Black Sabbath

Enough of footballers lawyers (actually, there might be a Channel 5 series in that...), it's time to squeeze out a quick post about the weekend on the pitch, before Sky Sports subscriptions are cancelled en masse and we all scramble to find a favourite summer sport.

Talking of Sky, they will inevitably be dubbing tomorrow 'Survival Sunday'.  As usual.  I rather liked the alternative 'Black Sabbath' I heard suggested on the radio earlier this week.  Then the usual montage of how the protagonists reached this sorry state could be sound tracked to  'Paranoid'.  Perfect!

So Lord Ferg won't be sending out a weakened team when the only meaningful match the poor relations of Manchester have left is the small matter of a European Cup Final.  Actually, he should.  But it will still contain members of the 25 man first team squad, which should be enough to beat Blackpool.  Although like many neutral observers I hope Holloways Tangerine army find a way to upset the odds.  Him and Neil Warnock in the same division is too delicious not to want to see it happen.

Staying on the managers who are good value in post match interviews ought to stay up vein, I will also be hoping Mick McCarthy's Wolves can avoid the drop.  While I'd be happy to wave bye bye to Wigan and Blackburn as teams who really struggle to convince as Premier League clubs.

Blackburn should just about survive though and it could be Birmingham who suffer as a result, which would be tough on Alex McLeish, but if you will depend on Nicola Zigic and Cameron Jerome for goals... well that's just asking for trouble.  Arsene Wenger could do worse than buying Roger Johnson & Scott Dann to plug that huge center half shaped hole in his team, but that's another story.

Also irrelevant in terms of tomorrow are West Ham. Already down and now of course managerless.  A lot has already been written about Avram Grant both in sympathy for his treatment after the Wigan game and in amazement at how he keeps getting offered Premier League managers jobs in the first place.

I've a lot of sympathy with both viewpoints, but I friend of mine summed it up nicely when he pointed out that the knee jerk reaction of Sullivan & Gold to sack Grant within half an hour of the final whistle in a borrowed room at the DW stadium was a reminder of just how crass and clueless they can be.  For all the difference one more match in charge and then a dignified parting of the ways would make.  No wonder Martin O'Neil had second thoughts!

But before I get too sympathetic towards Grant, his shabby sacking has to be balanced against an astonishing lack of, er pretty much everything under his guidance.  But then, qualified or not, up to the job or not, who can blame him if clubs keep offering him the jobs?

It would be remiss of me not to mention the other big match of the weekend too.  The Conference play-off final between Luton Town v AFC Wimbledon really is the dream non-league match between too clubs who have had to rebuild (or just build, in Wimbledon's case) from the collapse of their original club.

The game will be played at Eastlands - not the FA's fault that two southern clubs have ended up in the final - if it had been two northern clubs and the venue was a London ground... same problem.

What is disappointing is that with ticket prices at a flat rate of over £40 plus various booking & administration fees and no concessions, the ground will only be half full.  Luton expect to take less than they did to the Johnstones Paint Trophy Final in 2009.  Which can't be right.  

Someone made a bad miscalculation pricing this one.  I better be careful, I'm starting to sound like Micheal Owen complaining about the cost of FA Cup Final tickets now!