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Even before all the matches of the Barclays Premier League finished, Manchester United laid claim to the trophy because of the total points earned in their respective matches that puts them way ahead of their nearest competitors. This third successive Premier League title came after a gripping match between Manchester United and Arsenal on May 16. Though the match turned out to be a draw with neither side scoring a goal fans stayed glued to their seats only due to the fact that a single pass could convert into a goal and consequently lead to a chain of events.

United was only a single point away from clinching the title and this probably could have been the primary reason for their laidback performance. The first half of the game saw United players playing at a walking pace while the players from Arsenal were probably trying to play for the cameras. In the process of trying to convert a picture-perfect match winning goal, Arsenal lost quite a fair bit of focus on actually heading for the goal and sneaking a pass between the somewhat indifferent United players. The first half of the game was uninteresting and relatively forgettable. A stunning crossfield pass from Rooney was controlled quite efficiently by Cristiano Ronaldo only to be lost near the goal. Even though most players including Tevez played well below par still United refrained from making changes till halftime. Ji-sung Park replaced Tevez in the 67th minute and his Nike Tiempo trainers appeared to be on fire as he almost immediately charged towards the Arsenal goal post. Park netted the ball within minutes of coming on to the field though the referee denied the goal because of a highly questionable offside.

Probably the longest 90 minutes in Premier League history came to a draw with the final scores at 0-0. United have one more match to play and if this was the exuberance that was displayed at the almost win situation then United’s concluding game for the Premier League could turn out to be the most tedious and droning 90 minutes ever.

Finally the condemnation of Norwich City to League One was brutal and swift. To avoid relegation they required a miracle by half time they were already doomed. Their listless performance led the supporter’s heart broken who after 30 minutes of the game left the ground.

Though the outcome was not relevant but it was a very unfortunate moment for the 3300 yellow and green supporters who were not to be blamed for getting furious. The reason for supporters of Norwich City was leaving half way was more than justified as they struggled against the team who had also been relegated earlier. Charlton Athletic after their relegation had nothing to look for in the game.

Norwich City 16 years ago had beaten Bayern Munich, but that memory is long gone as the team is on a different planet skills-wise and would never stand a chance of beating anywhere wearing a Adidas Bayern München Home Shirt 2008, or any football shirt for that matter. The number of games lost in this season has gone up to 24 and on a day when they could not afford anything else but a win, they played so unconvincingly. The maximum pain with this performance will be of Bryan Gunn the manager of the team who literally acted as a fire fighter after the sacking of Glenn Roeder in January. The goalkeeper of that famous win in Munich wants to continue and if the chance is given to him will ensure significant improvement in the nest season from his players.

Gunner remarked that he was really let down by the performance of his team. His team exhibited total lack of belief and character in the game. He further added that the worst thing is relegation and this fact has to be accepted by the players. They may go with their sunglasses on for the entire summer as their performance is an embarrassment.

Kris Boyd scored his seasons’ 29th goal against St. Mirren in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup to give a 3-0 win to Rangers on Saturday whereas the striker was supposed to be out of Ibrox way back in January. It was agreed at that time by the Glasgow club to send the prolific striker to Birmingham City for an agreed fee as the club is facing financial problems. But the deal could not be executed due to certain personal reasons.

Though Boyd may be upset about this fact as he does not want to leave Rangers but that has not affected his performance which can be seen from the fact that this is his 100th goal in only 146 games for Glasgow Rangers. This strike rate is also one of the best in the history of the club. However this will not stop the club from accepting another offer which will be on similar terms as received from Birmingham and they will certainly cash on the opportunity when the window for transfer reopens.

When asked for his comments Boyd remarked that it was up to the club to make the decision and they would do whatever they want. Adding further he said that he does not want to think what had occurred in January and is working very hard for the club and will continue till the season ends. Then he will wait and see. Boyd also claimed that if it had been in his hands he would certainly continue at Ibrox throughout his career. He said that he was very happy staying at Rangers and would like to play and score goals for his club for the remaining part of his career.

The Football League has imposed a deduction of 10 points on Southampton for entering administration. Effectively this would relegate Southampton for Coca-Cola League One and they would have ten points minus as opening account in the next season.

The Club is going into appeal against the decision of the League. The parent company of the Club, Southampton Leisure Holdings claim that the Club should not be penalised for the parent Company for the purpose of entering administration as it is a separate entity. But yesterday the League decided that the parent company and the club are economically linked to each other and cannot be separated after going through the report submitted by independent team of forensic accountants. It is definitely unfortunate for football fans and anyone wearing a Southampton football shirt, that such non-football related matters must now play a role in the club’s future. The Chairman Lord Mawhinney of the League in an interview in television said that not only the parent company but the club also were in administration, and therefore the club must be penalised as well.

Meanwhile the grounds of appeal prepared by the club are that the forensic accountants firm Grant Thornton who had taken up the investigation had crossed the remit as had been agreed by the League and the club. The Club will also take up the claim made by the League’s Chairman.

The Joint administrator Mark Fry remarked that the deduction of ten-point from the Football League was outrageous because of the very fact that as per the Leagues own Charter they are supposed to be a listening organisation. Mark Fry added that more than 30 parties last week had shown interest to take over the club however out of them just two are going ahead for due diligence.

It seems that anonymous data that is reflecting in some gigantic calculation is enough to reduce the game of football and footballers to a set of statistics. Never the less there are people out there insisting to see the world like that, for those Dimitar Berbatov’s first season at Manchester United states reflected 13 goals in all competitions; 27 matches of Barclays Premier League with 8 goals; had shooting accuracy around 50% with 20% conversion chances. It is been argued that this is a woeful season for a player who costs £30.75 million. The statistics are fair but they fail to convey – the essence of Dimitar Berbatov’s contribution; the artistry of his volley; the elegance of his pull back & takes; the audacity of his lightning turn and intuitive flick.

The statistics of almost all the matches, for all the top performers and for the all breath taking events are collected to analyze that “X” factor of success. There is an entire academic set up trying to establish the reason for the dominance of English teams in the Champions League. The reason is above that in the statistics, the reason is the peerless spectacle. It should be seen in the vision of Arsène Wenger & Ferguson in particular.

The fans and spectators would always like to witness the game, share the excitement and would love to enjoy the game. Though they would understand the statistical matrix very clearly to understand the win and lose side of a game but no one would leave the ground with a percentage of passes competed in his head; unless of course they were recording and analysing everything in real time on their new Dell Inspiron 1545 notebook. However, for most normal people, only  the moments and excitement would be locked in their heads, and not the individual shooting, or passing statistics. The fun they have at the live game can never be tasted in the ProZone’s matrix of numbers or in front of a computer screen.

Analysing the present deterioration in the form of Robinho in the season’s second half, Mark Hughes the boss of Manchester City, said that all the teams in the opposition camp are developing a defence strategy that is centred on the concept of making Robinho ineffective by stopping him.

After the record deal of 32.5 million pound for transfer of this Brazilian star from Real Madrid in the previous summer that shocked everybody there was lot of expectations from him. At a press conference Hughes said that Robby is one of those players who have that ability of affecting the game and the match in an extremely positive manner. He further added that after investigating into the matter in the seasons second half is that at the present moment the findings are that the teams have observed his style of playing closely and have focussed on to develop a strategy of making the impact of Robby ineffective in the match and they have been successful in reducing his impact on the game in the seasons second half as compared to the first half.

In other words because of his outstanding abilities he has become the centre of the target for most of the other teams planning strategy. The problem is not with Robinho’s Nike Mercurial football boots, but rather with the way most team’s defence have essentially analysed his tendencies and figured him out. This has been the struggle that is applicable not only for Robby but for many other players also. Now with the situation in which Manchester City has placed themselves, Mark Hughes is now desperate and must be wishing that Robinho improves his performance and delivers the goods as had been expected from him in the past.

Manchester United has dominated the awards list of the PFA with a total of five out of the six nominated player coming from Manchester United and only non-Manchester United nomination being Steven Gerrard from Liverpool. The other Manchester United nominees are Nemanja Vidic, Edwin van der Sar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand. The voting for these awards had taken place before United Manchester had their recent plunge in the form which goes to explain the total domination in the list of nominee in the “PFA player of the year award.”

There is a strong possibility of Defender Nemanja Vidic as the most favourite contender to lift the trophy of the “PFA player of the year award.” As far as Steven Gerrard is concerned there is also a possibility of the Adidas Predator Absolute X TRX SG football boots wearing player benefiting from split votes over United players. If Ryan Giggs wins this would be his first award and if Cristiano Ronaldo wins the award he would be the first player to win consecutively for three years.

Similar is the situation in the Nominees for the “PFA young player of the year award” where Rafael Da Silva and Jonny Evans the United pair are the strong contenders for this award. However besides this pair Stephen Ireland of Manchester United, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa and Aaron Lennon of Tottenham are also in the race.

Both Young and Agbonlahor from Aston have been impressive throughout while on the other hand even Lennon of Tottenham has also been successful in drawing attention this season.

At 11.30 am when the gates of St James Park were opened thousands of fans gathered for the opening session of the training of the players of Newcastle. It became a grand affair as they cheered their players over the training session. It was schoolchildren’s Easter holidays and thousands of them gathered making the crowd number to 7500 as the 38-year old Alan Shearer manager of Newcastle marked the beginning of one of the toughest survival battle on a day with warm sunshine.

The crowds watched as Shearer and Iain Dowie his assistant started the shooting practice supervision. Meanwhile Mark Viduka and Joey Barton who were absentees for a long term worked jointly recovering from the injury. The crowed cheered their players each time the ball crossed over to the net something the crowed desperately wants to it to happen more frequently in the near future.

The highlights being when the manager could not resist the repetition of his past after his first in the double he claimed in the game. Meanwhile Michael Owen the Captain also joined in practice for shooting. With the crucial match on Saturday of the Premier League coming up the defenders Sebastien Bassong and Steven Taylor were not to be seen as they are still battling with the groin injury and ankle injury.

It was a pleasure to watch Shearer pass on his experience of a record 206 goals and his 20 years of football life and serve his club of his home town. The training session included close range shots that peppered Fraser Foster and Steve Harper the goalkeepers ahead of the tough challenges to be faced by them in the seven games remaining in the season. Admittedly, the training could have been said to be tough or extreme, and no one was forced to run countless laps or spend extra time on a treadmill like the Tunturi T85. With that said, no one can question Shearer’s desire to propel Newcastle back to winning form and save his former team. The determination of Shearer could be seen by the extraordinary struggle he has to make to save the relegation of the club where he would use everything and everyone who are at his disposal.

On Friday Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted saying that Chief Executive of Manchester United David Gill is considering staggering of the games. Ferguson in the past was in favour of a shut-down similar to the continental style during the middle of the season and justified the winter break as beneficial which would come immediately after New Year fixtures.

However Ferguson is also aware of the fact that the acceptance of this concept is not there in England although there was a situation when all the top clubs voted in favour of having a winter break but were not able to decide on how to schedule the same.

Now the Manchester United boss is considering the extension by one more week of this current season as he wants to accommodate the qualify games of the world cup for England to be played in June against Andorra and Kazakhstan and this he feels would more than justify having a winter break. He further added that due to the lack of rest, injuries suffered by the English players are much more common than their counterparts in Europe. Most continental European players have a break to take off their Adidas, Nike or Puma football boots and recover from the rigours of regular season play. Ferguson further emphasised that the figures support his observation that the English players play with a lot of troubles and sprains and as they approach the months of late February or early march many play with injuries.

Meanwhile David Gill is expected to put up a proposal to spread one round of fixtures of the Premier League in January over a period of three weeks which would satisfy broadcaster requirements and at also providing two weeks break to all the 20 clubs players so that they could re-charge themselves.

Colin Murdock, defender of ACCRINGTON Stanley is replacing his footballing profession with a job of a solicitor in the summer. This 33 years old eminent and efficient footballer, having achieved a total of 34 caps got back to Stanley, gave tremendous performances, starting around 18 matches in the season. Colin Murdock, the former ‘Manchester United junior’ spoke about playing for just two to three seasons while joining Stanley on a one-year deal in summer. He gave an unknown number of appearances setting to trigger another year in his contract.

However, boss John Coleman has confessed that Colin Murdock found it taxing to play twice a week and the ‘ex-Preston and Hibernian defender’ lost his place to Kieran Charnock. This could mean that Colin decides to carry on his career as a solicitor.

Colin personally feels that this season has been slightly mixed up for him. He said that he felt nice to play in the last two games and that he still continues to enjoy playing. Not playing in any of the games does not disappoint him but he tries to do his best each time he’s on the field. According to his team fared pretty very well this season and he’s pleased and proud to be a part of it.

Not being too sure of what his plans for the upcoming seasons are, idealistic Colin keeps the option of joining some other club open. He might end up trading in his football boots for a brand new laptop, like the Sony Vaio VGN-FW31ZJ, and a barrister wig. After all, Murdock has plenty of other options, and career change into law as a solicitor is not far fetched, considering he already has a law degree.