PREVIEW: Last day of the Premiership season

And so, finally, we get to the last day of the Premiership season.

As a Newcastle fan, it's been an incredible nine months that has seen the team rise up the tale o already be guaranteed European football next season (all be it the Europa league)- and,if results do go our way we could still end up in the Champions' League. I'm not holding my breath though. I predict that Spurs will win and snatch 3rd place from Arsenal who will falter against Wigan. ewcastle's result is then irrelevant, but I predict a draw against Everton.

Still, a momentous season that has, quite rightly, seen Alan Pardew voted Manager of the Season. Fingers crossed that he's able to keep the squad together for the next campaign.

At the bottom of the table Wolves and Blackburn are already down, and the final relegation place will be between Bolton, QPR and Aston Villa (though Villa would be very unlucky to go down). I think Bolton, currently in 18th are unlikely to get anything more thana draw at Stoke and will end up in the Championship for next season, but I wouldn't be surprised if the were some twists and turns and Maths involved at various points in the afternoon.

As for the title, it's a straight fight between the Red and Blue halves of Manchester. City have won both the derbies this season (the 6-1 win at Old Trafford being one of the highlights of the season) and Manchester United have thrown away an 8-point lead in the past month. So the momentum is against Fergie lifting the trophy again.

It has been one of the most exciting contests in recent years and is probably the closest battle for the title since the climax to the 1989 season, when Arsenal snatched the title from Liverpool with the last kick of the ball.

Manchester City haven't won the title for 44 years and only have to beat to QPR to make amends for those decades of hurt (let's be honest, Manchester United are going to beat Sunderland but they're not going to get into double figures and that's what it will involve).

I hope it's all not all over by 3.15. I hope for twists and turns and surprises. I hope that next season can be just as exciting. I hope that Alex Ferguson ends the season trophyless. I hope Newcastle do snatch a Champions' League place!

COMMENT: Alan Davies, Hillsborough and Liverpool F. C.

Yesterday, Twitter, or the portion of Twitter that cares about such matters, exploded in indignation at some comments the "comedian" and actor Alan Davies had made about Liverpool F.C.

Twitter often manages to get its knickers in a twist over the smallest minutiae of a story, and wo betide anyone who finds themselves on the wrong side of a Twitter spat, faced with a beyong mob of accusations and insults all carefully restricted to 140 characters.

what was it that Alan Davies said that was so outrageous?

In a discussion for an Arsenal podcast, Mr. Davies is a well-known gooner, he had said that it was silly that Liverpool F.C. had asked not to play their F.A. Cup semi-final against Chelsea on the 15th April because it was the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. He pointed out that other clubs, including Rangers and Manchester United, have played matches on anniversaries of disasters that had affected their clubs, and, indeed, Liverpool themselves have never asked not to play matches on the anniversary of the Heysel disaster, which took place only four years before Hillsborough.

Davies then went on to say that his gran died on August 22nd and, while it's a significant date in his life, he doesn't just sit at home or refuse to work on that day.

Here's the recording:



Superficially, Davies has a point. In 1971, 66 Rangers fans were killed in a crush at Ibrox Park, and the same club suffered a similar loss in 1902, when 25 supporters lost their lives, but they haven't asked for those dates to remain clear each year when the fixtures are being organised.

And surely, I guess Mr. Davies' logic would go, that an event that happened in 1989, is now long enough ago that it should no longer have the same significance it had, say, 12 months after the disaster which saw 97 Liverpool fans crushed at an F.A. Cup semi-final against Notttingham Forest.

But then, that's the point. The match against Chelsea is another F.A. Cup semi-final - this will, naturally, mean a heightening of emotions, and remind more people of the events that took place in Sheffield 23 years ago.

And the other point that Mr. Davies has ignored, is that there are still legal proceedings continuing with regard to Hillsborough while all the other disasters he mentioned were both earlier and, legally, closed.

I'm no fan of Alan Davies. I think he is a bit of a numpty, and has, on Twitter, made an a bit of an arse of himself on more than one occasion (particularly with his blind support for Stephen Fry at times when Nr. Fry is being particularly precious or attention seeking), but, yet again, a Twitter spat has escalated a silly, ignorant and ill-judged comment into something that seems earth shattering and important.

Alan Davies should think more carefully before he opens his mouth to criticise the fans from other teams, but the whole explosion of hate and indignation against him is out of all proportion. There are plenty of reasons to dislike Akan Davies, this is just an idiotic comment.