That Was The Week That Was

MONDAY
So that's that then. After nine months of hard tackles, wonder goals and hilarious dives, the English Premier League season came to an end on Sunday with Manchester United claiming the title. It's the club's tenth Premier League win, with Ryan Giggs and Sir Alex Ferguson also notching up the perfect ten following their 2-0 win at Wigan. But is does it mean Fergie is ready to retire now? Apparently not: "How would I be without all this, please tell me,' he says. 'And my wife wouldn't let me retire. She kicks me out of the door at 7am every morning. She's quite a formidable person." More formidable than Fergie? Crikey!

It wasn't all good news for the Premier League teams though. The relegation issue also went down to the final day, with Fulham, Reading and Birmingham all facing the drop, and it was the Cottagers (Fulham) who survived thanks to a Danny Murphy-inspired 1-0 win at Portsmouth. Birmingham now face a tricky task in keeping stars like Mauro Zarate at the club, while Reading may lose influential manager Steve Coppell, who has been ducking questions on his Madejski future all week and seems likely to move on.

Meanwhile, Manchester City's game at Middlesbrough may not have had much effect at either the top, bottom or indeed middle of the Premier League but it was still one of the most shocking ties of the final day. Gareth Southgate's men hit eight, yes, I did say 8 (EIGHT!) past the Eastland's side in what looks certain to be Sven-Goran Eriksson's last game in charge. "It is difficult to take whenever you lose. But, when you lose like this, it is awful," says a dejected Sven. And to Middlesbrough, Sven.