What A shame the final weekend of the Premier League season is going to be a bit on an anti-climax.
Any Liverpool fans still clinging to the hope that Manchester City will lose at home to West Ham are basically clutching at straws.
The Hammers are 14/1 to win the game and, with City in jubilant mood after Wednesday night’s win against Aston Villa, you can’t see anything but another City win to round off the campaign as champions.
Mind you, I remember a couple of years ago Sergio Aguero’s famous last-minute winner came against a relegated QPR side who, like West Ham, went to City with nothing to play for and were leading 2-1 with five minutes to go.
One thing both bookmakers and neutrals will be hoping for is that West Ham take an early lead – that will get everyone on the edge of their seats.
Bizarrely, City look certain to be champions and yet, for some reason, I feel they have massively under performed.
I don’t know why that is, but the City team and manager Manuel Pellegrini don’t seem to be getting the plaudits which usually accompany a club which is about to be crowned champions.
It’s almost as though they are collecting the title by default, rather than through their own efforts.
Maybe that’s because you think of Chelsea throwing points away against Villa, Palace, Sunderland and Norwich and Liverpool, with the title in their grasp, managing to lose at home to an under-strength Chelsea and letting a three-goal lead slip at Palace.
I don’t know why that’s the perception and I am sure City fans will disagree with me, but that’s how it feels, City are winning the title by default.
Interestingly, we put out some odds the other day on the Manager of the Year, and the favourite is Tony Pulis.
That tells you everything you need to know about the transformation at Crystal Palace and, in fact, what Pulis has done there should give hope to every team in the Skybet Football League that their club and their players can do something similar.
On paper, they have got the lowest salary bill at Palace and, on paper, probably the least talented squad of all 20 in the top flight, but a huge dose of organisation and motivation and you are up and running.
Pulis has guided them to mid-table safety when, at one point, they were 1/20 to be relegated!
It was great to see Huddersfield Town finish the Skybet Championship season with such a good win down at Watford (4-1).
Although it feels like a season of “what might have been” at the John Smith’s Stadium, changes are already being made as the club look to go again next time.
Injuries took their toll this season and, too often, matches in which Town should have come out winners they were found wanting in one way or another.
I am sure, though, that another spell of moving players out – as they have done – and some new signings will strengthen Mark Robins’ hand and, hopefully, next season can be one for a more serious push near the top.
Not surprisingly, the appointment of Helena Costa as manager at French Ligue II side Clermont Foot has made headlines all over Europe.
She is the first female coach in the top two divisions of any European league and I doubt many football fans had heard of her before Wednesday.
Indeed, most people in football probably had to Google here to find out who she is and what she has done.
But before we get any howls of derision from male supporters or players, just remember it’s only 30 years ago in most work environments that men struggled to take instructions from women and Helena Costa, at 36, has scouted for Celtic, coached the Iran Women’s team, the Qatar Women’s team, Benfica’s youth teams and the senior men’s team at Cheleirense, where she won the Lisbon regional championship.
I am pleased a club like Clermont have given someone like Costa the opportunity.
And if she is good enough, as her record suggests, and gets the respect of the players, there is no reason why she can’t be successful.
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