Maple Lions

Another win for the Geordies today: 3-0 over West Brom, who will almost certainly not escape relegation two years in a row.

Newcastle is now even on points with sixth-place Blackburn - with an identical goal differential, to boot - but the Rovers have a game in hand.  Still, the Geordies are on a tear, leading into next week’s match against another club frantically struggling to stay up: Birmingham.   We have Chelsea at home to close out the season on May 7 - which could make the Birmingham match the quintessential trap game.

Damian P.

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Newcastle’s 4-1 win over Sunderland (who probably belong in League One more than Millwall) puts the Geordies into seventh place.

An urgent plea to Newcastle United supporters all over the world: do not, I repeat, do not discuss how this affects our chances for playing on a certain continent located approximately 35km from the British Isles.  Don’t even whisper the name of said continent.  Let’s not get our hopes up until after May 7.

Damian P.

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Birmingham City and West Brom are in a seesaw battle to fend off relegation, while Aston Villa labour in the lower half of the EPL table. What gives with the Midlands? Guardian football columnist Kevin McCarra tackles the issue here:

Cramming themselves into the Championship is an ignominious kind of solidarity for the Midlands clubs. When Aston Villa were champions of England in 1981, they half-complained, half-boasted of the many derby fixtures that had to be surmounted on the road to the title. All that remains is a culture in which football itself is regarded with great significance even if it is fear more than hope that galvanises the crowd. The Hawthorns continues to foster a gripping atmosphere that is seldom equalled elsewhere in the Premiership.

In last Sunday’s edition of BBC Sportsweek Daily Telegraph columnist Henry Winter had some observations on the prospects for Aston Villa.

Paul Canniff 

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26% of respondents to a Daily Telegraph online poll think Sunderland will survive relegation.

Damian P.

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Actually there is a way to see Coca-Cola Championship matches in Canada.  Setanta has launched a broadband sports service that transmits matches live, as well as offering coverage of rugby and Gaelic sports.  The annual fee is US$119. And what a bonus:  the service is 100% Gerry Dobson-free! 

I’d prefer to see the matches on my home theatre screen but it’s nice to know that we have some means to bypass the godawful CRTC.  Apparently a few football matches pose some dire threat to their “iced hockey” industry.

Paul Canniff

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Reading clinched automatic promotion to the Premiership, for the first time in club history, earlier today.

There’s quite a battle brewing for the final playoff spot between Preston North End, Wolves and Cardiff City.  Too bad we can’t see Division One “Championship” matches on Canadian television.  (If I were a programming director at Fox Sports World Canada, I’d figure there were enough Leeds, Southamption, Sheffield United and Wednesday fans to make it worthwhile, but I guess that’s why I’m not a programming director at Fox Sports World Canada.)

Damian P.

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In a refreshing change of pace, management eases up on the gaffer and comes out swinging against the high-priced “talent” on the pitch.

Thanks to the lovely and intelligent kulturzampolits at the CRTC, few of us got to see live Liverpool’s turkey shoot at St. Andrew’s. But we all know it’s the easy reach to blame the manager; David Sullivan may be calling this one right.

Paul Canniff

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BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan examines where it all went wrong for Mick McCarthy and Sunderland this season.  The main culprit: expensive signings which simply didn’t pan out:

Sunderland signed 12 players last summer after winning promotion back to the Premiership - including two on loan - for a conservative £4.25m.

But Wigan and West Ham also overhauled their squads in the summer, and without breaking the bank.

Hammers boss Alan Pardew spent £4.8m on nine players before the season began, while Wigan manager Paul Jewell brought in 11 players for £5.95m.

West Ham only loosened the purse strings in the January transfer window when their top flight status was secured, spending £7.25m on Dean Ashton.

At the same time Wigan splashed £2m on Paul Scharner, while McCarthy’s only action was to bring in Rory Delap from Southampton and Kevin Smith from Leeds, both on free transfers.

[…]

Jon Stead, Andy Gray, Daryl Murphy and Anthony Le Tallec have all struggled to make an impact in the Premiership, scoring just three goals between them all season - and all four were close-season McCarthy signings.

Stead (£1.8m) has not scored at all and Gray (£1.1m) has managed only one.

Stephen Elliott and Marcus Stewart got the goals to win promotion last season, but Elliott has been injured for long spells and the experienced Stewart left for Bristol City in the summer.

£1.25m goalkeeper Kelvin Davis hasn’t distinguished himself either, though there’s only so much you can do behind that defence.  Poor Mick ends his Premiership career with a record for futility which may never be broken: 2-4-31.

Damian P.

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Mick McCarthy has been sacked as manager of Sunderland. He was a confounding gaffer, good enough to win league promotions in the clinch but never able to translate that drive into workable EPL football. Let’s be a little kind to the man in his dark hour: how many of you have ever survived a rant the likes of which Roy Keane laid down on Mick after Ireland’s international follies?

The Hammers and the Latics do keep up one’s confidence in upward mobility from the Championship. However, what can one say of Mackem footie but to cite the wisdom of Milhouse Van Houten: “I fear to look, yet I cannot turn away!”

Paul Canniff

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Chelsea last night blamed Bryan Robson, the West Bromwich Albion manager, for the three Football Association charges they will face following Saturday’s fractious match at the Hawthorns. “He was insulting our players,” said a Chelsea spokesman.

The two misconduct offences to be included by Mark Halsey in his referee’s report are of failing to control their players, who surrounded Halsey at one point, and Jose Mourinho’s aggressive technical-area posturing. Chelsea are also likely to be hit with one unsporting behaviour charge after Mourinho’s players were late out for the second half.

Chelsea, though, argue that Robson goaded their players, an allegation sure to be dismissed by Soho Square. “We felt Bryan Robson set the tone for much of this from the first minute,” Chelsea’s director of communication, Simon Greenberg, said after a briefing from Mourinho.

“He was insulting our players and our bench virtually from the start. After 57 seconds, he was out of the dug-out accusing Damien Duff of diving and shouting at the referee. That general tone continued.”

Damian P.

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