Rotherham United escaped relegation from League One by two points. Today it has been announced that they will start the new season on -10 points as they have entered a CVA with their creditors approval. I have every sympathy for their supporters who have tried hard all season to raise funds to keep the club afloat. I do however wonder about the timing of the announcement and the Directors need to explain fully as to why the decision was taken one week after the seasons end. The Football League should also look closely at the rules and see if they have been broken by the dubious timing of the action – will Hartlepool look at this and raise a protest? Surely the whole point of these rules, brought about by Leicester City’s CVA in League One following their relegation from the Premiership, was to prevent clubs gaining an unfair advantage over their rivals by following this route. In any case, has the 2005 – 06 season officially finished? The Play-Offs are still in progress, the transfer window re-opens at the end of the season according to UEFA, so have the Merry Millers abused the rules?

Liverpool overcame West Ham after penalties today in a final that was a million times better for the viewing public. Jose Manuel Reina’s reputation dropped during the match but he proved that his last two seasons in Spain where he saved eight or nine penalties, was no fluke. And well done to him, he showed his strength of character to come back from the three goals conceded – Jamie Carragher ought to sign up for Strictly Come Dancing with the fancy footwork he showed for the first whilst Paul Konchelsky probably could not repeat the outcome of his cross in the next one hundred times he tried it. Only the second goal was truly Reina’s fault but he must have been thinking that God really did not like him this afternoon. That is until the penalties. Yes some of the West Ham spot kicks were not good but the keeper still has to save them. It seems a little harsh for West Ham to lose , especially if one considers that they would have been 3 – 1 to the good inside the first minute of the second half if Marlon Harewood had converted his chance, but you get the feeling that it may be your day when your captain strikes an equaliser such as Gerrards last gasp shot. I did not see the Man of the Match Award presentation, there’s only so long you can hold your bladder, but if it went to anyone else then they were undeserving of it. For West Ham, Nigel Reo-Coker played well in midfield and if this is how he has been performing all season then he justifies Sven Goran Eriksson’s faith by placing him as Standby midfielder for the World Cup.

Todays Tunes continue grooving. First on the cyber-turntable is a masterpiece of feelgood funk from New Orleans’ Eddie and the Top Notes, Inc. With one of the best basslines ever recorded, Dap Walk has superb rhythms and is the perfect start to an evening. This is accompanied by the equally uplifting Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by The Casino Soul Orchestra. Get your feet tappin’….

Investigations in Italy into match-fixing have engulfed forty one people, involving nineteen matches including some involving AC Milan and / or Lazio. Whilst this type of scandal is not unusual in Italian football – Milan were themselves relegated twenty or so years ago for “financial shenanigans” – it is seemingly becoming more common across Europe. In the last twelve months we have witnessed betting scandals in Belguim (taking in some matches in France), referees taking bribes in Germany, more financial wrongdoing in Marseilles, even the FA Premier Leagues’ chairman is facing questions about his chairmanship at Sheffield Wednesday. Let us not forget that the Stevens Inquiry has yet to report on their investigations into English Football. And it is only just over a decade since George Graham was caught with his hands in a brown paper bag, still the only high profile case in this country to be successfully prosecuted.

In an era when money is the dominant force in football, it is perhaps unsurprising that these issues are coming to the fore. Whilst the media attention is drawn towards the major clubs, it is worth pondering on the fact that the Belgian problems have focussed not on their leading sides, RSC Anderlecht or Club Brugges, but those at the foot of the top flight and in lower leagues. Already suspensions have been handed down to several players and coaches. The problem has arisen through bribes coming from Asian Betting Syndicates, the same as those who bribed Robert Hoyzer, a German Referee now banned for life from involvement in football. English clubs have been in financial difficulties since the collapse of ITV Digital but there is no evidence so far that any impropriety has taken place. Perhaps those involved receive sufficient salaries or have more integrity than their continental counterparts. It cannot be through lack of opportunity as it seems that you can lay a bet in a shop or on the internet on two flies climbing a wall.

To this blogger though, I find it incredulous that senior officials at clubs can become involved in such schemes. Whilst the “win at all costs” culture has become more prevalent at the highest level since the grotesque revenues available through the Champions League upped the economix ante, surely there has to be a sporting ethic in play. In Juve’s case, suspicions of bending the law to breaking point have been raised through the prosecution of club medical officials for utilising drugs to enhance performance, having a pharmacy at the club that is stocked better than many small hospitals. Looking at their performance in this season Champions League Quarter Final, it is hard to believe that they have been doping their players to improve their physical attributes rather that they had given them tranquilisers so docile were they in chasing a two goal deficit.

Perhaps it is now time for FIFA and UEFA to take an active role in the investigations into the clubs. Should those officials be found guilty of the charge then the club must be punished by relegation, not to the next division down but to the bottom of the professional football structure. This then sends a message to everyone in the game about the potential outcomes for individuals and their employers / colleagues. Unfortunately it is always the innocent parties who get hurt but both the club and supporters will have benefitted from the impropriety so they must suffer the consequences. Should Arsenal suffer such a punishment, I would be up in arms about the injustice of it all but this subsides and the real anger becomes focussed on the individuals involved. It is necessary that the game is clear of such financial infidelities and one high profile case may well be the catalyst. If not transgressors cannot say that there is one rule for the rich and another for the poor.

The FA Cup Final takes place not at Wembley as was expected this time last season but once again in Cardiff. With Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium looking to be completed on time and on budget, it draws more ire towards those involved in the Wembley project. Taking stock of the media coverage, it is obvious that those involved could not organise an allnight drinking binge in a brewery. Yet thus far, no action is taken other than Party A suing Party B. English football deserved better than this debacle but it is also symptomatic of the bungling that besets anything that The FA touch, recent examples aside from Wembley range from hiring a new England Coach to the National Football Centre at Burton. Let us hope that Liverpool and West Ham serve better fare than last years combatants although given Arsenal won, it matters not one jot to this man. In a season that has so far served up one-sided finals, both the Carling and UEFA Cup would have been halted by a Boxing Referee, please let this be a contest to remember. Liverpool are favourites and ought to win, probably 2 – 0 but West Ham have enough going forward to trouble the Liverpool defence.

Todays Tunes are more 60′s soul. First up are Carl Holmes and the Commanders with Crossin’ Over. Having had a young Jimi Hendrix gig with the group might have brought them more retrospective fame but it is a shame that they are best known for being the house band in the toga party scenes in Animal House. This track is their last recorded release under this guise , being apparently rare to get hold and is a slice of upbeat Philly R&B. Next up is Jessie Gee Don’t You Mess With My Money which is todays’ contrived link, and one that this song deserves better of – starting off as a slow blues rap, this then becomes dirtier and more lowdown. Enjoy.

Arsene Wenger has confirmed his squad for next week’s Champions League Final against Barcelona, barring injury, will not include Theo Walcott and that Dennis Bergkamp has yet to play his final match for the club. The surprise inclusion of Walcott in England’s final 23 for the World Cup means that he will be away in Portugal on a jolly, sorry Training Camp, for the finalists. Bergkamp meanwhile will be travelling to Paris for the final for a touch of benchwarming and maybe one last hurrah in the clubs colours, which incidentally will be the yellow away kit. Given the comments in the press made by the Arsenal manager, I would expect his starting line-up to be:

Lehmann; Eboue, Toure, Campbell, Cole; Ljungberg, Gilberto, Fabregas, Hleb; Reyes; Henry

with the subs bench being:

Almunia, Clichy, Flamini, Senderos, van Persie, Bergkamp and Pires.

The only change I can see may be Pires in place of Reyes but I think that given the Spaniard has started ahead of Pires for most of the season, it is unlikely. Meanwhile, Pires’ oft-rumoured move to Villarreal seems to be moving closer each day as he is the subject of much speculation in the media. I am not surprised by this as he will probably be moving further down the pecking order next season should he decide to stay. Should Walcott make an impression at this summers World Cup, he increases his chances of playing in the Premiership next season which would then leave Pires fighting Reyes, Ljungberg and van Persie for the wide left midfield berth. Hleb, I think, has convinced Wenger of his worth with some diligent defensive work in Europe and also is starting to show the close ball control that Wenger admired in the first place.

On the subject of the World Cup, Wayne Rooney is supposedly on course to play in the England v Sweden game, the final match of the Group phase in Germany. This is better than expected news and eases some of the pressure on what England do once they get into the knockout phase, assuming of course that the captainless ship plots a safe course past Trinidad & Tobago and Paraguay. If results go to form, the result of the England v Sweden match decides who gets to follow the route to the final via Poland, Portugal and Brazil or Germany, Argentina and Italy. Neither is particularly easy but the expectation is growing as the tournament comes ever closer. Unfortunately for the England Camp, they have fed this belief that England can win. Not a country that needs any boost in its’ thirst for glory, the English fans have been told that Germany 2006 represented the time when Englands’ so called Golden Generation would be at their peak, although I am unconvinced that at the time they were labelling themselves as such that the players had a potential forward line of Crouch and Walcott in mind. Eriksson meanwhile, has been feeding the fishes by claiming that England, with a little luck, can reach the Final in Berlin. He, no doubt, has the hope that England go out on a high so that he gets offered the pick of coaching jobs as opposed to the return to Benfica which is being mooted following Ronald Koeman’s departure to Eindhoven.

Further controvesy strikes at the heart of a major European club with the news that the whole of Juventus Board has resigned as a result of allegations of collusion with match officials and financial improprieties involving transfers. Following on from the suspicions that Florentino Perez may have jumped ship at Madrid more because of financial problems than failed Galacticos, it seems that the curse of Arsenal is striking at the heart of our vanquished European foes. Barcelona beware.

Todays Tunes continue the soulful theme:

Kool Blues – I’m Gonna Keep On Loving You

Kenny Roberts – Run Like The Devil

More rumblings about Sven Goran Eriksson’s England squad. First up to okeh was Ian Wright who wondered rather egotistically if Shaun Wright-Phillips had been overlooked because of the criticism that he had dished out to the Swede, although he did make a fair point that SWP was omitted from the squad because he is not in Chelsea’s first team whilst he included Theo Walcott is not in Arsenal’s first team. Well, here’s the rub, Ian. If he left out Walcott for SWP, there would have only been three strikers going to Germany. SWP has been left out because he received poor advice to sign for Chelsea. He had the English football world at his feet and should have stayed at Maine Road until after this World Cup. But no, head turned by the lure of filthy lucre, he was publicly advised to go to Stamford Bridge by none other than, er, yourself. This is the price that is paid when signing for a club like Chelsea where they have two players or more, who can play in any particular position. And in any case, SWP has hardly set the world alight when he has got into the First XI, has he? When thinking of who to put in the squad, I like most people, did not even give SWP a second thought. Come to think of it, he never got a first one either. It is rumoured that Liverpool are to offer £14m for him in the summer. Should that turn out to be true, he would well advised to take the contract and get himself back on track.

Meanwhile over in Farmers fields, the most succesful England manager since Don Revie was digging himself out of the vegetable patch to lambast Eriksson for allowing Arsene Wenger to pick the England team. Yep, the Swede was being done in by a Turnip. The internecine vegetable wars have kicked off, Graham Taylor stating that Wenger has persuaded Eriksson to pick Walcott and that the FA have allowed this, “having not given the job to Wenger, Wenger has now picked our team”. What is apparent by this one phrase is Taylor’s bitterness at being removed from the England job. Throughout the whole selection process, Taylor was a regular critic wasting no time in not so much kicking The FA whilst it was down, more stamping on its’ head. Surely the old saying should be changed to “Hell hath no fury like an England manager scorned”?

Ruud van Nistelrooy appears to have argued his way out of Old Trafford this summer. Darth Fergie appears to have had enough of the Dutchman’s frankness and open exchanges with team-mates and will now be moving to pastures new, looking for fresh grazing ground if the right stableboy can come up with around ten million sugarcubes. It is a case of how the mighty have fallen. So low that he was banned from appearing in Roy Keane’s testimonial last night, instead joining a Dutch World Cup Training Camp. To this day, the striker is in the top three of the Leading Goalscorer charts for domestic football and not so long ago was considered to be worth more than £20m. Consider his plight, if one may call it that, alongside that of his bete noir, Thierry Henry. Both have one year left on their contract, both could leave but only one will be valued at something like his true worth, £25m, and even that is a bargain.

Sixteen hundred Liverpool fans are to miss out on the FA Cup Final following the theft of tickets from a Royal Mail Delivery Van in the city. The Millenium Stadium’s policy of not allowing duplicates to be issued has ensured heartbreak for those fans, statistically there are bound to be youngsters in that number. It is not beond the wit of man to enable duplicates to be issued and allow them to be collected in person from the Stadium, upon proof of suitable photographic ID. As it is, their refusal to change their policy has caused considerable ill-feeling towards the game when a quick fix is available. Having enjoyed a number of cup finals, the fans who miss out have my sympathy. The Millenium Stadium authorities have stated that they will eject anyone from the stadium if they sit in those seats. Well, lets see if they do particularly if the individuals in question have bought tickets from a tout having had their tickets stolen initially.

Middlesbrough are on the verge of their first European honours tonight when they take on Sevilla in Eindhoven. After waltzing barefoot through their Group Stage, they have twice come back from a three goal deficit to reach the final. This time however, they face an in-form opponent who are consolidating themselves in the Top Six of the Primera Liga, replicating last seasons performance. This is their first European final and indeed it is more than forty years since their last major honour. For the Teesiders, this is likely to be one game too far this season and I would expect the Andaluz side to win by two goals, maybe 3 – 1 to give the travelling fans one goal to cheer about.