It ain't over till the fat lady sings
THE fat lady has yet to sing on what looks like Burnley's brief sojourn as a Premier League outfit.
But I'm hoping that by 4.45pm tomorrow, she will be warming up in the wings.
It's not that I want to see the Clarets condemned back to life in the Championship, more a case of wanting Sunderland to take all three points.
Of course, whatever the result at the Stadium of Light tomorrow, it won't be enough to sound the final death knell on the Lancashire outfit's relegation fight.
But it could well be another nail in the coffin and, far more importantly from our point of view, it could mathematically put us beyond their reach.
And that's what it comes down to at the end of the day – as long as we are all right, who cares?
The romance of hoping the underdogs can beat the odds are long gone.
The millions of pounds being ploughed into Premier League football – and the fact that big clubs keep getting richer and more powerful (unless your owners have taken out a big loan) – means they don't care who comes up or who goes down, as long as it doesn't affect them.
Do you think anyone other than Pompey's fans shed a tear or even a concerned glance when Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to go into administration?
So, while I do sympathise with the Clarets fans should they fail to beat the drop (we've been there enough times ourselves to know how bad it feels), I still hope we batter them tomorrow.
Not that I'm taking anything for granted.
West Ham have struggled at the wrong end of the table for most of the season, but were the better side down at Upton Park last week.
We never really seemed to get out of the starting blocks, and it has to be said that we will need to play with far more energy, endeavour and quality tomorrow.
Should we do so, then you have to hope that would be more than enough to see off Brian Laws's side, but they won't be willing to go down without a fight.
With the Black Cats all but mathematically safe from the drop, there has been some suggestion that there is little for Steve Bruce's outfit to play for between now and the end of the season.
However, I can't see Bruce looking at it that way.
After all, with the mega-bucks involved in the Premier League, every place you finish further up the table could mean a tidy cash bonanza.
And you can bet your bottom dollar Bruce already knows how he wants to spend any windfall that might come his way in the summer.
Hopefully, it will be a considerable sum.
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Weather for South Shields
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
