It's good here, isn't it? *

So Chelsea have won the FA Cup then, and in doing so have secured their first ever League and FAC double; well, fair play to them. I think it's just to say they've been the best team in England this season, and they deserve their success. As a lapsed Man United fan, now living down here in NW London, it doesn't hurt as much to say that as I once thought it might; but I suppose my interest in all things FCUM has softened the blow a bit!

I think this last season in English football has been a really good one, and for mostly the right reasons. The Premier League very nearly did go all the way, as did the fight for 4th place. I'm sure there's something to be said about the lack of consistency for the top teams, regarding form anyway, but when this makes the competition for placings so exciting then it's to the benefit of everyone watching along. I found it to be most enjoyable anyway, and were it not for the loss of an unprecedented four-in-a-row / one-more-than-the-scousers title, then I'd have had no problem with Utd not winning the title at all.

As it is, it's a case of so near, so far for the Reds; and also for the Blues too. I'm no Mystic Meg, or indeed a Pisstake Peg, but I can foresee at least two titanic-looking Manchester derbies coming next season already! city will spend, Utd will wheel and deal, and bragging rights will be contested keenly once more I'm sure. I've got to say, the whole thing about the fight for fourth spot kept things really interesting for me, once I'd resigned myself to title defeat; that it ended up the way I wanted it to was a bonus; no room in the top four for either city or Liverpool? Happy days are here again!

In fact, the red scouse very nearly missed out on European competition next season altogether, with their blue brethren almost, er, stealing it from them.

And what about Arsenal? Title pretenders, and also almost missing out on automatic qualification to the CL group stages. It looks like Tottenham have arrived at last, though it seems that having broken into the top four, they're going to have to splash some cash in the summer to stay there, what with the expected transfer blitz up at Eastlands on its way. The Gooners too will also need to strengthen, with all of their much-publicised lack of cover / experience / quality-in-certain-areas problems. They better hope that the boy Fabregas resists any advances from Barcelona, otherwise they could be in trouble next season. Wenger too.

So like I say, I really enjoyed the Premier League this year; I'm not concerned about any perceived drop in the 'quality' of the top teams, or their relative lack of success in Europe this year; give me a league that's competitive and I'll show you a country that actually still cares about the final results come the end of the season. It, finally, was a Premier League this season.

And what of the 'lower' leagues, and the cups? Newcastle looked good in racing away with the Championship title, and with some investment should be capable of maintaining PL status come this time next year. Not sure how the Baggies will cope again though; they looked out of place on their last visit to the top table, and still look short on actual quality. Good, noisy home support for them may be the best of what they can offer, though a glance in the direction of Stoke might tell you that it can help inspire a team onto better things.

League One was a bit of a thriller as well, wasn't it? The Canaries recovered from a truly awful start to go on to convincingly take the title honours (at the first attempt?), Leeds very nearly threw away automatic promotion in giving us surely the closest end to a league season ever (5 teams went into the last day, all with a chance of taking 2nd place!) and there was something of a resurgence for Southampton too. Had it not been for their 10 point penalty, coupled with a woeful start to the campaign, they could easily have been promotion challengers themselves. Their terrific post-start form might work against them though, as they will be expected to do even better next term.

Even League Two didn't disappoint, in the neutral-interest-stakes; big-spending Notts County took the big prize, despite interference from both Sven and Sol. God knows what County's fans make of what's going on there, but they do have a promotion to celebrate, as do (in the end) Rochdale. I'm sure I remember them being top for ages and ages, but a quick glance at the tables shows them finishing third, albeit comfortably so.

What with Portsmouth's run to the Cup Final (despite frankly scandalous behind the scenes shenanigans) and a good showing from Villa (League Cup final) and amazingly Fulham (Europa Lge final), this really has been a season to savour; and that's without really mentioning disappointing form for FC United in the Unibond (an FAC run though!), or a season of discovery for AFC Wimbledon in the Conference; and there's a World Cup in less than a month!

Like I said earlier, Happy Days...

* apologies to the ESPN Classic voice-over man, but yeah it is good. Innit.

Morning has broken...

So here it is, my very first blog entry; as it happens, morning has actually just broken, and it looks like being a sunny one at least.

As I work permanent nightshifts, I should probably think about making tracks to bed, but suffice to say that I intend to post as much stuff of general interest as I can, particularly about FC United of Manchester, old video games, and anything else that I feel like gassing about.

I hope you enjoy enough of what I have to spout about to come back for another go, and that you tell all your friends about my blog in the process!

:-D

Darren

(and yes, I still like old fashioned emoticons)