Yesterday marked another remarkable day in football - and sport as a whole - especially down here in Plymouth. Firstly West Ham clinch promotion in a nail biting game, then as the Olympic Torch made its way through the streets, Chelsea would be firing one more penalty home against Bayern to be crowned Champion of Champions in Europe - and thus through a stroke of ill fate knocked Tottenham out of their 4th position into Europa, thus negating the whole of the season.
Plymouth was in carnival mood yesterday with the combination of Lord Mayor's Day and the Olympic Torch relay, having been bedecked in red white and blue as people came to see the symbol will dominate the summer, the other half of the city were watching the TV as Chelsea v Bayern descended into English v Germans (though how many English players are there at Chelsea?). And if you thought that the ending of the Premier League a week ago was dramatic, then the ending of the Champions League was just as heart stopping.
But for all the thrill that this season of top flight football has brought with the race for 1st place, race for 3rd, race for 4th etc, and the subsequent matches that sealed the outcomes, what have we learnt? That the winning clubs are those that spend their way to victory. And you don't even have to be that good - in the case of Chelsea, who have ousted a team who were better than them in their own league.
So what of next season? Well to be sure that the 'winners' - Chelsea, City. are now out to get whoever they want at whatever cost, and will probably get their way, bolstered by their success. Arsenal will probably lose Van Persie, and Spurs will probably lose half their squad. And United are always a safe bet for agents. I would say that, unlike the Games, next season's football will probably be more predictable. And what a shame if it is.
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