
The only thing keeping Kenny Dalglish in his job at Liverpool is his legendary status as a player. Yes, Liverpool won the Carling Cup and are still in the FA Cup where they will play Everton in the semi-finals, but that is no longer enough to pull the wool over the eyes of long suffering fans of the club. The inept performance at Newcastle was bad, but Andy Carroll’s dive and Pepe Reina’s sending off made things worse. A lackluster win at Blackburn ended a poor run of results and quieted some of the critics, but a loss to Everton at Wembley will provide them an opportunity to make their voices heard again. Will the American owners be listening?

Rangers are a club whose fans proudly claim to be loyal and British. They fly the Union Jack, not the Scottish saltire, as their flag. They make statements that as fans We Are the People, No Surrender and These Colors Never Run. Rangers are a quintessentially British club, part of the establishment in Scotland, and its fans are fiercely proud and defensive of their British heritage. It is a club that parades British troops as heroes to demonstrate its support for the armed forces and to remember current and historic wars fought by English/British armies. Rule Britannia, an ode to the English King George II, written in 1740, is belted out with gusto as if a game at Ibrox Stadium was the Last Night of the Proms. How ironic then that the club has failed to pay various taxes to Her Majesty’s Revenue Commission and that failure could see the club liquidated and its proud history erased?

A deluded Chelsea-03 fan called in to one of the many talk radio shows and said that the best Champions League final would be Chelsea-03 facing Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho in Munich. He truly believed that such a final was meant to be and the script was written in the stars. He wasn’t the only one either. If a Bayern Munich-Barcelona final with the Germans playing in their own stadium is not enough of a story and a mouthwatering clash then what of the mother of all El Clasicos? Barcelona facing Real Madrid in a UEFA Champions League Final is the real dream final. Only myopic English and Chelsea-03 fans would say otherwise. No neutral wants to see Chelsea-03 in the final and risk the possibility that the morally bankrupt club wins the cup.

Manchester City-08 and Tottenham Hotspur are battling it out for an unwanted title, winner of the biggest collapse in English Premier League history. City were the run away leaders and champions elect of the EPL, seven points clear of their bitter rivals Man United with the added bonus of having embarrassed them 6-1 at Old Trafford. They now trail United by eight points and face the real possibility of United clinching the title at the City of Manchester Stadium. When Spurs led North London rivals Arsenal by two goals at the Emirates on February 26 they were 47 minutes from establishing a 13 point lead over the Gunners and assuring a third place finish in the EPL. They now trail Arsenal by two points and are in a battle with Newcastle United and Chelsea-03 for the fourth and final Champions League spot. Somewhere Kevin Keegan is smiling.
