suspects
Neal Collins SOCCER
So that’s it then. Both British titles wrapped up like bunnies in a sack by Easter. In England, Manchester United won the Premiership with four games to spare. In Scotland, Rangers romped it with six to play.
Sky-TV executives must be in despair. They had billed St Johnstone vs Rangers at McDiarmid Park on Sunday night as the title clincher. And Chelsea’s visit to Old Trafford on Monday was supposed to be high noon for the Premiership title. But the sorry opposition couldn’t hold out.
We’d hoped Leeds and Liverpool could put some pressure on United. We’d given up on Celtic weeks ago. So the usual suspects are monopolising our game. Rangers have now won 11 of the past 12 Scottish titles, Manchester United have taken six out of eight south of the border.
Rangers were handed their 49th title because sad Celtic could only draw with Dundee, leaving their Old Firm rivals 17 points clear with five to play – a record margin.
United scored a record 87 goals in their quickest-ever demolition of the chasing pack in England, then added three more against Chelsea. After a miserable European week, with Chelsea and United thrashed by Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, a 3-1 win at Southampton simply served to confirm that our best are not quite good enough.
The fascinating thing for me was to hear Sir Alex Ferguson describing this lot as “the best side Manchester United has ever had”. Not normally one for meaningless praise, Fergie said: “It’s fantastic, winning the league and with that number of goals. It’s been outstanding.”
But without a European Cup final – or even a semi-final – to come, English football will not be celebrating quite as hard as we might have hoped. United have won the Premiership more easily this season than anyone can remember – yet they looked woefully inadequate in several key areas against Real.
The battle for second place is just about alive – Liverpool (following their lucky 0-0 draw against Everton on Friday night when Graham Poll disallowed a late, involuntary Don Hutchison goal) are three points clear of Arsenal (the Uefa Cup finalists who beat Spain’s La Liga leaders Deportivo La Coruna earlier this season, lest we forget), who duly dumped Watford back into the first division.
I suspect those two sides will qualify for the Champions League next year, while Leeds will struggle to keep Chelsea at bay in the battle for a Uefa Cup spot. Still, Chelsea have got Aston Villa in the FA Cup final, where another Euro place is available.
There were boos when Gianluca Vialli subbed Gianfranco Zola and put Tore Andre Flo on in their disappointing 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough. Vialli, who left the off-form Chris Sutton on, said: “I make my decisions without taking notice of what the supporters think. I’m the manager and I have to make the decisions. Not everyone agrees but I have got to do what is right for the team.”
Worrying times for Chelsea fans these. Defeat in the cup final and a tough run- in could mean no European place next season. And, I reckon, no Vialli. I hear he’s wanted back home in Italy – and has been earmarked as a future Italian national coach.
Typically, West Ham are producing their best form when it no longer matters. They crushed Coventry – still without an away win for a year – 5-0 with Paulo Di Canio scoring two more crackers.
It was all too much for manager Harry Redknapp, who started comparing the Italian ref-pusher with the Hammers’ great World Cup winner Bobby Moore. Rednapp said: “Paulo is a fantastic player. I’ve seen the player of the year nominations – and can you tell me why he’s not in the top six? He has been absolutely incredible from day one. He is just a fantastic footballer. Italy must be frightening to watch if he can’t get in the team.
“When people talk about the great West Ham players he will be one of them. They’ll talk about Bobby (Moore), and Paulo will be there, right at the top.”