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Tony Cascarino's football lesson No 11:How to win the FA Cup

My advice to Cardiff City and Portsmouth’s players: if you want detailed memories of the FA Cup Final, buy the DVD. Too many players get caught up in the occasion and blow it. Take the atmosphere in at the final whistle when you’ve won. It’s so easy to let your mind wander.

I’ve known players who constantly look around even during the match, soaking up the atmosphere – “have you seen that banner?” But you can get caught up in it and lose your head – Paul Gascoigne’s reckless tackle in the 1991 Final that saw him hospitalised, for example.

Football's coming out?

The death of Justin Fashanu could have been a watershed in football's attitude towards gay players, but instead the sport has reacted with disinterest and denial. There have been no openly homosexual players in British professional football since Fashanu, who hanged himself in a London garage in May, 1998, eight years after he came out.

I don't remember much about Brentford's game at Griffin Park against Torquay United in 1991-92, but I remember Fashanu - Torquay were his last English club - being on the receiving end of plenty of homophobic abuse, just as he was across the country.

Ten reasons to be cheerful about the FA Cup Final

1 It’s the year of the underdog, and to borrow from Ian Holloway, Saturday is woof day. We should be pleased about the snapping of the big clubs’ stranglehold on a competition they take less and less seriously.

2 Cardiff have managed to produce an FA Cup Final song that is not utterly terrible, merely deeply naff.

3 As one of the best groups of supporters in the country, Portsmouth’s loyal and vocal support deserve their day out. Maybe their most famous fan, John Portsmouth Football Club Westwood will get a commemorative tattoo, if there’s any space left on his body.

4 The "I love the Nineties" nostalgia trip that is Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Robbie Fowler up front for Cardiff.

Ten reasons to be fearful about the FA Cup Final

1 We’re loving the novelty factor of these participants right now, but if it’s a bad game, people will say: "Well, that’s what happens when the best teams aren’t there."

2 Remember the tedium that was Millwall versus Manchester United, the last time a Premier League club faced a side from a division below? The most one-sided contest since (insert any recent Derby County match here).

3 The novelty and thrill of the trip to Wembley is devalued as both clubs were there for the semi-finals last month.

4 Hasselbaink and Fowler? Potent in 1998, pensionable in 2008, no?

FA Cup memories

FA Cup Final day. The only day of the year that your mum wouldn't admonish you off for watching television by saying "It's a lovely day. Turn that thing off and get outside." And it always seemed to be sunny, so you closed the curtains to avoid glare giving your living room the feel of a funeral parlour.

In the 1970s and 1980s the main source of indulgence for the younger football fan was watching the all-day coverage of the Final - switching between BBC1 and ITV to see who had the best celebrity interviews (Stan Boardman was a perenial figure) or watching unlikely contents such as Gary Lineker thrashing Mark Lawrenson at snooker in 1986.

The TV marathon would continue with reporters interrupting card games on team coaches or reining in the awestruck players for a few more words as they inspected the pitch before kick-off. And later, the match would be recreated in the park with other bleary-eyed kids emerging from their darkened lairs shouting "I'm Keith Houchen".

But forgive these nostalgic ramblings. We want to hear your favourite Cup recollections: from street parties to respraying your car in club colours to victory parades. It's your chance to recapture the magic days of the Cup.

Iain Dowie v Zinedine Zidane

As Jim Bowen often said, "Look what you could have won." Many Queens Park Rangers fans will be feeling that way after Iain Dowie was confirmed as the club's new manager instead of Zinedine Zidane.

The flamboyant Frenchman was linked with a move to west London, but the Championship side's wealthy owners, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, decided to plump for the better qualified but hardly pulse-quickening Northern Irishman.

Just to make QPR supporters feel better, here are clips of both men in action:

We want your opinions on the appointment. Should QPR have been more ambitious with their choice or is Dowie the right man for the job? Add your comments below.

Top ten FA Cup Final underdogs

1891: Blackburn Rovers

Result: Blackburn 3, Notts County 1

Rovers had lost 7-1 at home to Notts County in the league just one week before the final, albeit with a weakened team, yet they beat the same opponents after moving 3-0 ahead on the half hour.

1901: Tottenham Hotspur

Result: Tottenham 3, Sheffield United 1 (after 2-2 draw)

Tottenham were members of the Southern League yet, after trailing at half-time in the replay, they stormed back to defeat their top-division opponents.

1936: Sheffield United

Result: Arsenal 1, Sheffield United 0

Arsenal had won three successive league titles from 1933 to 1935 while Sheffield United were in the second tier but it was a surprisingly close game.

1949: Leicester City

Result: Wolverhampton Wanderers 3, Leicester 1

Leicester had only just escaped relegation from the second tier and they succumbed to one of the country’s strongest clubs. Sammy Smyth scored Wolves’ third goal after a 50-yard dribble that took him past three opponents.

1957: Aston Villa

Result: Aston Villa 2, Manchester United 1

United won the title by a mile that season but they could not secure the Double against their mid-table opponents, who benefited from an early injury to Ray Wood, the United goalkeeper, in the days before substitutes were allowed.   

1973: Sunderland

Result: Sunderland 1, Leeds United 0

Sunderland had failed by a distance to gain promotion to the top flight while Leeds had been one of Europe’s greatest teams for many years. But Ian Porterfield’s first half goal produced arguably the greatest FA Cup Final surprise.   

1976: Southampton

Result: Southampton 1, Manchester United 0

United just missed out on the title while Southampton pursued promotion to the top flight in vain. But Bobby Stokes scored the game’s only goal for Southampton eight minutes from time.

1982: Queens Park Rangers

Result: Tottenham Hotspur 1, Queens Park Rangers 0 (after 1-1 draw)

Tottenham finished fourth in the top division while QPR could not escape from the second tier, but the higher-ranked team prevailed only via a penalty by Glenn Hoddle in a replay.

1992: Sunderland

Result: Liverpool 2, Sunderland 0

Liverpool had begun their decline from perennial title challengers but they were still hot favourites against a team that finished eighteenth in the second tier. Sunderland were beaten by second-half goals from Michael Thomas and Ian Rush.

2004: Millwall

Result: Manchester United 3, Millwall 0

Dennis Wise’s team had finished tenth in the second tier and they were completely outclassed by a United side for whom Ruud van Nistelrooy scored twice.

BILL EDGAR

Bill Edgar's Thursday trivia question

Question: Name the manager of a Premier League club in the season just finished who was once fined as a player for insulting a policeman at the end of a match.

Come back tomorrow for the answer.

Yesterday we asked you: Who were the last team to reach a double-figure goal tally in Europe’s senior club competition?

Answer: Liverpool. They beat Oulu, of Finland, 10-1 at Anfield in the European Cup first round in 1980-81.

Your views on Rangers' European defeat

So Rangers fell just short in their bid for the Uefa Cup, a first European trophy since beating Dynamo Moscow in the 1972 European Cup Winner's Cup final.

Walter Smith's side gave their all, but the Russians, prompted by the excellent Andriy Arshavin, proved too good, winning 2-0 in the City of Manchester Stadium.

We would like to know what you thought of the Rangers performance against Zenit. Were they simply not good enough on the night or had they punched above their weight just to reach the final in the first place?

Were their safety-first tactics found wanting, ultimately and should Walter Smith have been bolder than just to deploy Jean-Claude Darchville ploughing a lone furrow up front?

The quadruple has gone now, but Rangers already have the CIS Insurance Cup in the bag and are still in the running for the Scottish Premier League title and the Scottish Cup. Do you think they can win the treble, or will this defeat prove too deflating an experience, will three away games in six days in the SPL take its toll, or can they keep their nerve?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Ahead of theGame: Lee returning to Liverpool

The news in 60 seconds

LEE RETURNING TO LIVERPOOL
The Anfield club is in talks with the former Bolton boss about him becoming Rafael Benitez's assistant manager. Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, met Lee yesterday and further talks are expected to take place today. The move has been approved by estranged co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. So, the Americans have finally managed to agree on something.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article3932240.ece

Steve Coppell: should he stay or should he go?

The Reading manager has been considering his position since his team were relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship on the last day of the season. John Madejski, the Reading chairman, says that he will not dismiss Coppell and around 300 supporters demonstrated outside the Madejski Stadium last night demanding that he stay on. But are they right?

The likeable Scouser struggled in Reading's second season in the Premier League. Does he have the qualities to lead the team back into the top flight? Or is his time with the Royals up?

Cast your vote and leave your comments below.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Vintage video: Fowler's greatest hits

In a season in which the world’s most famous cup competition has thrown up surprise after surprise, would any of us really be shocked if Robbie Fowler popped up and scored the winner for Cardiff on Saturday?

Now in the twilight of his distinguished career, the 33-year-old might have thought his trophy-winning days had passed. But footballing fairytales have a habit of unfolding in the most mysterious ways and the Toxteth Terror has always enjoyed a ‘special’ relationship with the FA Cup.

Most of us will remember ‘that suit’ on Fowler’s first appearance in a final in 1996. That day he went home a loser, but he made up for it five years later when he helped Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-1 in Cardiff.

Martin Samuel responds: Is José Mourinho still special?

With Europe's top clubs all having laid out their managerial plans for next season, Martin Samuel asked whether you would give Jose Mourinho a top job. You weren't backward in coming forward and below the seven times Sports Writer of the Year answers the best of your comments.

I think all the big clubs like Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and even Arsenal should try to get him. Look at what he made of Chelsea. Jose Mourinho knows how to focus on winning, which is ideal for struggling, big clubs because he binds strong players together. Chelseafan.

MS: Some of the others I can understand, but Arsenal? Nobody could have run that club better than Arsene Wenger, and quite possibly nobody will.

Bill Edgar's Wednesday trivia question

Question: Who were the last team to reach a double-figure goal tally in Europe’s senior club competition?

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out the answer.

Yesterday we asked: In 1953 which two clubs became the first to have faced each other one hundred times in the league?

Answer: Aston Villa and Sunderland.

Football smug shots

We just can't get enough of your footballing smug shots. After asking you to send in snaps of you and your footballing heroes, we have been deluged by some of the best examples of arms-around-the-shoulders camaraderie there may ever have been between fan and hero.

We admit that the idea was inspired by our Travel section and its forum for smug holiday pics, but we thought we could do better and boy have you have proved us right.

In fact, your overwhelming response has forced us to open up this new gallery for you to fill all over again. But fear not, all your old favourites are safely tucked away in our archive if you want to revisit them. This time we really want you to outdo each other - a photographic Top Trumps if you will.

So if you and Carlos Valderrama share the same hairdresser, you bumped into Ian Wright at the circus or even stood next to Sam Allardyce in the dole queue we want to see the evidence. And as always, we'll feature the best snaps right here.

E-mail your pictures to: sport@timesonline.co.uk

Click "continue reading" to see your pictures, including when Pete Hardaker took on Chris Kamara in the fashion stakes. And lost.

Ahead of TheGame: Ronaldo: I am going nowhere

The news in 60 seconds

RONALDO: I AM GOING NOWHERE
The Manchester United forward has denied reports claiming he wants to move to Real Madrid this summer. He said: "I'm at the right club, playing with the right players and I learn things all the time. That's what is great about being at United. I improve all the time and I want to improve every season. I think I'm a better player now than five years ago." Sighs of relief all round then. Note, he only thinks he's a better player. Five years ago, Ronaldo scored four goals, this season he scored ten times as many.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article3923803.ece

Lauren's Journey and Matt Hughes on the Premier League Run-In

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The Premier League season is over and, in my humble opinion, United are deserving champions. Matt Hughes drops by to share his views on a dramatic final day and Steve Bennett gets little love from Guillem and Bill.
Guillem and I also grabbed some lunch with Lauren, the Portsmouth fullback (and accidental Cameroonian), who talks about what will be his fifth FA Cup Final, more than any other overseas player. One day they should make a film out of Lauren's early life, which featured military coups, desperate boat trips, polygamy, 22 brothers and sisters and a fair amount of juvenile delinquency.
We also treat you to some Quick Hits and Bill offers another statistical riff. Join the debate below...

Luis Fabiano: is he worth a punt?

The Seville and Brazil striker has come a long way since his days as a football bad boy for Sao Paulo. Gabriele Marcotti profiled a player with a supreme goal-scoring tally but a prolifically poor disciplinary record.

Therapy sessions and a move to Spain have worked wonders for Fabiano and he is now a target for Manchester United. But is he the man Sir Alex Ferguson should be looking for to strengthen his attacking options?

Fabiano still has the occasional lapse:

But he knows where the net is:

What do you think? Is he the right choice for the Premier League champions? Leave your comments below.

Bill Edgar's Tuesday trivia question

Question: In 1953 which two clubs became the first to have faced each other one hundred times in the league?

Come back tomorrow for the answer.

Yesterday we asked you: Who are the only two players to appear in the Premier League this season who share the same first and second name?

Answer: Michael Johnson - the Derby County central defender and the Manchester City central midfield player.

Where does Walter Smith rank among the Scottish greats?

Walter Smith is about to join an elite band of Scottish football mangers who have led their clubs into a European final. Eight other men - Sir Matt Busby, Jock Stein, Bill Shankly, Scot Symon, Willie Waddell, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jim McLean and George Graham - have enjoyed the honour before him.

Of that group, only Busby, Stein and Ferguson have won the European Cup. Shankly led Liverpool to both a European Cup Winners Cup final, which they lost, and a Uefa Cup final, which they won. Symon and George won the Cup Winners Cup, with Rangers in 1972 and Arsenal in 1994 respectively, while Waddell twice lost in the final of that competition with Rangers. McLean led Dundee United to the 1987 Uefa Cup final, which they lost.

Smith has enjoyed phenomenal success in his two tours of duty with Rangers, including winning seven SPL titles, three Scottish Cups and four League Cups in the 1990s. Against this, however, Smith never took Everton higher than 14th in his four seasons at Goodison Park and is recalled with mixed feelings on Merseyside.

The question is, where does Smith rank in the pantheon of good or great Scottish managers? Does he deserve to be even quoted among the elite, or is it more appropriate to merely rank him among the Rangers managers? Remember, this season Smith is successfully chasing four trophies.

GRAHAM SPIERS

Ahead of TheGame: Chelsea agree Bosingwa fee

The news in 60 seconds

CHELSEA AGREE BOSINGWA FEE
The Premier League runners-up are wasting no time in their summer recruitment drive with a £16.1 million bid for the defender. The club released a statement saying: "Chelsea can confirm it has reached agreement with FC Porto for the transfer of Jose Bosingwa. The player is now in England to discuss personal terms and undergo a medical." Expensive Portuguese right-back replaces expensive Portuguese right-back, read all about it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3915944.ece

Which club is best equipped to win promotion back to the Premier League?

Derby County, as everyone is aware, are the worst team in the history of the Premier League. A 4-0 home defeat by Reading on the final day of the season left the once-mighty Rams with the unenviable record of played 38, won 1, drawn 8, lost 29, goals for 20, goals against 89 (goal difference minus 69), points 11.

Paul Jewell may have appeared suicidal at times this season over the abject nature of some of his side’s performances, but he is not a bad manager. He knows what it takes to win promotion from the Championship and will doubtless have a wholesale clear-out in the summer.

Reading, who were a welcome addition to the Premier League when they were promoted two seasons ago, found life much tougher second time around. The Berkshire outfit hit a barren spell in front of goal when it mattered most – at the end of the season – failing to find the net in six successive games leading to a nosedive into the relegation zone from which they were unable to recover. There are, however, going to be worse teams than the Royals continuing to ply their trade in the Premier League next season.

Birmingham too big a club to go down? Absolutely not. All that messing about in mid-season with the on-off takeover talk of Carson Yeung had a destabilising effect which prompted the departure of Steve Bruce. Alex McLeish, feted for the work he had done in almost guiding Scotland to the finals of Euro 2008, came in and enjoyed instant success with a win at Tottenham Hotspur. That win on the road proved, however, to be a false dawn, as it was their inability to collect points away that proved to be their undoing. But James McFadden, their best player, has pledged to stick with the club next season, so there must be some optimism that they can take the Championship by storm.

What do you think: Which club is best equipped to win promotion back to the Premier League?

Cast your vote and please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Bill Edgar's Monday trivia question

Question – Who are the only two players to appear in the Premier League this season who share the same first and second name?

Who is your manager of the season?

After their triumph on Sunday, Manchester United have now won just one fewer top-flight league titles than arch-rivals Liverpool (18 to 17), with Sir Alex Ferguson claiming his tenth in 16 seasons in the period which history will remember as the Premier League era.

Ferguson's team played some scintillating football, scoring 80 goals in 38 games compared to the more modest 65 for Chelsea, their nearest challengers. Having had to play second fiddle for two seasons to the big-spending west London club, Ferguson, reinvigorated by a fresh challenge, rebounded in some style by winning back-to-back titles himself. Surely, therefore, he is a certainty for our manager of the season award? Surely?

Not so fast.

Some might argue that the worst Ferguson should be expected to do with his superstar squad and the money at his disposal would be a place in the top two. United are matching expectations, certainly, but are they really exceeding them?

Hiring Mourinho would cost Inter in the region of £79million

Barcelona have gone with Pep Guardiola, Real Madrid are sticking with Bernd Schuster. AC Milan insist privately that Carlo Ancelotti will remain, even if the club do not qualify for the Champions League, and will groom Alessandro Costacurta, his assistant and a local hero, as his successor. This leaves Inter Milan as the only stellar club that may require José Mourinho next season, although the combined cost of losing Roberto Mancini and appointing the special one are estimated at ¤100 million (about £79 million).

Inter are on course for a third consecutive Serie A title and inheriting such an established level of success is not Mourinho’s style. The way he sees it, what is special about following a well-trodden path? Maybe he should have taken the England job after all. Who would have thought it?

DEBATE: Is José Mourinho still special? Would you give him a top job? Have your say, by filling in the comment field at the bottom of this post.

Bill Edgar's Weekend in Numbers

1-100: Fulham’s odds for the drop when trailing 2-0 at half-time away to Manchester City a fortnight ago.

9: Years since a side last scored eight or more in the top flight — Newcastle United beating Sheffield Wednesday 8-0.

18-17: Liverpool’s league title lead over Manchester United, from 18-7 when Premier League began.

100: Fouls by John Carew, the Premier League’s most; Kevin Davies has been top for the past four years.

11: Premier League goals scored from the 80th minute onwards in yesterday’s ten matches.

Tony's Fiver

1: Chelsea need Terry fit

John Terry must be fit if Chelsea are to win the Champions League final in Moscow. He has been back to his best in the past six weeks, showing the commanding form that helped him to become England captain.

2: Time to switch on

It is 2008, there is a massive amount of live football on television and we can watch each Champions League match, so why can’t we watch every Premier League game on the last day of the season?

3: Confidence tricks

Fulham’s survival is not down to genius management, more the way that belief can snowball from nowhere. Even the players must have thought that it was over when they went 2-0 down against Manchester City.

4: Money well spent?

Manchester City’s results have nosedived since Christmas. If they had started the season as they finished it, Sven-Göran Eriksson would have been sacked long ago. Is ninth a great return for £50 million spent?

5: Top two pulling away

All the talk is of the gap between the top flight and the Championship, but the two divisions below are increasingly being cut adrift financially. Clubs are releasing huge numbers of players.

Prophet and loss, with fewer points than Derby

Well, it’s all over bar the shouting and the still faintly curious spectacle of Cardiff coming to the FA Cup rather than vice versa. So that means once again it’s time for me to open the Phill Jupitus 2007-08 Premier League Predictions envelope to see how “on the money” I was. Every July

I spend three days in a hyperbaric chamber living on macadamia nuts and drinking distilled rainwater to clear my head for this daunting task. Prepare to be dazzled . . .

Steve McClaren to be replaced by Harry Redknapp (half a point). We all knew that he wouldn’t go the distance. However, I was a little wide of the mark imagining that the geniuses in Soho Square would bring Harry’s “half-time bacon sandwiches” approach to the No 1 job. Not when they could hire someone for whom English is a distant third language. Come on, it’s only Harry’s second.

Heroes or zeroes? Give us your opinion on your team

And so, finally, the Premier League is over for another season. Manchester United confirmed what most observers had felt all along: that they were the best team in the division by some margin, winning at Wigan Athletic to deliver a tenth title in 16 seasons into the hands of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Credit to Chelsea, though, for taking their challenge down to the final day of the season, because all looked lost for the London club and their manager, Avram Grant, earlier in the campaign. Just think, had Emile Heskey not equalised for Wigan in injury time at Stamford Bridge a few weeks ago, Kevin Davies’s last-gasp goal for Bolton would have changed the destiny of the title in the last minute of the last game of the season. If only.

Most of the fun, though, came at the other end of the table. Reading looked like extricating themselves from trouble at one point as they finally remembered how to score, never the hardest feat in the world considering they were playing Derby County. Jamaica became known as the Reggae Boyz, Paul Jewell’s could be known henceforth as the Whipping Boyz if they are not careful.

Lowestoft battle back from brink to fulfil Wembley dream

Ask Geoff Price, the chairman of Lowestoft Town, how many tickets the club has sold for the FA Vase final against Kirkham & Wesham on Sunday and he will tell you...13,572.

That kind of precision is typical of the sharp business practices he has brought to the club since his arrival in October - helped by sales now being closed, although the remainder of Lowestoft’s 15,000 allocation will be available on the turnstiles at Wembley.

In January last year the Ridgeons League club from Suffolk were on the brink of closure, with £92,000 debts and a a tax bill of just under £20,000 due to the Inland Revenue. Lowestoft survived that crisis with Gary Bennett, the club sponsor, rallying support from the town at a series of meetings. A benefactor and ardent fan, who prefers to remain anonymous, settled the tax bill.

Ahead of TheGame: City bound for Europe

The news in 60 seconds

CITY BOUND FOR EUROPE
Manchester City could win a place in the Uefa Cup after the governing body awarded the FA an extra place in next season's competition by virtue of winning its Fair Play competition. Sven-Goran Eriksson's team are in pole position to scoop the prize because they have the best disciplinary record in the Premier League of those teams who haven't already qualified for Europe. Yes, it takes some working out, but it's clearly another terrible reason to sack the Swede.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3902579.ece

Your handy guide to the last-day drama

Chelsea, Manchester United. Manchester United, Chelsea. Who do you want to win the Barclays Premier League title? Tricky. For many fans, the question is, which club do you dislike least? Luckily, TheGame blog is here to help, ish. Just like your parents always said, if you can't decide, make a list of pros and cons.

Manchester United

Pros: Not Chelsea. Have the country's/continent's/world's/galaxy's best and in-no-way arrogant player, Cristiano Ronaldo. The most attractive team (apart from Arsenal, obviously, but they stopped playing in February). Maybe if they win the Champions League too, Sir Alex Ferguson will retire and give somebody else a go.

Cons: Won it last year so it's somebody else's turn, it's only fair. All that extra prize money going to the Glazers; and we bet Malcolm still won't wear a properly-fitting pair of trousers. Volume of title-celebration merchandise shipped from Megastore via plane to core fanbase in Asia would significantly increase club's carbon footprint. Have Cristiano Ronaldo.

Tell us what your team deserves and why

The most exciting finale in Premier League history is upon us and there is barely a fingernail left to chew.

Tears of joy and sadness will fill living rooms the world over come 5 o'clock on Sunday as the great football judge in the sky bangs down his gavel and delivers his sentence.

At the top end, it's Manchester United v Chelsea in the title race with Sir Alex Ferguson's team requiring victory at Wigan to retain their crown. Although if Chelsea beat Bolton by 18 more goals than United beat Steve Bruce's side by then Avram Grant will be grinning from ear-to-ear.

Will Wigan roll over? Or is that insulting to the integrity of Bruce's men? Are Chelsea fans really in with a shout? Or are they living in a fantasy land?

It's even more nerve-racking at the bottom with one of Fulham, Reading and Birmingham a light breeze from being blown into Championship oblivion.

Can Roy Hodgson complete the great escape with victory at Portsmouth? Do Birmingham deserve to drop after the way they treated Bruce? Is there room in the top flight for Steve Coppell's battlers or are they more suited to the second tier?

Here's your chance to tell us what is going to happen. It's open day on TheGame: let us know what fate awaits your side. Why should they win the title? Why should they avoid the drop? Or if you've got a mean streak, tell us why a team deserves pain and misery. And if you just want to send your boys a message of support, this is the place to do it.

The usual rules apply - we want passion and pathos. But if you want to get your comment seen, you'd better keep it clean.

Bill Edgar's fiendishly difficult Friday football quiz - with the answers

You know the score by now: Bill Edgar popped up on Friday to wreck your weekend by posing ten of the most difficult football questions known to man. Having let you stew for 48 hours he has very kindly popped back to put you out of your misery, so check out the answers - if you need to - which you will find at the bottom of this post.

Remember, also, Bill also teases you daily a trivia question; the answer to his Thursday poser can also be found at the very bottom of this post.

Question One: Lee Cook (Queens Park Rangers to Fulham) and Russell Anderson (Aberdeen to Sunderland) moved for a total of £3.5million in transfer fees last summer. How many combined Premier League appearances have the pair made for their new clubs this season?

(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 3

Question Two: Which player supplied the final Premier League goal of last season but has not scored at all in the Premier League this season?

(A) Brynjar Gunnarsson
(B) Luke Moore
(C) Harry Kewell

Question Three: Which Spanish club have fielded players named Geovanni, Giovanni and Giovani dos Santos in the past ten years?

(A) Atletico Madrid
(B) Real Madrid
(C) Barcelona

Question Four: Which is the only country to have won all three main European club trophies in the same season?

(A) England
(B) Italy
(C) Spain

Question Five: How many clubs have spent time in the Premier League (ie in the top flight since 1992) and subsequently had at least one season outside the top two divisions?

(A) 7
(B) 10
(C) 13

Question Six: Five Premier League clubs recorded average attendances of more than 40,000 last season. How many have done so this season?

(A) 5
(B) 6
(C) 8

Question Seven: Which of the 16 countries at this summer’s European championship have beaten England twice at leading tournaments in the past ten years, each time doing so with a winning goal in the 89th minute or later?

(A) Romania
(B) Sweden
(C) Portugal

Question Eight: Who are the only team to have won an FA Cup replay this season from the fourth round onwards?

(A) West Bromwich Albion
(B) Middlesbrough
(C) Liverpool

Question Nine: Rochdale, who have been ever-present members of the fourth tier since 1974, have qualified for the League Two play-offs. How many previous play-off campaigns have they fought in this division?

(A) 1
(B) 7
(C) 8

Question Ten: When Arsenal beat Manchester United on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the 2005 FA Cup Final, it was the first goalless draw in how many FA Cup Final matches, including replays?

(A) 30
(B) 60
(C) 90

-----------------------------------------

Fiendish Friday quiz, the answers:

Question One: (A) 1 Anderson came on as a 62nd-minute substitute against Wigan Athletic in August.

Question Two: (C) Harry Kewell scored Liverpool’s last-minute equaliser at home to Charlton Athletic from the penalty spot but has not added another goal in his ten league appearances this season.

Question Three: (C) Barcelona. Geovanni has played this season for Manchester City, who are also reported to be interested in signing Giovani dos Santos.

Question Four: (B) Italy. In 1989-90 AC Milan won the European Cup, Sampdoria the Cup Winners' Cup and Juventus the Uefa Cup.

Question Five: (B) 10. They are Barnsley, Bradford City, Leeds United, Manchester City, Oldham Athletic, Nottingham Forest, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town and Wimbledon (now Milton Keynes Dons). Leicester City will have joined this list in a year’s time.

Question Six: (C) 8. They are Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Sunderland, Manchester City, Chelsea and Aston Villa

Question Seven: (A) Romania. They beat England 2-1 at the 1998 World Cup and 3-2 at the 2000 European championship.

Question Eight: (B) Middlesbrough. They beat Sheffield United in the fifth round.

Question Nine: (A) 1. They lost to Rushden & Diamonds in the semi-finals in 2002.

Question Ten: (C) 90. The previous goalless draw had been between Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion in 1912 (Barnsley won the replay 1-0). 

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On Thursday we asked you: Which club, then in the fourth tier, had to apply for re-election to the Football League (they were successful) just six years after playing in the top flight? 

Answer: Northampton Town, in 1971-72.

Beadle's about no longer as Newport ring the changes

All has not been sweetness and light at Newport County AFC since the South Wales club missed out on the chance to make the Blue Square South play-offs.

Peter Beadle, the manager, was dismissed in the wake of the 2-1 home defeat by Fisher Athletic that meant that each of his two full seasons in charge had ended with last-day failure to qualify for the play-offs.

Rumblings among the players about the prevailing uncertainty were aired in the pages of the South Wales Argus, which moved Chris Blight, the chairman, to issue an open letter in which he promised that an appointment would be made by the end of next week. The newspaper followed by publishing a strong statement in support of the nature of its coverage of the club.

The farrago is a direct consequence of the impatience running through the club to secure a return to the Conference, and so regain the status held by the original Newport County when they went out of business as the bailiffs moved into their former ground Somerton Park in 1988.

Tony Cascarino's football lesson No 10: Anatomy of last day miracles and mess-ups

You get some strange outcomes on the last day of the season. So many times, what seems a likely result doesn’t happen. Fulham will know this better than most because they beat Norwich City 6-0 on the last day a couple of years ago when they were mid-table and Norwich needed to win to have a chance of staying up. Fulham are now expected to beat Portsmouth on Sunday, when if this fixture had been earlier in the season, few would have given them a prayer.

These days, there are so many factors in the mix, so many emotions and different personal situations, that the conditions for a surprise are easily created. Even “safe” teams are volatile beneath the surface. There is never nothing to play for.

Over the past ten or fifteen years, the make-up of teams has changed. As football’s become a squad game, managers whose sides are safe are increasingly using the last fixtures to give fringe players some action or test out promising young players. That has been common in European countries for a while.

It means that even if a team is mid-table and puts out a so-called weak team, they may still impress because it’ll be full of players with a point to prove, players desperate to show their talents, ending the year on a high and forcing their way into the manager’s thinking for next season.

Some players will know it’s their last game for the club and will aim to leave with their head held high; or perhaps not be too fussed if they’ve already signed a deal elsewhere. Some will want to get a win for the fans, to leave them with happy memories over the summer.

I had to play the 1994 FA Cup Final for Chelsea knowing I was being kicked out of the club after it was over. I went to the 1994 World Cup finals worried I was on the scrap-heap because I didn’t have anywhere to go. At Aston Villa, I ended the season not sure if I’d be there in August.

It’s a scary time in the lower leagues, when you might be playing for your livelihood. If you get released, perhaps no one will want you. So you put everything into the last 90 minutes, hoping you’ll do enough to convince the manager to keep you.

The mentality is totally different from the first match of the season. Everyone’s optimistic, if you’re in the team you believe you’ll be there all year, it seems like a level playing field.

Fatigue isn’t a factor when the stakes are so high. When a team is chasing promotion or trying to avoid relegation, players don’t get paralysed by fear, even though they know one mistake could cost everything. The fear of being unemployed overrides everything, so they drive themselves on. You’re not thinking about missing a penalty, your worries are bigger than individual incidents.

Managers can’t change much at this stage. All they can do is try and coax a little more from the players, any way they can – such as telling them their future is secure, just as long as the club stays up. It might be a promise they won’t later keep, but in desperate times…

Ahead of TheGame: Keegan ready for Ashley showdown

The news in 60 seconds

KEEGAN READY FOR ASHLEY SHOWDOWN
The Newcastle manager has confirmed he will meet the club's owner in London tomorrow. Keegan insists he is looking forward to it, despite speculation that their relationship is strained after the manager expressed doubts about his ability to break the dominance of the big four.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article3894295.ece

Bill Edgar's Thursday trivia question

Question - Which club, then in the fourth tier, had to apply for re-election to the Football League (they were successful) just six years after playing in the top flight? 

Come back tomorrow for the answer.

Fabio Capello interview

The England manager picks his top players in the Premier League, the greatest striker and goalkeeper of all time, plus the best Englishman to have played in Serie A.

Click here to download the Quicktime version

Click here to download the Windows Media Video version

Birmingham can defy the bookies, says David Gold

In his fortnightly blog, the Birmingham City chairman explains why he is proud to be a Premier League chairman and how much it would mean to him to remain so.

With the conclusion of this season drawing near, there is a lot to be said for the quality of the English game. The beautiful game has already been fruitful for many teams this season outside the Premier League, and now we are all caught up in the excitement of arguably the best league in the world - the Premier League.

Unfortunately, the position we find ourselves in at Birmingham is not indicative of a season in which we have had some incredible results.  I have seen that the bookies have priced Birmingham as firm favourites to go down this year, at 1/7.  Fulham and Reading hold more optimistic odds, but it would be fantastic, and not out of the realms of possibility, to see Birmingham beat those odds and prove the bookies wrong.  We still have Blackburn to play at home in our final game, and with our home record, three points are achievable.