DE.

Brentford beating City today and finishing 9th is some achievement, as I believe they have the lowest wage bill in the division (around £10m less than Watford who are a division below them). Brighton also very low in that table, but finished 6th. Another incredible achievement.

I said Everton couldn't have asked for a better final game, and so it proved, as Bournemouth barely put up a fight. Leicester similarly not hugely troubled by a rubbish West Ham team with one eye on their upcoming European final. With that said, two wins in their last sixteen is why Leicester are going down, not because Bournemouth were already on the beach today. In the end, Everton survived because they were decisive enough to remove their manager with a few months to go and appoint somebody who'd been there and done it before. Leicester waited until April before questionably appointing Dean Smith, whilst Leeds didn't appoint a worthwhile manager until the beginning of May. As much of a mess as Everton have been this season, and it's not like Dyche has pulled up any trees during his tenure thus far, Leicester and Leeds were even worse. Everton fortunate to stay up on that points tally, though, and it'll be interesting to see if Dyche can improve them next season, or if they'll be fighting it out at the wrong end of the table again. Dyche was an improvement on Lampard, but then I probably would have been as well. There wasn't enough of a boost from Dyche that I'd have much confidence going into next season as an Everton supporter, unless the squad has a major revamp. Meanwhile, Leicester, welcome to the very small club of relegated PL champions... nice to have some company.

Quite simply because all of the teams below them are even worse. There ain't much quality from 12th downwards, really. Wolves getting utterly murdered by Arsenal and they're 13th.

Indeed so, it wasn't the kind of squad Allardyce could do much with, in truth. He was obviously going to accept the payday - because what did he have to lose? - but his chances of getting that squad to instantly adapt to his methods were slim to say the least.

Leeds score, then proceed to immediately concede again, lmao. Fans might as well just leave at this point. Meanwhile Southampton showing why they're bottom, now 4-4.

Southampton 4-2 Liverpool, Arma on the scoresheet.

Leicester 2-0 up, they can only pray for a Bournemouth equaliser now. If they'd had a few more performances like this they'd be safe. Looking like they may have left it too late.

I wasn't blaming him, see my subsequent posts.

Goal for Everton... Leicester back in the drop zone.

Well, it was literally the opposite of a gamble for him, as he makes bank either way 😅 Ultimately it was an appointment far too late in the day. Allardyce would have needed at least the back-end of the Jan window to bring in some big beefy CBs.

That'll be Leeds done and dusted. The Allardyce gamble failed miserably.

Other than Southampton at home, I don't think Everton or Leicester could have asked for much better opponents on the final day. Two lower mid-table teams with nothing to play for. Bournemouth have lost three on the spin, whilst WHU have lost 3 of their last 5. However, Everton and Leicester are both down there for a reason - they have consistently been 2 of the 4 worst teams in the division by some stretch. Everton the only team between the three fighting it out today to have won a match in the last five. But yeah, I think based on the above Everton have to be the favourites to survive at this point - if for no other reason than they are the only team in that group that can lose and still stay up. Ultimately none can complain if they do take the drop, and whoever does escape will have a real rebuilding job on to avoid struggling again next season.

All about playing to the strengths of the team. Under Mowbray we consistently relied on individual talent and lacked a team identity, which is why players like Bell had their weaknesses ruthlessly highlighted.

3rd best team in the league, finished 10 points ahead of Coventry - deserved to go up, and I'm glad they did.

From what I read all of the games he bet on his team to lose, he didn't play in, so at least he wasn't quite that stupid. However, if he bet on himself scoring then that could influence things in terms of him attempting chances he normally wouldn't. Basically doing an Adam Armstrong in that televised game for us where he played like he was being controlled by a FIFA player whose shoot button was permanently pressed. Can't help but think if he wasn't an England international the 'gambling addiction' defence may not have been quite as well received.

That 1-0 reverse to Wigan that relegated us is possibly my most miserable moment as a Rovers' supporter. Really did feel like the club was hurtling into oblivion. By the time we were relegated to League 1 I was numb to a lot of it as Venky's had completely destroyed the enjoyment of supporting the club by then. Don't really remember how Wigan fans reacted, probably because I didn't care about them, but I imagine there were a fair few clubs fans laughing at us back then who aren't laughing anymore. It's very much a 'there but for the grace of God go I' situation when it comes to club ownership. As Chelsea fans have witnessed this season, it can all go wrong in the blink of an eye.

I think it's generally accepted that there needs to be a more robust system in place when it comes to authorising ownership of clubs at EFL level, but ultimately it probably needs to go to Government level to ensure chancers can't come in, wreck clubs and then hold those clubs hostage. The people who lose out the most are the club staff, fans and companies attached to the club who have no control over the owner's actions. There have been tentative steps in this direction but I think there's still a long way to go.

Certainly is a strange situation at Wigan. Either the bloke is a chancer, or he feels he's above adhering to regulations - and also above paying people on time. The fit and proper person's test doing a fantastic job once again. Maybe if bonuses were docked from certain people at the EFL every time an owner screws over a club the rules would become a little more stringent.

Judging by this season if the current coaching team are attempting set piece training it isn't working very well, so I assume they felt it was a weak area that needed to be addressed.

Wigan set to start next season on -8 points after their owner once again failed to meet an agreed deadline for funding. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65723359

Our set pieces this season have generally been poor, so it makes sense to bring in someone to try and improve that side of our game.

It's still Venky's fault because they're responsible for ensuring the people in these roles are actually competent. The buck always stops with them, as it should for the head of any organisation.

Can't believe Elliott was wasted in a Tony Mowbray team. 17, obviously a special talent, took to the league and the team like a duck to water... and we finished 15th.

Lamps probably saw this as a low risk situation, but it might have completely destroyed what was left of his reputation.

Only thing I'll remember about his time here is the theatrics against Sheff Utd. If that's merit then okay.