Last Sunday saw the culmination of the Premier League season, as well as the Football league play-offs, with only the FA Cup Final to go until football takes a break for the summer.
Well, on the pitch at least!
During my run in attending games this season, after not attending a Premier League stadium all season (at least for a league match – I did go to Villa Park for an FA Cup game!), I rounded off my run by attending two Premier League stadiums in two weeks as relegation-threatened Hull and Sunderland faced their Waterloos – and it was Hull that slipped into the Football League Championship.
Staying Up
Let’s go forward in time first and go to Sunderland. At home to a resurgent Leicester, Sunderland simply had to get something to keep their destiny in their own hands – with their last two games being at Arsenal and Chelsea, you would imagine that this game represented their best chance of a win. It was a scrappy game, a game of few chances, but after struggling to keep goals out this season, the home side did a good job this time round and managed a 0-0 draw. Would it be enough though? The following Wednesday saw that game at Arsenal, Sunderland knowing a point would seal their Premier League status – and you’d never would have guessed that they would achieve another 0-0 draw! Huge credit must go to Dick Advocaat for stopping the flow of goals – after watching a disinterested Sunderland lose 2-0 at third tier Bradford earlier in the season, I’m amazed that they managed to keep two clean sheets in a row!
Highway To Hull
So it was up to Hull and Newcastle now. A Hull win at home to Manchester United and anything but a Newcastle win, would have relegated the Geordies. As it happened, Hull couldn’t score – what transpired was a carbon copy of the game I saw against Burnley (except the away side didn’t score) – and Newcastle won. That 1-0 defeat against Burnley proved crucial – as 3 points for Hull in that game would have seen Aston Villa relegated! Just shows how tight the league was near the bottom, so you can imagine how tense the supporters felt during the game! I don’t particularly think Hull are a terrible team; they’ve been hampered by injuries, as well as questionable signings, which Steve Bruce must take the blame for. If they manage to keep the core of the squad together (I see no reason why not – what with the huge parachute payments they’ll be getting) I can see Hull challenging to return to the Premier League next season.
Playing Offside – Coming Soon!
The first draft has more-or-less been completed, right now I’m editing and hope to have the book out on time by the start of July. Along with visits to the plush Premier League stadiums, I go to, shall we say, less alluring grounds! If you haven’t already, please ‘like’ the Facebook page, as I’ll be constantly updating the page in the coming weeks, adding various pictures and videos of all my visits, as well as sneak previews and random quotes!
Playing Offside 