Roehampton Addick

A lot has been said already since the weekend and it’s an almost unanimous opinion from the Valley faithful – your time’s up Mr Pardew.

It’s been a very long time indeed since so many Charlton fans have been calling for a Charlton manager to be removed form duty, so much so that we’re not very good at it. So many people had left The Valley before the final whistle that the boos and cries of Pardew Out were quite muted. Most fans wanted to get home – or back to the pub – so there were only a small number of fans protesting outside the main entrance after the game. Surely the board know how we feel? They must know that what Alan Pardew has served up both last season and this is quite simply not good enough.

Just in case they are in any doubt, the guys over at Charlton Life have put together a petition where fans can get across they’re opinion. One of their contributors has put together a very good blog posting covering off most of the point I was going to make here, so go over and read that post then follow the link at the end to the petition. But before you go, express your opinion in the poll on the right of this site. It’ll be interesting to see if the 52% of people who supported Pardew only a few weeks ago in another poll are still behind him now.

It’s been a busy few weeks, but I can’t let the dross served up by Pardew today go by without some comment.

Those of you that used to tune in to the Charlton Plus radio show will have heard Brian Cole and myself discuss Pardew and his poor team selection and tactics almost since he became manager. I think today showed that most Charlton fans have had enough and if Alan Pardew has any sense of decency he should resign. He won’t, of course, instead waiting until he is sacked so he can collect his compensation.

If Pardew is not removed we will be relegated.

So Zabeel have called off the proposed deal to purchase Charlton Athletic.I’m not really surprised, after all why us? They’ve been very polite about it, as you’d expect saying:

“Zabeel Investments has the highest regard for both the supporters of Charlton and the way in which Charlton is managed, and wishes the team every success in its quest for promotion this season and moving forward.”

So where does that leave us? In deep trouble I’d say.

Let me be quite clear on one point. I want Alan Pardew out of the club. After yet another poor performance on Tuesday night out he comes with the usual comment of having to make one or two changes. See my earlier post for my thoughts on that, and it’s not just me – the trend has been spotted elsewhere. If Pardew remains in charge I cannot see things improving. It’s clear to me that he doesn’t know his best squad, he asks for some consistency form his players but shows none himself, he perseveres with some players who are obviously struggling yet dumps others out at the first mistake.

Of course, this begs the question of who would I replace him with. Well, given the dire straits the club is now in, I’d suggest we go back to basics and look at what we’ve got within the club. Parkinson has some experience as a manager and could possibly do a job. Mark Kinsella has been successful with the reserves and knows the squad well. We could, of course, look outside and see who’s available, but the names of Allardyce, Billy Davies and Alan Curbishley don’t fill me with excitement. I doubt Big Sam or Curbs would want the job, and Davies seems to be a little unstable – but anything has got to be better than Pardew. Two wins out of the last nine games is just not good enough. Four wins all season. Extrapolate that over the season means around 38 points. Colchester United finished bottom of the league last season with, yep 38 points.

From what I’ve seen this season, as demonstrated in the first 20 minutes against Bristol City, this team is capable of so much more. We need more from the manager than just standing motionless on the touchline as all shape and spirit drains out of the team.

We need a change.

Well who saw this coming? Charlton have jusr release the following press release:

The board of Charlton Athletic plc announces that it has received an indicative cash offer from Zabeel Investments, a Dubai-based diversified investment company.

The indicative offer is subject to a number of (waivable) preconditions, including due diligence, however, it is at a level at which, should the offer be made formally to shareholders, the board would recommend shareholders to accept it.

There is, however, no certainty that a formal offer will be made nor as to the terms of any offer.

Zabeel Investments had been looking at the opportunity to invest in a leading English football club and had been monitoring the situation at Charlton Athletic Football Club closely.

I’ve not heard of Zabeel Investments before, and on first glance their website doesn’t provide much information, but I’ll be digging around further. Wyn Grant has already started his research over at Addick’s Championship Diary.

My initial feeling is one of wanting to know more. How will this affect OUR club? What kind of structures will this put in place? Will Richard Murray remain involved in some way? There are a lot of questions that will need to be answered and soon.

Some interesting comments on my last post about Pardew. So should he stay or should he go?

Vote now in our poll on the right hand side.

Let everyone know what you think by posting a comment.

Last week’s defeat to that lot from Croydon has kicked off the Alan Pardew debate with renewed vigour. Throughout last season there was a small, but growing, group of people saying that Pardew should be shown the door and that he just isn’t up to the job. This group has grown this season, and has reached a new level now. There have been some strong opinions on both sides posted to the mailing list, and Wyn Grant has put his opinion forward on his blog. So what do I think?

Let me start by mkaing it clear that I don’t like Pardew. Never did when he was a player and I haven’t been overly impressed with him as a manager. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s had a relatively successful career prior to joining the Addicks, but it’s been on the back of large squads with money to spend. When he came to The Valley he got my support – we needed to get behind the manager and team if we were to have any chance of retaining our Premiership status and he nearly managed to kee[ us up. However, looking back, there were signs of things to come even then. He did tinker with the team at times back in those distant days and this trait has got worse.

I’d had enough of Pardew by the middle of last season. His constant changing of the team was bad enough, but the loan players he brought in and then insisted on playing were certainly no better that those we already had and in some case, like Yassin Moutaouakil and Greg Halford, arguably worse. I don’t think we should have walked the league last season, but we should have made more of a challenge and the failure to do so was Pardew’s.

On to this season and whilst it’s true a lot of players left in the summer, but when you look at it most were fringe, at best, players. Paddy McCarthy has been replaced with the much better Mark Hudson, Chris Iwelumo was being used in completely the wrong way by Pardew and so wasn’t really effective, Madjid Bougherra was in and out of the side and Jerome Thomas flattered to deceive. Nicky Bailey has been a good signing and looks like he’s settling in well, so a point to Pardew, but Hameur Bouazza looks like another Thomas with the way he comes in and out of games. I have no idea why Pardew brought in Martin Cranie as a right back – centre half maybe. So we’ve cleared out a lot of dead wood, swapped a few fringe players with some alternatives and generally tinkered with things whilst reducing the wage bill – something we really needed to do. Ok Pardew, on you go. With a reduced squad surely you’ll settle on the team. Oh…that’ll be a no then…

Tinker, tinker, tinker. WHY? A solid start at home to promoted Swansea was followed up by a disappointing away defeat to Watford (I’ll ignore the Carling Cup), with the only real surprise from Pardew being the inclusion of Jose Semedo at right back. The dismissal of Youga against the Hornets forced a change at left back for the game against Reading, and injury to Racon forced a midfield rethink, but Pardew also brought in Moutaouakil in stead of Semedo. The result? A fabulous 4-2 win. Preston away sees a change – Lloyd Sam out. A defeat. Home to Wolves next. More changes. Both full backs dropped, and Sam is back in. Another defeat. Away to Doncaster. A Win! However, reports show we were completely outplayed for the entire game. After the game Pardew’s comments that we deliverately setout to concede possession on a slippery pitch and that the 4-5-1 formation he deployed worked well beggared belief. Those that were there all said that we couldn’t retain possession, we couldn’t pass the ball and we played 4-4-2 up until the last 10 minutes!

Away to Forest next, and Andy Gray’s reward for scoring the winner at Doncaster was being dropped to the bench as, tinker, tinker, a change to 4-5-1 is made. Against Forest. 3rd from bottom Forest. 14 goals conceeded and no points in 3 games Forest. A dull 0-0 draw results.

Tinker, tinker for the home game against Sheffield Wednesday with Gray back in the attack. We take the lead through a scrambled Varney goal but forget to defend and lose 1-2. Plenty of possession for the Addicks but not really threatening anywhere near enough.

Tinker, Tinker. Away to that lot from Croydon and Pardew changes it again, to a 4-5-1 with Varney at the head and Gray on the bench. I was ill and couldn’t go so listened to the radio commentary. It did nothing to aid my recovery. BBC London has Charlton legend Steve Brown as co-commentator and I’ve always found his reading of a game and the way he describes it to be quite accurate and worth listening to. To summarise, we were clueless. One fan described it as gutless. The only tactic that seemed to be used was the long punt up to the ineffective Varney. At one point early in the second half Brown said it needed a change from Charlton and it was good to see Pardew warming up some substitues. Time passed. More time passed. Only when we were 0-1 down did Pardew make a change by bringing on Todorov, Gray and the returning Zheng Zhi. It made little difference. Afterwards Pardew said he’d need to make wholesale changes and he has players pushing to get in the side.

Tinker, tinker. Home to Ipswich and the wholesale changes promised result in Ambrose, Zheng and Todorov starting. We win, but not after Ipswich hit the bar twice. The removal of Cranie at halftime for Semedo make a big impact and allowed the Addicks to show they can play some football. An injury to goalscorer Bailey is of concern, but hopefully that will clear up over the international break, but the form of Kelly Youga is really worrying. He started off doing well and was unfortunate to be sent off at Watford, but of late he really is losing it, being caught out of position time and time again against the Tractor Boys including for their goal. It seems nothing he does wrong affects his selection whereas others, like Moutaouakil and Semedo, can do no right.

Ok, maybe I’ve overdone the “tinker, tinker” comments, but you get my point? Pardew seems unable to let the team settle, always making little changes. It’s not just those he chops and changes thought, it’s those players he always keeps. Against Ipswich Jose Semedo showed how an overlapping full back and assist the winger and generally open up chances. I cannot remember a single occasion when Martin Cranie has done that. Moutaouakil does it all the time and whenever Moutaouakil and Lloyd Sam have played together Sam has looked a much better player and we’ve had a threat down our right hand side. I’ve already touched on the poor form of Youga and I’d replace him with Grant Basey who has played well whenever called on this season. Indeed the 4-2 win over Reading had Basey and Moutaouakil in the full back positions.

The other worrying part of our season was again highlighted for me in the Ipswich game, that is our inability to keep the ball in our opponents half and build pressure. Whenever Ipswich came forward with the ball they’d have 2 or 3 phases of presure, always seeming to pick up the second ball and putting our defence under pressure. Whenever we went forward and Ipswich cleared they retained possession and came straight back at us.

It seems to me that Pardew doesn’t know what he best team is, doesn’t know the best tactics and is losing us the opportunity to challenge in this division. I don’t know if this squad is good enough to gain promotion. I do know it is better than Pardew is making it.

With the increasing debate about what the future holds for Charlton Athletic, my thoughts have turned back to this blog. Should I kick start it again and put my thoughts down? Or should I let it lie, after all, there are plenty of other Charlton blogs around – do we need another one? Let me know what you think.

Two League games played and only a solitary point on the board. That’s the situation after a disappointing defeat at Stoke yesterday. So far this season the Addicks haven’t really got going and we’re still stuggling to find a team. There are too many misplaced passes, lack of communication and, from time to time, a lack of commitment. Having said that, there have been glimpses of what this squad could be capable of.

A lot has already been said of the Scunthorpe game, so let’s move on to Swindon – or at least the second half. Charlton started to find their passes, the movement was much better and so chances were created. Marcus Bent had another half-decent game, knocking one cross down for Ambrose to score. However, it was the what he did that lead to the penalty that demonstrates why he’s not a top striker. Instead of heading for goal just a few yards out, the ball hit him and bounced down to Izale McLeod who was fouled for the pen. Any half decent striker would have gone for goal. Still, a better performance and a win.

So Stoke. It was always going to be a difficult game and so it proved with Stoke dominating the opening 20 minutes with a succession of corners. The defence held out quite well but am I the only one to be worried about Weaver in goal? Not once this season have I felt comfortable with his keeping. From what I saw of Randolph at Liverpool last season I’d be happier with giving him a go.

Having weathered the early Stoke storm, the Addicks came back into the game and started to play some football. We created some chances but it was probably fair that it was 0-0 at the break. The second half was more of the same, with Stoke being strong and direct and Charlton trying to play football. Charlton scored whilst Yassin Moutaouakil was getting treatment after a bad foul left him with what looked like a serious ankle injury – a foul that went unnoticed by the officials. Play went on and when Andy Reid was fouled just outside the box the Irishman took the resultant free kick which deflected off Fortune and in. However it was the injury to Moutaouakil that turned the game. Pardew brought on McCarthy in to the centre of the defence with Fortune reverting to right back and both of Stoke’s goals game through poor defending by McCarthy. The first he allowed Ricardo Fuller to turn and fire in a short from the edge of the area and the second was similar with sub Jon Parkin turning and knocking the ball through McCarthy’s legs before firing past Weaver.

For all Charlton’s hard work at trying to get the passing game going, there wasn’t enough final product once again and there is still a lot of work still to be done before we see a team again. Still, there’s a long way to go in the League as well, with 44 games still to go. Only Stoke and Watford have 100% records so it’s still all to play for.

Let’s hear your views on Charlton Plus, every Sunday evening from 8pm UK time.

A 1-1 draw against what is likely to be the poorest side to visit The Valley wasn’t the greatest start to the Addicks’ Championship campaign. Poor officiating, especially in the second half, can only disguise the fact that Charlton failed to convert any of the dozen or so chances they created. Indeed, their opening goal from Marcus Bent came through a mistake by the Scunthorpe defence. Bent then went from “hero” to villain when he failed to track Izzy Iriekpen at a Scunthorpe corner with the big Iron defender running on to thump a header past Nicky Weaver.

There were some flashes of what could be to come with Andy Reid playing well, including one run where he did everything but score, and new right back Yassin Moutaouakil looking like a more than capable replacement for the departed Luke Young. However, my biggest concerns are up front where all four strikers on display failed to really demonstrate anything really constructive. Bent had one of his better games but is still not really consistent enough, Todorov did his best work linking up play, Iwelumo didn’t look like he could offer anything different and McLeod didn’t seem to get into the game too much. Early days I know so let’s hope things improve there. The team Pardew puts out on Tuesday night at Swindon will be really important. I dont’ think he can afford to chop and change things too much. We may have some good individuals but we don’t yet have a team and the players need time playing together to get that.

On another note, Charlton Plus returns tonight at 8pm UK time, so not only can you leave your thoughts on the game here on my blog, you can share them live on air on the radio!

Afternoon. How was your summer break? Mine? Not too bad, thanks for asking.

So what’s been going on in the world of CAFC then? Quite a lot really, with a load of players going and a host of new ones coming in, so much so it was difficult to work out who was who when the Braga friendly game kicked off.

Obviously the reality of relegation was the big story of the summer, with the Club again demonstrating what a disastrous 12 months it has been.
A lot has been said elsewhere on the way they handled the demise of the Women’s team and I’ve not got a lot more to add except to say that it was really poor PR and how much was the Club’s management to blame? Afterall, when the Women’s team was first formed they had a sponsor, in the form of Footdown. That deal went sour when CAFC officials fell out with the Footdown supremo and the sponsorship was never replaced.
A number of junior club staff were made redundant, but it is interesting to note that there were none from senior management – and we still retain matchday pitchside announcer Pete Nuttall, who I very much doubt has taken a substantial pay cut on his fee. A growing number of fans are expressing their frustration at Mr Nuttall’s presentation style but the club don’t seem to think it’s an issue. I’d be interested in hearing feedback from anyone reading this. I’d rather we replaced him with someone who at least cares about CAFC. Of the pitchside announcers we’ve had over the last 20 years, Brian Cole was by far the best so I’d like Brian back. I now he’s not to everyone’s tastes either, but at least he’s one of us.

So on to the players. I’ve got to start with Darren Bent. Thanks for what you did, and thanks for conducting yourself in such a professional manner. You’re a credit to yourself and to your profession. Oh, and cheers to Martin Jol for the £16.5M fee as well – £400k more than Thierry Henry! Honourable mention to Radostin Kishishev for all his efforts over the years.
Players in? Well today’s news that ZZ is coming back has certainly improved the look of the squad. With the countless number of strikers Pardew now has, another central midfield player is good news. It’s a shame Luke Varney has picked up an injury that’s likely to keep him out for a while, but Svetoslav Todorov can score goals, Chris Iwelumo has a good record at this level and Izale McLeod has played in the Championship before, so things aren’t too shabby. Add that together with the untried Chris Dickson and it could be a good season.
The defence looks more shaky though, with no obvious central defensive partnerships as things stand. The full backs are fine, with Thatcher on the left and French U21 skipper Yassin Moutaouakil there, so we’ll have to see who Pardew picks on Saturday for the test of it.

I think we’re in for an interesting season. If we can get off to a good start, the confidence should grown and I’d hope to be challenging for at least a play-off position. If not, it could turn into a long hard slog. I’ve provided full predictions on the CAFC Picks site. Go take a look and let me know if you agree. Or not.

So there you go, a quick look back on the summer to get me back in the swing of this blogging lark. Let me know what you think about what’s happened and how you see the season going.

Well, there you have it. The fat lady has sung and Charlton will be in the Championship next season. It all had a ring of inevitability about it when Dimitar Berbatov outpaced Talal El Karkouri to score Spurs’ opener. Whilst the majority of the Charlton players were giving their all, it just wasn’t good enough, which has been the story of the season. There’s really not a lot more that needs saying about the football, apart from mentioning in passing that Defoe scored a late second for the visitors.

One thing that mst be mentioned was the superb support from the Valley faithful. “Always look on the bright side of life” rang around the ground, followed by an extended chorus of Valley Floyd Road. Wonderful stuff and yet another reminder of what makes our club special. That is something we must retain. The special relationship between the board and staff of the club and us fans enabled us to rebuild the club after the dark days and we must retain that. In Richard Murray we have a genuine fan in charge who will be hurting as we all are now we’ve gone down. The rumours that an overseas consortium is interested in buying the club is something we should all be concerned about. I don’t believe we have to have this kind of faceless investment to get our club back into the top flight. This is our club and shouldn’t become the play thing of a rich individual.

I don’t know about you, but I’m still seething that West Ham United FC have got away with their lies surrounding the signing and contracts of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. I read through the findings of the Independent Commission last Sunday afternoon and it really is a farcical situation.

Firstly, the Commission’s report outlines what happened regarding the original signings of Tevez and Mascherano. It makes clear that the last week of August 2006 was a busy time for the club and seems to imply that was a reason in what followed. At the same time, Kia Joorabchian was showing an interest in buying the club. The Commission makes it clear that the signing of the two Argentines and the possible purchase of the club were linked, due to Kia Joorabchian having an interest in the companies that owned the two players.

West Ham were charged with breaching two FAPL rules, B13 and U18. Rule B13 states “in all matters and transactions relating to the league, each club shall behave towards each other club and the league with the utmost good faith”. Rule U18 says “No club shall enter into a contract which enables any other party to that contract to acquire the ability materially to influence its policies or the performance of its teams in league matches or in any (other) competitions.” West Ham pleaded guilty to both charges.

The Commission found that the contracts of both players had clauses in them with the result that neither West Ham nor the individual players could terminate their contracts – only the third party companies could do that. Indeed, these companies, MSI Group Limited (MSI) and Just Sports Inc in the case of Tevez, Global Soccer Agencies Limited (GSA) and Mystere Services Limited (MSL) in the case of Mascherano, could effect the transfer of either player during any valid transfer window without the needing the permission of either player or club.

West Ham say they asked for advice from the Premier League regarding whether these contracts would be allowed under the FAPL rules before signing the players. They say the advice they got was that there might be a problem, whereas the FAPL secretary says the club were informed in no uncertain terms that they would definitely be in breach. West Ham further contended that neither contract would be enforceable in law so should be discounted.

Statements submitted to the Commission by Mr Magnusson, the current chairman, and Mr Curbishley, the current manager, said there has been no influence, nor would they have tolerated any of these third parties seeking to impose such influence.

The legal and commercial director of the club at the time of the signings was Mr Scott Duxbury with its chief executive officer being Mr Paul Aldridge. Both seemed to be ignorant of the FAPL rules. Indeed Aldridge lied to FAPL chief exec Richard Scudamore when asked if there was any documentation regarding the transfer of the two players that the FAPL hadn’t seen. Despite being concerned regarding how West Ham managed to sign two international players for next to no fee, the FAPL accepted the club’s assurances everything was above board. Both players were registered to play for West Ham. That remained the position until 24th January 2007. On that date, Mr Igoe, the finance director of West Ham, was informed by the FAPL of a proposed report into third party ownership of footballers. He decided to forward the contracts to the FAPL. Before doing so, he asked both Mr Magnusson and Mr Duxbury whether there was any reason why he should not. This led, eventually, to the Commission and the guilty verdict.

So, West Ham were bang to rights and had little choice but to plead guilty to both charges. So what punishment should be meted out? The Commission noted:

The Rules of the FAPL allow us to penalise a club by deducting points. That is a course that we consider would normally follow from such a breach of these Rules. Many clubs may be of the view that all competitions should be decided on the pitch and not by tribunals. Whilst that is a natural and understandable view, the fact remains that some breaches will be of such a serious nature that only a deduction of points would be appropriate.
Having said that, they felt that the deduction of points would be be “proportionate”. Their reasons?:

We have taken the following factors into account:

So there you have it. West Ham get away with breaking the rules because they raised the contracts issue with the FAPL just before the League launched an inquiry and because the FAPL couldn’t get themselves organised to deal with the matter sooner.

Surely the timing of the Commission was irrelevant – the rules had been broken so the punishment should fit the crime.
Why did it take the FAPL so long to sort this issue out and bring it before a Commission?
Why was Tevez allowed to continue to play whilst his contract was in breach of FAPL rules? Further, why was he allowed to play last weekend against Wigan, playing a key part in West Ham’s win?
It now seems that Tevez won’t be allowed to play in the final two games of the season as there has been no change in his situation – so again, why did he play last week?

The BBC are now reporting that former Hammers Chief Exec Paul Aldridge could take legal action over the Commission’s findings as his “personal and professional reputations have been besmirched. The findings accuse me of acting dishonestly and lying”.

Further, Sky report that sports lawyer Mel Goldberg has suggested that clubs relegated from the Premiership this season could take legal action against the Premier League, something Wigan chairman Dave Whelan is considering. Reports are also surfacing that Fulham might follow suit.

It all stinks and shows up the “beautiful” game to be anything but. Does this show the game really is corrupt?

We’ve not heard that last of this.

Ok, I’ve finally got around to posting something after last Saturday’s demoralising defeat up to Blackburn. Another good day out spoilt by the football.

Firstly, thanks for all those at the club who worked so hard to organise and then deliver the transport. It all worked well and the site of all the coaches was amazing.

Secondly, well done to the fans for the support, despite the performance on the pitch.

So, what about the game? Well it just showed up what we’ve known all season – we’re not really good enough. Yes, Alan Pardew has managed to get some performances out of the team since taking over, but we reverted to type at Ewood. Ok, Blackburn’s first goal had a large slice of luck with Scotty Carson’s mistake, but we just did not have a clue in defence. HH has been a superb player for us but he was involved in all of their goals, marking too closely one minute, not tracking his man the next. El Karkouri is a squad player at best. Luke Young had an off day. Ben Thatcher let us all down.

But do you know what the worst part of it all was? At the final whistle, having given them tremendous support all game, only Matt Holland came over to the fans. There were a few token gestures from a handful of others, but most just walked straight off. Matt Holland knows what it means to be a professional footballer and deserves our support. If we do go down it’s people with that kind of approach we need.

So where does that leave us? Two points from safety, so it is still possible to stay up. However, with us facing a UEFA cup chasing Spurs team on Monday we really need results to go our way. West Ham are at home to Bolton who, despite losing Big Sam, will still be fighting for the UEFA Cup themselves. Not easy for the Hammers. Wigan have perhaps the easiest game, at home to Middlesbrough, but the Latics are in free fall at the moment, so that’s not a forgone conclusion either. Fulham at home to Liverpool is a difficult game too even with the Scousers likely to rest key players after their extended Champions League exploits midweek.

What does all that mean? We could be 5 points from safety come kick-off on Monday, meaning anything other than a win would relegate us. It’s going to be a nervous Saturday afternoon…

We’re almost there. Almost time for the long trip to Ewood Park. It’s going to be a long day.

I’ve got to leave home by 7am to get to Gatwick for my flight north (I’m on the 10:15, so come and say hello if you see me). Hope that the coaches form Liverpool to Blackburn get a move on as I think I might need a pint or three before the game…

As for the game, well I did say when I started this blog that I’m no good at all at previews, and that applies even more this week. Same squad to select from, I expect changes from last week, with Matt Holland to appear. Ben Thatcher is expected to be fit, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see HH featuring somewhere – maybe in the referee’s notebook!

The big worry now though is with the additional UEFA Cup place available to the team finishing 7th in the Premier League. Blackburn are currently 7 points adrift but have 4 games left so still have an outside chance of claiming the place. Next week’s opponents, Spurs, are only a point adrift…

Whilst it’s not quite the last chance saloon, defeat tomorrow all but relegates the Addicks, which will make it a miserable journey south again. However, if we do win, we’re in with a great chance of moving up the table. With Sheffield United at home to Watford and Wigan facing West Ham tomorrow, along with Fulham at Arsenal on Sunday, we could still end up in 15th place come Sunday night. Already relegated Watford can relax and play for pride making Sheffield United’s job difficult. We all know Wigan and West Ham are fighting for their lives as well, and maybe today’s news that the Hamsters have got away with their rule breaking could lift them away from home. I really can’t see Fulham getting anything more than a draw from the Emirates, but Arsenal only need a point from their remaining games to ensure a Champions League place.

See you all up there!

And the winner is: West Ham.

As expected, West Ham have been found guilty of breaching Premier League rules over the signing of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Their punishment? A fine of £5.5m. Despite being a record amount, it’s still small beer to a Premiership club, especially one looking at a minimum of £30m if they remain in the Premiership. So cheats do prosper then, if they’re big enough. AFC Wimbledon might want to take a look at this ruling as they were docked a massive 18 points, reduced to 3 on appeal, for fielding a player before they gained international clearance.

Interestingly, the hearing report also said “the registration of Carlos Tevez can be terminated”. However, the Premier League has yet to confirm if it will.

So a precedent has been set. Sign a player in breach of the rules and it’ll only cost you a £5.5m fine (if you’re caught) but could win you £30m.