Sunday 1 Spurs thrash Villa 5-1 to move into a UEFA Cup spot. “Spurs have pushed on because they’ve made a big investment,” says David O’Leary, loud enough for Doug Ellis to hear. Man Utd’s 4‑0 win at Charlton (“For the last six weeks our defending has been chronic,” sighs Alan Curbishley) puts them a point behind Arsenal. Rangers are two points behind Celtic after a 3‑1 win at Aberdeen.
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Saturday 2 Madness at St James’ Park, where Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer are sent off for fighting each other. Newcastle also have Steve Taylor dismissed for handball during a 3‑0 defeat by Villa. Chelsea need three more wins for the title after a 3‑1 stroll at Southampton (yet José is supposedly ready to quit over the club not having contested the UEFA charge against him). Arsenal return to second place with Thierry Henry now only four goals short of Ian Wright’s club record after a hat-trick in a 4‑1 win over Norwich; Man Utd are held to a goalless draw by Blackburn. A late Igor Biscan goal beats Bolton and takes Liverpool to within a point of That All Important™ fourth place. Sunderland’s 3‑1 win at QPR takes them five points clear as Championship leaders. Ipswich go joint second by beating Derby 3‑2 while Wigan lose 2‑1 at home to West Ham. Victory over Brighton takes Coventry out of the bottom three at the expense of Gillingham. Stockport are the first team to be relegated this season after a 2‑1 League One defeat by Brentford. Southend, unbeaten in 14 games, lead League Two after Yeovil continue to falter with a defeat at Rushden. Martin O’Neill blames Celtic’s shock 2‑0 home defeat by Hearts on players being fagged out from international call-ups.
The 2004-05 season has just been more of the same old, same old. It wasn't like this years ago
We are nearly at the end of another season and, as ever, for many fans it will feel like 2004-05 has been one big letdown, a year that will hard to distinguish in the memory from ten others. There may have been good moments, but they’re more than balanced by the bad. And there’s nothing wrong with that. A constant diet of unrelenting success, like a constant diet of Big Macs or a succession of evening meals spent in the company of Peter Kenyon, is no good for anyone.
Tuesday 1 Drama to the last in Sheffield United’s FA Cup fifth-round replay with Arsenal, settled by Manuel Almunia making two saves in a shoot-out after a 0‑0 draw. “An average Premiership side would have lost but Sheffield were electric for 120 minutes,” say Arsène. Brentford take a fourth-minute lead against Southampton, but lose 3‑1. Blackburn beat Burnley 2‑1 with a late goal from Morten Gamst Pedersen. Roy Keane is cleared of charges of assault over an incident near his home last year. Jermaine Pennant, however, is jailed for three months for drunk-driving while banned. “We will give him all the help and support he needs to turn his life around,” says Birmingham chief executive Karren Brady – paying him £3,000 a week might seem like help enough.
Simon Inglis, the acclaimed writer on football grounds, turns his attention in a new biography to the long-forgotten Scot who designed so much we took for granted
Every football writer ends up becoming a bore on at least one pet subject, and I’m no different. Indeed there have been times when I’ve embarrassed even myself by rattling on about Archibald Leitch, the Scottish engineer whose football ground designs dominated the landscape of British football for most of the 20th century. And now I have written a whole book on Archie, as part of a new English Heritage series called Played in Britain, which seeks to put the study of sporting heritage on the same footing as that of other areas of popular architecture (cinemas, housing, retail, industrial and so on). And quite right too.