wilshere now plays in a much more deeper lying role- even causing Fabio Capello to come out with the ridiculous statement that he could be England’s Claude Makelele.

The reason I find that statement ridiculous is that not only was Makelele arguably the best defensive midfielder in the CL era but also Wilshere’s use in that position is far from assured. There’s still a chance he could be used as a more box to box type.

Cleverley seems to prosper best as an attacking midfielder but his ability to get stuck in and his energy makes me think he could be used, like Wilshere in a deeper lying role, or perhaps even just as an orthodox CM- remember they do still exist.

With United crying out for a successor to Scholes, even if he doesn’t retire at the end of the season, Cleverley could fulfil that role, if given the chance. There’s no secret that Sir Alex has money to spend in the Summer and the smart money seems to be on a midfielder joining United, but as the manager has always stated he isn’t prepared to spend over the odds on any new recruits. There aren’t too many world-class midfielders available unless you’re willing to pay a large amount, especially on the continent. It comes as no surprise that names such as Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson have been linked with a move to Old Trafford as although they won’t be cheap, neither should be over the £20 million mark.

This season United’s two biggest surprises have been Chicharito and Smalling, who’ve shown that youth and inexperience are irrelevant if you’ve got an abundance of talent and a mature attitude.

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Jack Wilshere has shown the world what a supremely talented young player, who’s served his apprenticeship, can do at the highest level. The question I’ve got is why can’t Cleverley do the same for United next season?

In my opinion, given the chance he can.

Read more of Justin’s work at the NEW Manchester United blog Red Flag Flying High

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The Premier League title race has been blown wide open as Manchester United failed to take advantage of Arsenal’s dropped points at Anfield yesterday. It appears to be a title that nobody wants to win as the top sides continue to choke as we enter the business end of the season and you wouldn’t like to put your money either way on who will prevail victorious come May.

In the papers this morning there has been a mixed bag of stories that includes David Gill blasting ref over Nani tackle; Mancini says City need to spend again, while Ian Holloway claims that Torres isn’t worth the money.

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Ferguson snubs media after Man Utd’s defeat at Anfield – Guardian

Gill blasts referees over Nani tackle – Daily Telegraph

No one deserves to win the Prem – Sun

FA chief: Goal-line technology could be introduced ‘within a year’ – Daily Mail

City need new players, pleads Mancini – Guardian

Redknapp sets sights on ‘new Messi’ – Mirror

Dalglish predicts big future for Carroll – Daily Telegraph

Mancini reveals Kolo hell – Sun

Torres isn’t worth that money – Holloway – Mirror

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Blues try to allay fears over Europe slot – Guardian

PFA to step in to try and resolve Warnock’s dispute with Aston Villa – Daily Mail

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Barcelona trained as normal on Tuesday but are still in the dark as to whether their La Liga match at Villarreal on Sunday will go ahead.A strike is planned for this weekend’s fixtures as part of a protest against a government law from 1997 which requires one La Liga game a week be shown on free-to-air public television.

Spain’s professional soccer league, LFP, have threatened to suspend the 30th round of matches this weekend in an attempt to force the government to scrap the rule.

With talks at a standstill, six clubs known as the G-6 and including heavyweights Sevilla and Villarreal, have broken ranks and filed a legal challenge to try to have the move to strike declared void.

They believe a strike would be ?disproportionate, inopportune, against the interest of clubs, the competition and supporters and against the law?.

A judge will hand down a decision on their move to prevent the strike on Wednesday.

The LFP argue that removing the obligation to show one match each week for free will strengthen clubs’ bargaining power in negotiations with media firms over broadcast rights.

It also wants guarantees about how much money clubs are entitled to receive from betting and lottery revenue.