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THE WEEKEND THAT WAS 9-5-06
Kean Thomas
THE WEEKEND THAT WAS IS SPONSORED BY PADDY POWER - CLICK THE BANNER FOR A FREE TEN QUID BET
The Season That Was...
Or... One Season In Four Days.
Part 3
Following on...
West Ham
Another team tipped for the drop at the start of the season, and another team that proved the critics wrong. Less than eighteen months ago Hammers fans were calling for Pardew to be sacked and now he's lead them to an eighth place finish, an FA Cup Final and a place in the Uefa Cup. Now he's the messiah. How fickle we fans can be.
After a fairly comfortable start (three wins in the first six games) the season settled into a pattern of win a few, lose a few, draw a few. The signing of Dean Ashton helped propel the Hammers up to a top ten finish (ninth) and rule Skippy out for the last few games. Me?? Bitter? Never. Twat.
Lets see how the 'Appy 'Ammers do in the league next season with the rigours of the Uefa Cup to contend with as well.
Bolton
Oh joy. Our favourite team.
Grudgingly I have to admit that an eighth place finish is not a bad season for Big Sam's lads but he's still miserable about not getting the England job.
Another one of those teams that seem to win most of their matches 1-0. Expect when they play at the Riverside on Mother's Day. 4-3 in the last minute. Now THAT sounds like an exciting match.
Stelios Giannakopoulos top scored for the Trotters with a grand total of nine league goals.
Fat Sam very nearly had a Keggie Keegan moment with his "I'd love to be the England boss' outburst. Thankfully no one at the FA paid any attention.
Next season? Well for one thing Jay-Jay Okacha won't be there after being released yesterday. But will the Fat Lad still be there come August? If there is a God, he'll end up at Newcastle. Fat Sam and Fat Freddie- a match made in heaven. Or is that a match made in the lard factory?
Newcastle
.and onto the Biggest Club In The Land T..
What a fine season the Geordies have had, winning the Premier Title (for the 40th consecutive year), The Champions League and with a remarkable break with tradition, also winning the UEFA Cup.
All this with by far the world's greatest fans, and so humble with it.
Agent Sourpuss did the job all Smoggies & Mackems had hoped he would, keeping the skunks floundering in the lower half of the table for most of the season.
When he eventually did decide to call it time, Fat Freddie decided to turn to the dream team of Shearer & Roeder to turn things around. And remarkably with big Al calling the shots (or not interfering) things turned around.
Shearer decided to call time on his career this season, only after beating Jackie Milburn's all time scoring record. We can only assume that Craig Bellamy was one of the first to send him a text wishing him 'Well Done'.
Michael Owen realised halfway through the season that he'd signed for that Newcastle United and decided to feign injury for the rest of the season. Expect him to move on in the summer.
The Toon could still be managerless come the start of the season, unless fourteen of the Premier League clubs give special dispensation to Glenn Roeder to keep on managing. You can imagine the scene in boardrooms up and down the country. "They want him to stay on as manager???.... Mmmmmppppf... Ok, we'll agree to that!"
..oh and they qualified for the Inter Toto cup. Well done from all at ComeOnBoro.com.
Blackburn
Hats off to Mark Hughes from this writer. He's turned round a team that looked destined for a relegation battle into a team that qualified for the Uefa Cup.
Robbie Savage moved from Birmingham to add some steel to the middle of the team, and piss off half of the second city, and he managed to get himself sent off in a league game for the first time in his career. Hard to believe I know.
My all time favourite player Craig Bellamy scored a lucky 'unlucky' thirteen goals in the league for the Rovers.
That was sarcasm by the way.
Another team that could struggle next season with dual commitments in the League and the Uefa Cup unless some strengthening is done.
Tottenham
Whoops! It would never of happened at Norwich you know. After sitting pretty in the last Champions League spot for most of the season it all went a bit wrong on the last day of the season for Martin Jol's men. He must be so pissed off that his team didn't have the stomach for the final day fight.
After spending most of the summer, and the equivalent of Belgium's national debt buying up and coming English young midfielders, hopes were high for a good league season. Obviously a cup win was out of the question, it being 2006 and all.
But not only did they have strength in depth in the middle of the park, they also had some of the most exciting talent up front as well. Robbie Keane scoring sixteen goals in the league. Mido and Jermain Defoe ably assisted him with eleven and nine league goals respectively.
Paul Robinson left his post as general nasty person in Ramsey Street to play every minute of every game in the Premier League for the Spuds.
Which match of theirs had the most goals in??? 3-3 against the Boro.
Uefa cup for the Spuds next year but they may need to sign a few more midfielders to compete. Give Ray Parlour ago... and Dave Doriva.
That's it for this edition, next time it's the most exciting team in the league. And Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.
PART FOUR OF THE SEASON THAT WAS COMING SOON...
PART ONE RIGHT HERE
THE WEEKEND THAT WAS IS SPONSORED BY PADDY POWER - CLICK THE BANNER FOR A FREE TEN QUID BET
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