There’s nothing easier than betting with hindsight, but you have to say that Coral’s offer of 3-1 on the four teams in the Premiership relegation scrap — Hull, Sunderland, Boro and Newcastle — failing to win was of a generosity to make even the Commons Fees Office blanch. Sure enough they all did even worse and lost, giving every impression of playing some of the crappiest football of the season. Newcastle looked dire, and Middlesbrough have been feeble all season, no matter how nice Gareth Southgate clearly is. I suppose it is just about fair that Hull stayed up, underdogs and all that; and Sunderland deserved it because Niall Quinn is a rare shaft of light.
Thank heaven for Burnley, who played their hearts out to win the promotion play-offs in a match described by one American commentator as ‘the 100 million dollar game’. Afterwards their heroic central defender Clarke Carlisle picked up the man of the match award and in a short and graceful interview gave every sign of being one of the most impressive human beings on earth. Moved to tears, he spoke with wisdom, articulacy and passion about the game, the players, the supporters, and his own personal journey through a host of injuries as well as alcoholism, even thanking Tony Adams’s Sporting Chance clinic. If ever anyone should carry the torch for all that is great and good in the beautiful game it’s Clarke Carlisle. An utterly charming man, he also once won the title of Britain’s Brainiest Footballer — get that man into Downing Street asap.
What joy the play-offs are. They got rubbished when someone invented them a few years ago, but now they are a sensational tail-piece to the season. I couldn’t put it better than my friend Simon, a man of the Medway and a lifelong Gillingham supporter, who last Saturday saw his beloved Gills beat Shrewsbury to move up to League One.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in