Exercising your rights in the Premier League finale
Exercising your rights in the Premier League finale
It was a computer that drew up the fixture list for the campaign, yet you would be forgiven for thinking that Aphrodite had her nimble fingers in the mix too. Blackpool face Manchester United, as West Ham United did on the final day four years ago, with relegation breathing its fiery fumes on Bloomfield Road’s tangerine soul. Carlos Tévez scored the winner that day, relegating Sheffield United in the process. Much of the debate regarding that match revolved around the goalscorer, but not the United squad that was put out.
This time around, there is no one player whose ownership rights look set to cloud the crosshairs of this season’s relegation warfare. The Championship’s final two bullets are yet to be fired; the skulls of Wigan Athletic, Blackpool, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers all stand bare, with the solitary point currently separating the sides. Instead, the champions Manchester United, with nothing left to play for except the desire to keep their squad fit and ready for the final examination of their campaign against Unicef’s darlings, Barcelona, are embroiled in an unwanted media-induced party.
The scenario is simple. United are expected to play a weakened side in that last match, thus enabling Blackpool a chance to remain in English football’s top tier. Whoever goes down will then embark on a quest that involves a few hundred ounces of whinging, a couple of morsels of complaining, while leaking litres of tears into the mix, in an attempt to regain their pride and dignity. Of course, avoiding the drop is something that depends on one game, not the thirty-seven that precede that fateful weekend. Whatever happens this weekend, Manchester United cannot be held liable. The sides that go down - Blackpool included - only have themselves to blame for their misfortune.
There was a rule put in place at the beginning of the season; every team was to submit a list of twenty-five players eligible to feature for their side in the Premier League. No rules were set as to what permutations were morally acceptable - any old eleven would do. Blackpool were fined for fielding what was considered a weakened side against Aston Villa in November? What? A weakened side? But… but you made the rules!
Alas, the Premier League’s governing body had made a fool of itself by excreting all over its own regulations. Now, from being victims of the league’s ruling, Blackpool could finish the campaign off as one of its beneficiaries. Some might label it unfairness, but that karmic law holds true in any situation: what goes around comes around. Or rather, what comes around goes around. This is the one chance for England’s footballing authorities to atone for the mistake they made earlier in the season.
