Joint owners David Gold & David Goldman appointed Avram Grant last summer on a four-year contract but the exciting, attractive style of football that West Ham fans have been used to was not present this season.  Instead, the Hammers rarely played as a team unit.  Scott Parker’s ‘never say die’ spirit helped paper over some cracks, something that helped him win the Player Of The Year award.  But Parker’s leadership qualities have been dogged by injuries; and when Parker was missing, the game plan often collapsed.

On Saturday 15th January, on the morning of a home game against Arsenal, it was leaked that Martin O’Neil had agreed to become the new manager at Upton Park.  Following a 3-0 defeat Avram Grant took off his claret & blue scarf and threw it into the crowd as he applauded the faithful fans.  This appeared to be Grant’s farewell, but O’Neill never came and the owners weren’t decisive in managing a damaged situation; and yesterday West Ham paid the price for poor leadership s they were once again relegated from the Premier League.

I’m pretty sure the West Ham owners will attempt to sell as many of their top players as possible to lessen their outgoings.  Inflated wage bills may prove difficult to shift the likes of Carlton Cole, Matthew Upson, Wayne Bridge and some of the foreign players but there will be plenty of interest for Scott Parker and Robert Green.

Following a summer clearout I believe the owners will set about rebuilding a team with Championship players on Championship wages.  To this end, I wouldn’t bet on West Ham returning to the Premier League immediately.

Next Sunday will see the last round of the Premiership 2010/11 season games kick off simultaneously at 4pm.  The results will show which two from five teams will join West Ham to be relegated.

With three teams on 39 points Blackburn and Blackpool look favourites to go down.  Birmingham are away to Spurs, who will want to secure 5th place and Blackpool are away to the newly crowned champions Manchester United, who will want to finish the season on a high.  Of the three, Wigan have every chance to win against a deflated Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium, following their FA Cup defeat to Manchester City.

Wolves and Blackburn currently have 40 points each, and will play each other at Molineux.  With neither club wanting to leave anything to chance, this should be a high scoring cracker!

The Seasiders have certainly brought colour to the Premier League but since Christmas they have been on a rapid nose dive.  Their miserable plight continued last weekend even after securing a point with a 1-1 draw at Spurs.  They dropped into the relegation zone for the first time this year after Wolves won 3-1 against ‘black country’ rivals West Brom on Sunday.

Wolves have spent much of the season in the bottom three even though they have beaten the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City.

The bottom three, with just two games to go are: West Ham (33 points), Wigan (36) and Blackpool (36).  The three teams above them are Wolves (37), Birmingham (39) and Blackburn (39).

But looking at the remaining fixtures I can’t see Blackpool or West Ham escaping relegation to the nPower Championship. But Wigan’s two games at West Ham & Stoke could possibly see them play a ‘get out of jail’ card and send Blackburn, Birmingham or Wolves down in their place.

Bottom Six Premier League Fixtures Remaining:

Blackburn – Manchester United (home) & Wolves (away)
Birmingham – Fulham (home) & Spurs (away)
Wolves – Sunderland (away) & Blackburn (home)
Blackpool – Bolton (home) & Man Utd (away)
Wigan – West Ham (away) & Stoke (away)
West Ham – Wigan (away) & Sunderland (home)

I’m going for West Ham, Wigan & Blackpool.  What about you?

Kenwyne Jones opened the scoring with another headed goal from a Jermaine Pennant cross. Ryan Shawcross tapped in a second from inside six yards, and Jermaine Pennant made it 3-0 with a deflected shot from about eight yards.

Wolves were very poor while Stoke continue to impress, playing to their strengths under the excellent management of Tony Pulis.

Wolves (34 points) stay in the bottom three, along with Wigan (33 points) and West Ham (32 points) but there is still time for all three to avoid relegation with four games still to play.
Blackpool climb out of the relegation places on goal difference after a 1-1 draw with Newcastle on Saturday.  Blackburn are currently 16th (35 points) and Birmingham (38 points) are far from safe following a run of bad results.  Fulham are in 14th position with 39 points and a game in-hand on the six teams below them, which I believe will be enough to see them play Premier League football next season.

I personally think the relegation battle will go to the final day and is now between the bottom six: Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool, Wigan, Wolves and West Ham.

At the top of the Premiership Arsenal and Tottenham both dropped more points at the weekend.  Spurs were held to a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane by West Brom, while Arsenal lost away to Bolton. Tottenham appear to have blown a chance of a top four finish and Champions League football next season with two from a possible six points last week; while Manchester City overcame Blackburn on Monday with Edin Dzecko’s first Premier League goal.

Man City are now 5 points clear of Spurs with five games to play; and with Arsenal winning only one point from their last two games, Arsene Wenger will be looking over his shoulder at Roberto Mancini’s sky blues who are now just 5 points behind them with a game in hand.

Chelsea continued their recent good run as the most inform team in the Premier League with a 3-0 thrashing of West Ham on Sunday, including a first goal for Fernando Torres, and Manchester United continued to grind out results beating Everton at Old Trafford 1-0 on Saturday.

Both Chelsea (67 points) & Manchester United (73 points) have four games left.  This weekend Chelsea are at home to Spurs while Man Utd are away to Arsenal; two massive games for all four clubs.  But the Premier League title could be decided when Chelsea play Manchester Utd at Old Trafford on Sunday 8th May.

Over the past 12 months or so Newcastle United have been managed by two messiahs, one over-the-hill manager with a history of heart problems, and a caretaker manager who has never before managed a team at any level.  Furthermore, the board of directors appointed Dennis Wise as Director of Football.  An appointment that was as unpopular and unsuccessful, as it was surprising.

Self-made millionaire and self-confessed fanatical Newcastle United fan and owner, Mike Ashby certainly hasn’t helped to steady the boat, but even since becoming the most unpopular man in Newcastle, he has continued to plough his own money into the club; and by tempting Kevin Keegan (messiah no.1) out of retirement, he played no small part in pulling off the biggest footballing shock of the decade.

For a short time the so-called “most loyal fans in English football” were happy living in cloud cuckooland.  Instead of moaning about how their Premier League position didn’t correspond to how big a club Newcastle United were, they began boasting how Newcastle were going to take their “rightful” place in the Champions League and be one of the best teams in Europe etc etc!

But the black and white dreams didn’t last, and Super Kev left Newcastle United in the lurch for a second time in their history.

Without knowing the full details of why Keegan quit the club, it is reasonable to assume it was, in part, a power struggle between Kevin Keegan and Dennis Wise involving the transfer of players.  The sale of one of Newcastle’s best players, James Milner, to Aston Villa was the last straw. But that said, Kevin Keegan has walked away from other managerial roles for both clubs (Manchester City and Fulham) and England whenever the going gets tough.  But the fans wanted Keegan back, nonetheless.

With Keegan walking out on the club every Geordie fan could quite literally only see black and white; and mass demonstrations outside St. James Park followed.  It was good to see how passionate the supporters were about the club, but as the board looked for a new manager, did it not occur to the supporters how hostile they made that situation look to any top managers that could possibly have been brought to St James’ Park and keep the mighty Newcastle in the Premiership?

I assume the appointment of Joe Kinnear was because no one else wanted the job, and Kinnear is an old acquaintance of Dennis Wise.  Wise and the board could continue to run the club while Kinnear simply picked the team.  Chris Houghton was brought in by Kevin Keegan but continued to coach the first team under Joe Kinnear.  And when the pressure got too much for poor Joe Kinnear, resulting in more heart problems, the Newcastle board asked the inexperienced Chris Houghton to act as caretaker manager to a squad full of over-inflated egos and lacking self-discipline, for far too long.

Then, with eight games to go, Mike Ashby pulls off another amazing trick, as he finally convinces Geordie messiah no.2, Alan Shearer, to leave the comfort and safety of the Match Of The Day ‘Pundits Sofa’ to step into the firing line, and takeover the reigns at Newcastle United.  Once again, the Geordie faithful were ecstatic. Some called radio phone-ins suggesting they were not only going to avoid relegation but win all eight remaining games!  The word ‘fickle’ comes to mind here.

I was utterly shocked to hear Shearer had agreed to undertake the Newcastle manager’s position at such a crucial time of the season. And even with the appointment of Iain Dowie as an assistant manager with relegation battle experience, I really couldn’t see Alan Shearer being able to turn around Newcastle United’s misfortunes with a cult of personality alone.

Yesterday, Newcastle United were awful.  Aston Villa’s Brad Friedel didn’t have a save to make, and Newcastle were relegated as they lost their seventh game under the guidance of Alan Shearer.  They won three points out of a possible 24, but on the final whistle, the faithful Geordie fans, the so-called “best football fans in the country” chanted Alan Shearer’s name!

So, who is to blame for the mighty Newcastle United being relegated to the Championship?

Newcastle United have never been able to replace the glory years of Kevin Keegan’s first management tenure.  Kenny Dalglish came and went.  Ruud Gulitt and Steve Clarke left the club by mutual consent because they had to live in the shadow of one man, Alan Shearer.  Yes, he was a great player. But even Bobby Robson was pushed aside when he failed to see eye to eye with Shearer.

Newcastle United were relegated because the club has been badly managed, their expectations are too high, they pay inflated wages for big stars when it might be better to create a team spirit, and over the course of a 38 game season, they haven’t won enough points.  And whether Newcastle fans like it or not, they are where they deserve to be and have no divine right to be in the top flight of English football, especially as they haven’t won a major competition since 1969.

I personally think Alan Shearer will not be able to leave the job unfinished and will remain as Newcastle manager.  But I wonder if the ‘best fans in English football’ will still be chanting his name on the last day of next season if he fails to win promotion back to the Premier League.

But listening to the Radio Five Live football England  post-match phone-in, I was surprised to hear Alan Shearer call the program to confirm he has become the fourth Newcastle United manager this season, following in the footsteps of the ‘other’ messiah Kevin Keegan, Joe Kinnear (who is still recovering from the experience in hospital) and Chris Hughton, who has been unable to step up to the job as caretaker manager in Kinnear’s absence.

Shearer denied he had been offered the vacant manager’s position earlier in the season and that he had accepted the offer after a meeting with owner Mike Ashley; and that he was sincerely only interested in undertaking the role for the eight remaining Premier League fixtures whereby he would step aside to allow Joe Kinnear to return to the role in a full-time capacity.

When squeezed on the possibility of successfully avoiding relegation and wishing to remain as full-time manager, Shearer told Alan Green: “I’m here for eight games and eight games only!”

Newcastle Utd have called a press conference for tomorrow where they will officially unveil Alan Shearer as their new caretaker manager.  Shearer confirmed he is bringing Ian Dowie in to help him.

Newcastle have confirmed that Dennis Wise has left his role as Director of Football as part of Shearer’s appointment.

Newcastle United fans have been crying out for Alan Shearer to return to St. James Park ever since he retired as a player in 2006.  But hitherto, the warmth, comfort and security of the Match Of The Day pundits sofa and BBC contract has been used to reflect any interest of putting himself in the firing line.

I am very surprised that Shearer has finally agreed to join Newcastle, even if it is on a caretaker basis.  If he cannot avoid Newcastle being relegated to the Championship then it will be the second coming revisited.  And of all the teams in the battle to avoid relegation Newcastle’s ‘home run’ is by far the most difficult; and it starts with a home coming for Alan Shearer against high-flying Chelsea at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

No doubt all Geordie fans will be dancing in the street tonight and singing at the top of their voices on Saturday afternoon.  But come the end of the season will his stature as a Newcastle legend still be intact or will it be reminiscent of Trevor Brooking’s brave attempt to keep his beloved West Ham United in the Premiership when he was appointed in similar circumstances in April 2003?

Manchester United face a tough proposition way at Fulham, in a rematch of the FA Cup game a few weeks back. It will certainly take a lot of character for the Red Devils and Sir Alex Ferguson to bounce back from their 4-1 trouncing at home last weekend if they are to be victorious at Craven Cottage.

The other fixture which stands out his week is that of Stoke Vs Middlesbrough. With both teams struggling in the relegation zone this is very much a six-pointer for both clubs, which could well prove vital come May. Stoke will be relying on their strong home form to see them take all three points.

However, the pick of the bunch must surely be Liverpool Vs. Aston Villa on Sunday. This fixture presents us with two clubs striving for a huge end-of-season push. Liverpool will be buzzing on the back of two fantastic results against Man U and Real Madrid in the past 10 days, whereas Martin O’Neill will be looking to turn around the Villans fortunes and snatch the fourth champions’ league spot back from Arsenal with a good result at Anfield.

Here is a full list of the weekend’s clashes:

Saturday 21 March

Blackburn v West Ham, 15:00
Fulham v Man Utd, 15:00
Newcastle v Arsenal, 17:30
Portsmouth v Everton, 12:45
Stoke v Middlesbrough, 15:00
Tottenham v Chelsea, 15:00
West Brom v Bolton, 15:00

Sunday 22 March

Liverpool v Aston Villa, 16:00
Man City v Sunderland, 15:00
Wigan v Hull, 13:30

The amount of money in the English football Premier League has corrupted the game of football.  Everything now revolves around money.

Not a statement by Karl Marx but the prophetic words of those Swedish pop legends, Abba; and after the shananigans of the English Premier League over the past few weeks, it’s as if Benny & Bjorn were giving a prophetic warning to all English football fans.

First, there was money from Sky TV that helped promote the idea of the English Premiership and has helped to make it the richest football league in the world; and now the Premier League has become the playground for foreign owners, many of whom have no knowledge or interest in football as entertainment, but see the ownership of an English Premier League team as a prize medal or worse still, simply a way of making money.

As far as I’m concerned there are positives and negatives to consider, but what is for sure, football ain’t what it used to be!

Sky TV money has certainly helped attract some of the best players in the world.  Now teams can compete with other leagues by offering outrageous wages to the most wanted.  This is nothing new.  The Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga leagues have been attracting world class players from all over the world for decades by offering players more money.

The negatives of the Premier League now relying on television companies for money includes the ridiculous nature of kick-off times that now start Saturday lunchtime and finish on Monday evening.  It may be a small thing, but it has taken the edge off a traditional Saturday afternoon when all teams would kick off at 3pm and lead to an exciting “Final Score” at the end of Granstand.

Now we have foreign owners buying up all the bigger teams.  Again, this is great for attracting the best players in the world but it has led to short termism and the acceptable ideas that managers are not choosing who to buy and sell, let alone given time to build a team.

Short term business management is going to affect whether the cream of young English talent rises to the top much more than whether they can break into a first team squad full of international players, as it doesn’t allow managers to spend so much time nurturing young talent or taking risks.

The latest debacle caused by Premier League money is the fiasco of an independent tribunal judging that West Ham are to pay Sheffield United £30 million 16 months after they were relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship because it was judged that West Ham played Carlos Tevez, who was deemed to be an illegible player.

I understand Sheffield United’s stance to a point; afterall they are a business.  A business that, by being relegated, lost serious amounts of revenue.  But whether or not West Ham were breaking the rules, they were simply relegated because they failed to win enough points over the course of a season and were not good enough for Premiership status.

Premiership status is one thing, teams breaking the laws of the game is another.  But when £30 million is thrown into the equation, well that’s a game with two halves; and I wonder what Sheffield United’s chairman Ken McCabe would choose given the option of £30 million in compensation or to be reinstated to the Premier League.

He may well ask to ‘phone a friend’ though if the friend was Neil Warnock, who lost his job as Sheffield United manager due directly to their relegation, I don’t think he would agree with Neil’s answer, do you?

For me, the three teams that came up from the Coca-Cola Championship, Hull City, Stoke City and West Brom, are favourites to go straight back down and be relegated come next May, with Bolton being ‘in the mix’ for the whole season.

I feel confident that Chelsea will win the Premier League due to the pain of being runners up in three competitions last season. Manchester United swill be second, with Liverpool being third.

I think Arsenal and Tottenham will battle it out for fourth place; and that will depend on whether Berbatov stays at White Hart Lane or, if he goes to Manchester United as everyone now believes will definitely happen, who they buy to replace him.

If David Villa doesn’t want to come to the White Hart Lane then maybe they can coax Steve Archibald out of retirement!