I might pop down the pub today

[Sweder]

I couldn't watch it, ended up pacing the house with 5Live on in the background, listening out for any warning sounds of Alan Green going off the scale. Thank God for Ferdinand; his influence on the error-prone Wes Brown has been nothing short of sensational in recent weeks.

Nice to see the boys win one without Rooney - his absence has so often been associated with losses this season. So pleased for Scholes after '99. I'd love him to end his career with a winners medal on the pitch but life rarely runs that smoothly.

All-English final bad for the game? In Moscow perhaps . . . there could easily be horrible consequences. I fear Chelski getting through; our lot won't sleep a wink with all Roman's cronies making a din outside their Dacha the night before. Lord Ferg would be best advised to change his statuatory call for a strong ref to a call for an English one, or at least one who doesn't need a sudden influx of used notes in easy to carry bags. What chance Colina might come out of retirement?



I think the all-English affair reflects well on the Premiership and on the English and foreign stars that illuminate it. Funny to hear Sepp Blatter's concern for the English national game the other day. The truth is no matter who wins tonight the final will contain a good half of the first-choice England eleven. Herr Blatter's time would be better spent looking into fascism on the Italian terraces or racism in the former Eastern Block. I'm sure he yearns for the bad old days when quotas prevented United from playing Giggs, Keane and Schmeichel in the same side because they were all deemed 'foreign'. Much less chance of those nasty English clubs dominating Europe then, eh Sepp?