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THE 39th GAME: Should Pompey even be in the FA Cup?

It was Arsene Wenger who famously claimed that Chelsea spending Abramovich’s millions was equivalent to “financial doping”. He’s right of course, but at the same time, Chelsea were doing nothing wrong. But what about Portsmouth?  

Surely they have got to the FA Cup final with players that they could allegedly neither afford to buy, nor, for parts of the season, even afford to pay. So how is this fair to the Burnleys of this world, who have managed their success within budget, and who refuse to "dope" their team in this way? If the FA has effectively thrown Portsmouth out of the Premiership with their points deduction, why are they still in the FA Cup? It’s time that clubs that are well run and well managed are seen as the good guys. I propose a handicapping system; for every % over your turnover that you spend, you are handicapped a point. That would stop clubs going bust, stop their suppliers from losing serious amounts of money when they declare themselves bankrupt, and even up the playing field.

On top of this, I would like to see Portsmouth's FA Cup win, also propelled by unaffordable players, taken away. The 2008 FA Cup (Sponsored by QoS) winners are now Cardiff City! Errr, hang on, that might not last very long either…

THE 39th GAME: Congratulations Fulham and Hodgson - let your marriage be long and happy!

Hats off to Fulham and to Roy Hodgson - their thumping of Juventus in the Europa cup must go down as one of the highlights of the season for any neutral; in fact for all football fans - how many fans of other clubs actually dislike Fulham? Whilst the press are quick to laud the canny Hodgson ("The art of a good manager doesn't just disappear", etc), a quick look at his CV shows that he has never really been a success. Brief stints with Inter Milan, Blackburn and the Swiss national side were never covered with glory. But somehow he and Fulham seem perfect for each other, a match made in heaven, if you will. In these days of winning-is-everything football, where the "bounce" a new manager can provide can save you from relegation no matter what his actual skill, how many real "marriages" between manager and club are there?

There are plenty of managers who are pretty (!) enough to marry anyone... Ferguson, Wenger, O'Neill and Moyes would surely make an honest man of almost every club. There are some who will marry you, spend all your money, and then leave you for somebody richer (I'm looking at you, Harry...). And there are some whom everyone drools over (you Portuguese minx).

But the marriages I want to raise a glass to are the ones where manager and club seem to be perfect for each other, and their union leaves you with something far stronger than the sum of its parts. I may have missed a few - please do add your thoughts below - but I want to salute you, the ones that have stayed together, and commiserate the ones who, wrongly, thought the grass was greener and went off with someone else; Hodgson and Fulham, Gradi and Crewe, Roux and Auxerre, Curbishley and Charlton, Allardyce and Bolton...