Search: ' Sheffield Wednesday'

Setanta and ITV fail to impress during their, let's face it, poor coverage of the prestigious competition. Cameron Carter watches 

Setanta are enjoying their first crack at the FA Cup Sponsored By E.on and it looks like they have pulled out all the stops, bearing in mind they don’t have many stops available. To reflect on the events of the fourth round, Sports Saturday brought together a nice young chairman, two ex-pros and a “betting expert”. Now, I’m all for ­different angles on the game and a change from a couple of old players saying “Like you said…” and “Like Steve said…”, but a betting expert is probably not going to add much to the debate other than a flurry of predictable odds and the faint aroma of Golden Virginia. 

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Wigan throw it away as Preston capture the title, by Mark Barr

The long-term significance
This was the season that revived two traditional Lancashire clubs. Preston returned to the second level after a nineteen year absence, while runners-up Burnley had spent only two years outside the lower divisions during the same period. Both clubs have remained in the Championship, with Preston qualifying for the playoffs twice. This season Burnley’s victories over Chelsea and Arsenal have take them to their first major cup semi final since 1982-83.

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Paul Jewell has always been popular with the football media. Derby fans are not so keen on him, as Richard Barker explains

Last Christmas, Derby County manager Paul Jewell told the Sunday Times that while Harry Redknapp would be his choice as the next England manager, Jewell personally “would never take it; too many blazers, too much politics”. Following his heroic attempts to keep Derby up (played 24; won 0; drew 5; lost 19; for 15; against 56), the thought of Jewell ever being in a position to turn down England is risible. A year after announcing that the national job wasn’t for him, Jewell scuttled out of Pride Park with Derby fans contemplating another relegation battle. So much for his promise: “The pain we are suffering now, I will repay next year with promotion.” He arrived pledging: “I am not here to raise the white flag.” Yet after presiding over the most humiliating season in Premier League history, he also threw in the towel after a rotten ­performance in the Championship.

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This season's Championship has been a strange affair, says Tim Springett

The Championship, we are told, is the fifth richest football league in the world. That doesn’t alter the fact that it will always be the poor relation of the Premier League. The financial gulf between the two continues to grow and one could be forgiven for thinking that Derby’s abject experience this season served as a deterrent to many teams in the Championship to strive for promotion. It was a division that, in 2007-08, nobody seemed to want to win.

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Dear WSC
Nice to see Tranmere physio Les Parry get some recognition in WSC 255 (Shot!), although he is no stranger to fame. Not only did he win a competition to find the fastest physio in the country a few years ago (with the final being held before the League Cup final), he is probably the only physio in the country – nay, the world – who has his own chant. The verses are seldom sung these days, as they refer to players such as Andy Thorn who have long retired (a further sign of his longevity), but the chorus, to the tune of I am the Music Man, of “Physi, physi, physio. Physio Les Parry” still rings out when he sprints on to the pitch to repair yet another Tranmere player clattered to the ground by some carthorse of a third-division defender.
John Rooney, Bristol

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