The league is done and dusted. The season is nearly over. And the thoughts of all English football fans are turning to the World Cup.

But there are still a couple of pretty important issues which need settling, the first of which is today’s FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham. (The second is the Champions League final, but more of that on Wednesday).

As has now become traditional in this sort of situation, I will end up supporting the underdogs. The favourites always seem to have more dedicated fans anyway and it is the lesser team that generally needs the support of us neutrals.

And let’s face it, West Ham are far and away the underdogs on this occasion. They were among the pre-season favourites to get relegated having only made it up to the top flight through the play-offs.

Yet Alan Pardew has not only secured their Premiership survival for another year but also taken his side to a domestic cup final which is nothing short of remarkable.

Today’s clash should be made all the more interesting as it is between two sides that like to play football the proper way, the way it was meant to be played – on the ground, at high speed and with passion.

However, on paper at least, Liverpool should win. And in a way victory for them is even more important than for West Ham who have already secured a place in the Uefa Cup as their opponents are Champions League bound.

Whoever walks away with the trophy, let’s hope the last final to be staged at the Millennium stadium before the cup moves back to its traditional home at Wembley is a good one. End the season on a high note, sort of thing.

Tottenham Hotspur

By appealing to have their match against West Ham replayed, the Spurs board did little more than humiliate themselves, their team and their fans.

It was never going to happen and I am sure club chairman David Levy knew it wasn’t. So why did he insist on going ahead with an appeal that was obviously going to fail and just made them look like spoilt kids throwing a tantrum?

The Spurs fans I have spoken to this week have said they find Levy’s actions thoroughly embarrassing. And I fully sympathise with them. Although they are gutted at missing out on the Champions League they were ready to accept that fate had dealt them a bad hand.

That is, sometimes, just the way the lasagna crumbles.

Highbury seats

Meanwhile, in another, probably unrelated, poisonous twist, Arsenal have cancelled plans to sell off the 38,000 Highbury seats to fans.

The club had started taking orders for the seats from supporters who wanted them as a memento of the old ground now the team is moving to the new one.

And at 20 quid a pop, they were proving pretty popular.

However, the club has had to pull the plug on the plan after tests revealed the seats contain a small amount of a poisonous substance which could become dangerous to fans if they use them in confined areas.

A spokesman for the club said they were saddened that they couldn’t now give the fans what they want. Nothing to do with being saddened by the fact they were losing out on a million pounds.

Still, at least the club will be able to console itself with the fact that their supporters are snapping up all the other bits of memorabilia on offer like pieces of the Arsenal pitch which are selling for 25 quid a go.

Be interesting wouldn’t it, if traces of a Highbury seat were found in the aforementioned Lasagna.

Middlesbrough

My sympathies to Middlesbrough fans who had to endure a 4-0 thrashing in Wednesday’s UEFA Cup final.

Although it sounds like s a pretty humiliating defeat the reality is that Boro did themselves proud and the result could easily have been 1-1 if the ref hadn’t bottled giving the English team a clear penalty.

Still that will be of little consolation to the fans who were hoping Steve McClaren would leave the club on a high by adding European glory to his list of achievements at the Riverside.

On the positive side, at least McClaren is leaving behind a decent legacy. Not only did he win the club’s first ever bit of silverware, but he also leaves them with an exciting crop of talented young English players for the future.

Oh, and Ray Parlour…

Footnote

And now for an, cough, footnote.

Just in case you were wondering exactly how fanatical the English are about football, all you have to do is go to a new website that has been launched in the last few days.

It’s called www.healrooney.com

I don’t think I need to say any more than that. Have a look for yourselves. The world has officially gone mad.

Contact James on: [email protected]