Di Matteo is the special one...mark 3???

Greetings armchair sportsfans!


Well what can we say? After years of trying and billions of pounds later Rom has finally reached his holy grail with a flourishing and entertaining side too...wait...not quite.

'But we deserved it!' they cry, 'this was our destiny'. Bollocks! Yes football is a team game and protecting your end is just as important and laying siege to the mob at the opposite end. For this you cannot deny Chelsea's tenacity and drog-eness, but by heck it was dull!

UEFA are probably happy that it ended in a shoot-out as it meant we actually had more than a handful of shots on target and that most will not remember the turgid 80 odd minutes which preceded it. Any self-righteous football follower knows that if it weren't for a very un-German-esq performance from Bayern we'd all be slating Chelsea as lumbering route one no-hopers!

Bayern domintated the entire match in all departments; yet they were wasteful in front of goal, missed penalties, didn't defend a near-post corner with only minutes left and losing a shout-out! Its just not German like, in fact its down right English of them!

'Hide me! They'll take away my German passport for missing that pen!'

Of course all this was not just a path of destiny for the Blues, it was a mastermind of managment by the 3rd re-incarnation of the special one. Arise Sir Roberto! He's not the special one...he's a very lucky boy! And now he's the greatest manager that lived not just to win the European Cup so quickly but to do so with a squad that back in March would be lucky to get close to the cups in the training ground cafeteria!

Had they lost he'd probably of become another Avram Grant and end up in Portsmouth awaitng the news they'd been docked more points for not paying anybody who works for them! Or he could turn into a Hiddink and travel the globe earning shed loads of foreign tax cash with avergage teams built on oil soaked money...sound familiar RDM?

Will Roman offer him the job? Would he even take it? Now that he's found his promise land ..what next?  He'll want to win the league, defend the cup and do it all playing an entertaining brand of footy which I fear neither squad or manager is up to.

In that case it might be a good time to cut and run? Drogba has the right idea on this one; leave a hero, head held high and with your wallet open.

A wave goodbye or I'll take £5 mil a year thanks!

So does this mean that a defensive, uncreative, long ball style can conquer Europe? If so then maybe there's hope for Roy this summer...er have you seen the squad!

Ok so it was all fairly predictable, yes I got a few wrong on my end but lack of enterprise is perhaps worse than a lack of surprises. The two best defences of the premier league belonged to City and United and yet Rio didn't get a gig (not a bad idea to be fair) and I wonder if Lescott will be sitting on the bench waiting for Terry to slip up...literally!

The middle is pretty much the same as we'd expect from what's on offer with the exception that Lennon is probably just unlucky that he's just a quick as a few others that perhaps can find the net or put in a decent ball, then again they picked Walcott?

Up front is where the issues are obvious, with Rooney out for the first 2 options were thin on the ground. Carroll probably deserves a crack at it, Welbeck has earned the right ahead of Sturridge, no idea what Defoe has done except score on the last game of the season...does Roy have a very short memory?

Surely the biggest injustice is poor old Micah Ricards? What does that man have to do to get another cap? Did he mysteriously slag off the FA on twitter before going radio silent or perhaps the powers that be know something we don't?

If the shirt fits then bloody well give it him!

Yes Kyle Walker would've got the nod if fit and Phil Jones is versatile if not a little overrated too. But Micah must be watching a tape of Liverpool's post-christmas matches and thinking he needs to both defend, bomb on, set up goals, be a menace at set pieces, keep goal and score bucket loads to even be considered!

Be just about right now that Glen Johnson has a blinding tournament and England do exceptionally well at the Euros...yeah and Chelsea will become the next Barcelona!

Goodnight sportsfans!

The greatest day of the greatest season!

Greetings armchair sportsfans!

Wow! As we celebrate 20 years of the premier league we witness probably the greatest final day which in itself epitomises probably the greatest season of all time.

Even football atheist were discussing the drama at the Etihad over the watercooler, swept away by the euphoria not seen since...well since forever!

Ironic that Mancini's men pulled off the kind of Fergie-time escape that we're so used to seeing from the red half of Manchester and the parralells between yesterday and the famous United escape to win the European cup in 1999 cannot be ignored.

We all thought they'd win and they did deserve too and despite their best attempts to give everyone on all sides of the football compass a massive cardiac arrest. After 90 minutes it seemed as though Mancini needed a defibrilator on the touchline and five minutes later he'd probably reaching for a sedative or two.

How can you not love moments like this is football?

People will crow that City have bought their first title in 44 years but all the Arabic care packages cannot buy you the spirit, determination and heart that was required in the last five minutes at the Etihad. You just cannot purchase that, it is taught and ingrained by the manager and means nothing without the players being on board.

It's the exact same quality that Ferguson himself has thrived and succeeded with for years and shows that winning a title isn't about quality on the pitch, its just as important to have the quality on the touchline and in the backroom too.

For United it was a season that they were never in the hunt, then the season they couldn't lose and eventually the one that they ended up second best, not a phrase in their vocabulary. As City parade in a sea of blue through the streets Fergie will be plotting his revenge, you can guaruntee it.

At the other of the league we say goodbye to Bolton and Owen Coyle who were unlucky to go down, not just with their points tally but also by the thuggery of the ref at the Britannia who seemed to believe football is rugby. Shame for Coyle as he's handled himself so well throughout the season and especially with the difficult time surrounding the Fabrice Muamba incident.

So QPR survive as do Villa, no thanks to either Joey Barton or Alex Mcleish. If every Rangers player on Sunday was tremendous, Barton was moronic! The man will never change and he can twitter all he wants it won't change the fact that he's basically a hooligan on the wrong side of the white line. Its no wonder both Man City and Newcastle saw fit to remove him from their squads, he's a walking liability.

Is it a pitch invader? Not its just Joey losing his rag!

Mcleish has finally got the boot today, an appointment that was about as popular as...um...Joey Barton?

I'm sure big 'eck will find a job soon enough, probably with any side that enjoys playing with the creative guile of...um...Joey Barton?

Steve Kean may be next for the chop, that is the Venky's could be bothered to actually do anything productive with the club?

So where to now after this amazing season?

The Euro's of course, not forgetting the Champions League final which will see Chelsea B team play away at Bayern. yes we all want them to win it for the good of English football but at present we can't see it happening.

As for the Euro's we wait with anticipation as to the look of Roy's cobbled squad, the main focal point being the forward options, or lack of? He'll take Rooney and Sturridge for sure, Defoe and A-bong-and-a-whore probably but which other lumbering big fella makes the grade? Crouch, Carroll, Holt...Zamora???

Hodgson's choice to lead the line at Euro 2012

Smart money is on Crouch, he's got the experience at that level even if he don't have a quality at that level. Whichever direction Roy turns it'll be nothing short of gripping even if they lose three straight games and send the players off on their summer holiday.

We'll support them to the hilt and get over excited if they do any good in wam up matches. Roy will be the messiah that we've all been waiting for!

For English football at any level is the very definition of drama, excitment, elation, devastation, agony and ecstasy all rolled into one.

Don't agree...just watch the events of Sunday 13th May, 2012.

Thank you and goodnight sportsfans!

Fergie gives Mancini the hairdryer...plus the title and Woy gets the job!

Greetings armchairsports fans!

Well it was billed as not just the biggest game of this season but the biggest game in the 20 years the premiership has existed. As such with these over hyped and billed encounters the game could've been played down the local park and still the most exiciting aspect would've been a dog running across the field.

You're always concerned when the most interesting aspect of 90 minutes was between the two chaps on the sideline doing sock-puppet impressions without the socks. Fergie pulled out his famous hairdryer treated against his opposite number and fair play the flowing grey headed one he gave as good as he got!

Quack, quack, quack!

Truth is all managers in almost every game will be bashing the poor fourth officials ear to a pulp, I'm sure that's why they rotate the referees...gives their ears time to recover. We all love a good touchline tussel between the suited or tracksuited gaffers its up there with a referee falling over or Arsene Wenger's post match analysis.

The season decider on Monday night wasn't decided on refereeing decsions that were or weren't given, nor did it decide the season itself. Fergie is undoubtably the most sucessful manager in the history of the premier league, but tactically he doesn't have the strength of others. Yes he's a great motivator and manager of players and excels at gaining the best out of troubled geniuses and erractic personalities. Nobody can dispute the number of talented and spirited teams he's assembled, the trophy cabinent is testament to that.

But unlike others, in big games (like Monday) he gets in wrong and then doesn't adapt quick enough. Guardiola out thought him in 2 seperate European finals, Mancini twice in the league this season and even 'the special one' had the wood over Fergie in his Chelsea days.

There's no need for me to go into it all, suffice to say they deserved to lose the game and perhaps the title too. Champions are determined over the course of the entire season and with both Manchester clubs on the same number or points, win, draws and losses you can even ignore the far superior goal difference. Look deeper; 4 matches between the two clubs, City dominated both league fixtures and despite United's two wins in cup competitions they were still out played in one half in both of those matches.

If you can honestly only say that you played better for 2 out of 8 halves then you don't deserve to win anything and they probably shouldn't...end of!

Enough of the top, let's look at the bottom. Wolves are already gone and logic would suggest that Blackburn despite Steve Kean's persistant optimism will follow suit. So who fills the last relegation slot? QPR's fixture list doesn't bode well with City away on the final day, Bolton need to get at least 4 points from their last 3 games to give themselves a chance. Wigan have taken 30 matches to realise they're the best team in the league and look fairly safe now.

Above all of this lot are Villa, probably the most drab team going at the moment which is no surprise given the man at the helm has as many creative thoughts as Emile Heskey (who funnily is still a key player too). McLeish was already an unpopular choice having crossed the midlands divide from Birmingham City last year, he'll be run out of town if Villa go down too.

Don't look down Eck!

Finally after an exhaustive (not really) search England have a new manager and it's Harry...Roy Hogdson?

Nothing like the FA to throw us all a curve ball from time to time is it. Old Woy has been round the block a few times and is at the very least a very honest operator who builds no fuss teams out of the resources he has...very English really.

Seeing as though everyone wanted an English manager anyway then I can't see what they're all so surprised about? Besides who bettter to take over a misfiring, rag tag bunch of internationals that nobody expects much out of this summer...perfect choice isn't it? Perhaps the FA figured they'd pick someone with a slight speech impediment so that the transition from Capello doesn't confuse the poor players.

'Roy...the job's yours!'

Whatever the reason the outcome is the same, 4 year deal and about a fortnight to work out a squad for the summer Euro's. Basically Woy's on a hiding to nothing, nobody expects England to do any good so in theory he can just pick a team and let them play...oh and Roy, that doesn't mean you can pick Zamora!

Till next time sportsfans!