WHICH SEVEN ENGLAND PLAYERS WILL GO HOME?

So England beat Japan 2-1 in Graz.It was a nervy and poor first half for England.When Fabio Capello put Steve Gerrard on in the second half things did improve but until the final 23 is chosen and the regular team is known it is always going to be like that.You would think Capello knows what he is doing but it sure doesn't seem like that in these friendlies.After a long season why doesn't Capello play his strongest team.He has known,surely,his 23 for some time..Capello clearly must have a lot of qualities but I need a lot of convincing that even he can lift England to World Cup victory.Love to think so but I cannot see it....Meanwhile who will be the unlucky seven not to be in the final 23?I will have this guess:Stephen Warnock,Michael Dawson,Tom Huddlestone,Adam Johnson,Scott Parker,Darren Bent and Leighton Baines.The last one is the trickiest.Some say Baines just in;Shaun Wright-Phillips out.We will know this Tuesday.
My starting team for England would have Joe Hart in goal with Wayne Rooney and either Peter Crouch or Jermain Defoe partnering him.Will Fabio start with Emile Heskey?

DOMESTIC SEASON FINALLY OVER-NOW FOR THE WORLD CUP

The Daggers beating Rotherham at Wembley to gain the final promotion spot to League One via the Wembley play-offs finished off the domestic season.Not long ago Dagenham and Redbridge were a Rymans League team so their rise under manager John Still has been very good.He says you have to be a Dagger to play in his team! Never a Wayne Rooney,just someone prepared like Rooney to give all!
So this is the outcome of another long domestic season....FA Premier League Champions and FA Cup winners,Chelsea.Carling Cup winners..Manchester United.European League qualifiers Manchester United,Arsenal and Spurs as well as Chelsea.Europa League Qualifiers: Manchester City,Aston Villa and Liverpool.Relegated: Burnley,Hull and Portsmouth.....those are the headlines.All the other divisions produced winners and losers.The biggest surprise is the return of Blackpool to the Premier League albiet surely for not very long.

ENGLAND BEAT MEXICO 3-1 BUT IT IS ONLY A FRIENDLY

I hate friendly sport fixtures.Sport is meant to be competitive.England's 3-1 win over Mexico at Wembley was,I accept,a necessary event as part of England's build-up for the World Cup.There is another on Sunday lunch-time from Graz again Japan...live on ITV.Fabio Capello says he and the players learnt a lot from last night's game but he would,wouldn't he.Surely he knows his best team and just about all the 23 final squad.Ok he has to take,fitness and injury apart,seven names out of the current 30.But he must know 5 or 6 right now.He has seen enough matches this season...Alright in a few minutes Adam Johnson showed his class.Surely Capello will be brave enough to include him.Johnson could unpick a defence late in a game as substitute when all else has failed.Leighton Baines and Michael Carrick looked very ordinary to be kind last night but will Capello be basing his selection on last night's game? I doubt it.Would you write off England because of last night's showing? NO.I love England but will some-one convince me why England will win the World Cup.Ever since 1966 the nation is full of hope and experts keep saying its the best England squad to leave this shores since then.Of course it is not.Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence in goal is just one reason.There are better squads from Spain,Brazil and Argentina going to South Africa--three more reasons why England will not win the trophy.

869,000 PLAY MY PIEMAN GAME SINCE FEBRUARY

Wow! Thank you to those 869,000 of you who have played my Pieman goalie game since we launched in February.If you have not had a chance yet,why not now make a visit on this website?There is a tray of Pukka Pies from our wonderful sponsors awaiting the player with the highest monthly score....more on those figures from the game makers Tamba....60,000 players last week and an average of 2.35 minutes on the brand.....our Pieman football goodies shop is also on this website for you to browse as well.Why not make a visit?

BLACKPOOL ARE PROMOTED TO PREMIER LEAGUE!

Ollie and Blackpool in the Premier League.Last August Ian Holloway's team were 40-1 to be promoted!Only Scunthorpe were a shorter price to be relegated to League One! In the end it was another example of the team just making the last spot in the play-offs and carrying on the late surge into the actual play-offs themselves. Blackpool played brave attacking football and twice came back from trailing at Wembley to beat the favourites Cardiff City in a wonderful game.They reckon promotion is worth £90 million....Blackpool,back in the top flight of football for the first time since 1971,can only get 12,555 into their Bloomfield Road ground.More worrying is how will they avoid being the 12th club to be relegated instantly on the 19 clubs promoted via the play-offs? Still Holloway should enjoy this result.He took over Blackpool in the summer after being sacked by Leicester City when they were relegated to the third tier for the only time in their 125 years history..that's football!....meanwhile please visit my Pieman football goodies shop.Better stock some Blackpool gear!!!

JOSE MOURINHO SET FOR REAL MADRID AFTER INTER TREBLE

Jose Mourinho proved how special he really is by taking Inter-Milan to a 2-0 European Champions League final win over Bayern Munich.He has now won the Champions League managing two different clubs.The other was Porto.He did a great job in between for Chelsea.Inter-Milan have also,by the way,done the domestic Italian League and Cup double this season.He will love Madrid and they will love him.Mourinho will eventually be coming back to England-probably Manchester City, because who in their right mind would want to take over eventually from Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United after all his success?..... Hang on a bit.Maybe Jose Mourinho!!.........don't forget to visit the Pieman's football shop and why not play my Pieman footie game and win a tray of Pukka Pies..it's all on this website.

CHELSEA'S PREMIER LEAGUE AND FA CUP DOUBLE FOR 1st TIME

Chelsea won a thrilling FA Cup final 1-0 against brave Portsmouth to complete their first ever League and FA Cup double.It could have been oh so different if Kevin-Prince Boateng had not missed a penalty for Portsmouth.Seconds later that regular Chelsea Cup final scorer Didier Drogba scored at the other end for Chelsea.Mind you Chelsea did hit the wood-work five times and Frank Lampard also missed a penalty.What a first season then for manager Carlo Ancelotti.....and former manager Jose Mourinho still had a crack at his old club.Never mind,hey.I love the fella!

LEAGUE MANAGERS DINNER BEST OF YEAR

The League Managers Association Annual Awards Dinner at the London Marriott was the best of its kind this year.It had great style in every way-the latest touch of their outstanding chief executive Richard Bevan and his talented team.

LORD TRIESMAN GOES AFTER NEWSPAPER STING

We have a golden rule in TV.Don't say anything when a microphone is around that you would not want EVERYONE to hear.My big pal Ron Atkinson fell foul to that in 2004 when ITV were off air and he thought he was having a private conversation with a fellow commentator.Look what happened to Big Ron.Never to be forgiven.Now Lord Triesman is protesting he is the victim of a private conversation in a restaurant with an old friend,a younger lady with a hidden microphone.The Mail on Sunday published the conversation which may have damaged England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.Lord Triesman,a Labour peer,has since resigned from being both the FA Chairman and the Chairman of England's World Cup 2018 bid.How quickly things change.You only have to tell Lib-Dems leader Nick Clegg that!

OXFORD UNITED RETURN TO FOOTBALL LEAGUE AFTER 4 YEARS

I am thrilled for my TV pal Jim Rosenthal.His team Oxford United are back in the Football League after beating York in the Blue Square Conference play-off final at Wembley 3-1.They join Stevenage in League Two next season.
Jim was at Wembley with another Oxford Jim,former manager Jim Smith.Well done for my old mates and the Oxford manager Chris Wilder.

HEARTBREAK FOR FULHAM AND LEICESTER

Heartbreak for both Fulham and Leicester. Roy Hodgson’s Fulham lost 2-1 in Hamburg to Atletico Madrid with five minutes to go in extra time of the Europa League Final. Hodgson and Fulham have had a marvellous season for a club of their size but in the end Diego Forlan’s two goals won it for the Spaniards.

Meanwhile Leicester City, last season’s League One champions came so close to making this season’s Championship Play-Off Final in Wembley on May 22 but they lost to a penalty shoot-out at Cardiff who now play Blackpool for the final place in next season's Premier League. Cardiff under their manager David Jones will just be favourites. Leicester’s disappointment will be slightly tempered by the quick progress they have made by the manger Nigel Pearson.

MARTIN O'NEILL STAYS AT ASTON VILLA

Speculation,partly fuelled by the manager's words,that Aston Villa and Martin 0'Neill would be parting are thankfully wrong.Owner Randy Lerner has confirmed it.Martin has done a great job at Villa,sixth again,Carling Cup final;FA Cup semi-final and a Europa League spot to look forward to.He is the best they could hope to have as manager........why not by the way visit my website shop....

FABIO CAPELLO PICKS 30 FOR WORLD CUP.:THE FINAL SQUAD:23

Not too many shocks in Fabio Capello's World Cup squad of 30.It will whittled down to 23 for the actual squad to play in South Africa.England expects...Any missing.I agree with Blackburn manager Sam Alladyce that goalkeeper Paul Robinson should have been picked;I am disappointed but respect Paul Scholes decision to stay retired from Internationals..otherwise it looks dandy to me.I just cannot believe that England really will win the World Cup.I would love it if England did but they have to beat the likes of Brazil,Spain and Argentina.Cannot see it........you can see my website shop,have a butchers now.....

GIANFRANCO ZOLA SACKED;ROY HODGSON VOTED TOP BOSS

..What a contrast for two London managers!Fulham's Roy Hodgson is voted as the LMA (Managers Association) Manager of the Year.Gianfranco Zola,having kept them up,is sacked by West Ham United.Hodgson has done a remarkable job at Fulham who again finished in a decent position in the Premier League,despite only one away win,and has done brilliantly going into tonight's Europa League final against Atletico Madrid in Hamburg.Fulham have played 63 matches this season..and travelled 20,000 miles in 18 matches in Europe.I am told Zola and co-owner David Sullivan have not been speaking on a regular if any basis.There was only going to be one outcome.Zola kept
Fulham in the Premier League but it was not enough for the new owners.His replacement will have a much longer run.Sullivan once told me he does not like changing managers once they have appointed one.The new boss always wants loads of money for new players and new backroom staff.It cost fortunes every time with no guarantee of course of success.Mark Hughes,I hear,has turned down the chance to manager West Ham.

BLACKPOOL ONE STEP AWAY FRONM PREMIER LEAGUE

Amazing!Blackpool,no money really and average home crowds of 8,000,are one step away from the Premier League after winning 4-3 in a wonderful attacking match at Nottingham Forest last night.Blackpool who won 6-4 on aggregate with meet Cardiff City or Leicester City in the Wembley play-off final on May 22.Cardiff lead Leicester 1-0 from the away leg and are expected to do it tonight.But then so were Forerst! Manager Ian Holloway,sacked by Leicester after relegation,was out of the game for a year but on his return has done a wonderful job for Blackpool.His decision to attack and show no fear at Forest paid off .DJ Campbell scored his first ever hat-trick and will be hoping Cardiff make it because DJ is on loan from Leicester City and will not be able to play if the Foxes were to make Wembley.See my blog after today's semi-final second leg at Cardiff.Meanwhile why not visit my website shop.............

CHELSEA ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Chelsea are the Premier League champions by one point from Manchester United who had won it for the last three seasons. New manager Carlo Ancelotti had been brought in as manager to make Chelsea play more expansive football. Not only did the Italian emulate Jose Mourinho by winning the Premier League in his first season in England and at Chelsea but Chelsea scored a record 103 Premier League goals including four Premier League wins of 7-0 or more and are on for a Premier League-FA Cup double if as expected they beat relegated Portsmouth in Saturday’s FA Cup final at Wembley. And Dider Drogba’s hat-trick today gives him the Golden Boot for most number of Premier League goals... 29, three more than United’s Wayne Rooney whose recent injuries definitely affected the Champions.
Chelsea deserved it to climax a brilliant Premier League season..only the second time since 1999 that it was decided on the final day. By the way, while Chelsea scored 8 today, Manchester United 4, and Arsenal 4 — all without conceding Liverpool were held in a scoreless match at relegated Hull. Liverpool finished 7th - their worst for years.

Manager of the Season

I changed my mind about the Barclays Premier League Manager of the Season based purely on the League. My blog last week said Chelsea’s Carlo Ancelotti. By the time I arrived in London for the voting by the panel I led the argument for Spurs boss Harry Redknapp. In 18 months when Harry arrived at Spurs he has taken the club from bottom of the table to fourth, secured a Champions League pot and broken the big four. The voting was close against Fulham’s Roy Hodgson who will surely win the League Managers Award when they can include the Europa League final. Hodgson has done a fine job at Fulham. The Barclays judging was a week early if you wanted to take in the Premier League Champions but the way the voting was structured the result would have been the same. Well deserved Harry…

…………Blackpool lead Nottingham Forest 2-1 in the Championship play-off first leg at Bloomfield Road.Its a tough ask to win the return leg in Nottingham on Tuesday where Forest are so strong.Cardiff,my favourites for promotion won 1-0 at Leicester this afternoon.Its a huge job for Leicester,last season’s League One Champions,to win Wednesday’s return leg in Wales.

I GET MOST OF IT RIGHT

I predicted that Manchester City would retain the Premier League title.May have got that wrong! I said Portsmouth,Hull and Burnley would go down.Correct.Since Christmas that Spurs would finish fourth.Correct.That Inter-Milan would beat Barcelona -correct and in January after a visit to Italy that Juventus new manager would be Rafa Benetiz.May be right or wrong!

SPURS TAKE LAST CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLACE

Spurs pulled off a brilliant win at Manchester City to take fourth spot and the final European Champions League spot at the expense of the home side.Peter Crouch,who I think should start for England with Wayne Rooney,scored the late winner.At the moment Spurs will have to qualify next season but they could get an automatic Champions League group place if they win at Burnley in the final game on Sunday and Arsenal were to lose at home to Fulham which you have to say the latter is unlikely...but its football and you never know!Arsenal have far better goal difference so Arsenal would have to lose.Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has done wonders.Spurs were bottom when he took over.Its been marvellous for the club and makes up for the shock of losing to relegated Portsmouth in the FA Cup semi-finals.Now it would be so ironic if they were to pip their greatest rivals Arsenal.

CHELSEA SHOULD WIN PREMIER LEAGUE ON SUNDAY

Chelsea's deserved 2-0 win at Anfield means a victory at home to Wigan in the last match on Sunday will give them the Premier League title in Carlo Ancelotti's first season as their manager.Chelsea are one point ahead of the defending Champions Manchester United who will play Stoke at Old Trafford.I have tipped United all season but I will now be amazed if Chelsea mess this one up.Cannot see it happening.I will be taking calls on Sunday ( May 9) after the match on YOURE ON SKY SPORTS at 7p.m. on Sky Sports 1.

WILL MANCHESTER CITY PIP SPURS FOR FOURTH SPOT

Two games left.Spurs in fourth spot-the final European Champions League place.But they only have a one point lead over Manchester City and they meet at the City of Manchester stadium on Wednesday.You surely would make City favourites to win at Eastlands.Then it woould be advantage City with the final game on Sunday afternoon.City will be away to West Ham;Spurs at relegated Burnley.What a great finish after both teams won at home over the weekend-City 3-1 v Aston Villa and Spurs 1-nil against Bolton.It will be a tense week.

ROY HODGSON SHOULD BE MANAGER OF THE SEASON

On Friday I will be in London to vote for the Premier League manager and player of the Year.I will go for the Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti who seems certain to lift the Premier League trophy on Sunday in his first English season.Player for me Wayne Rooney who I voted for in the Footballer of the Year.But for THE overall manager of the Year it has to be Fulham's Roy Hodgson.He has done a brilliant job at Fulham this season including reaching the Europa League final.The League Managers Association will no doubt agree for their award on May 10 in London.Lucky me-I will be at all three events.

IAN HOLLOWAY TAKES BLACKPOOL TO PLAY-OFFS

Two seasons ago Ian Holloway was Leicester's manager when the Foxes were relegated to League One-the lowest point in the Foxes history.He was sacked by chairman Milan Mandaric who appointed Nigel Pearson.Holloway has performed the miracle of taking Blackpool to the Championship play-offs after they drew 1-1 at home to Bristol City while Swansea were goalless against Doncaster.Now they play Nottingham Forest at home the semi-final first leg.Meanwhile Pearson won the League One title at the first attempt and has reached the play-offs also at the first attempt.Now Leicester are also at home in the first leg.Their opponents are Cardiff.It would be ironic if Leicester were to meet Blackpool in the final at Wembley.Both have a bit to do before that happens!