Oh good, Stoke are a Premier side!

3:58pm Friday 9th May 2008

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I wonder what Spencer Prior would say now.

Prior, you may recall, was the nondescript Derby defender who slagged off City as the worst team to ever grace the Premiership.

And that was after they had beaten his own side at Pride Park How times change, eh. Eight years on and we've had Sunderland fumbling their way to just 15 points a couple of seasons back and Derby themselves who won't even be able to match that now.

Not to mention the delights of Stoke City in the top flight next season for the first time since 1985. Watching them failing to break down a relegated Leicester side in 90 minutes of hoof-ball last week, I don't fancy their chances much.

The Premier League has been blowing its own trumpet like Courtney Pine this week as the title race goes right down to the final day. But is it really all that?

To paraphrase the great Bill Shankly, if Wigan were playing Bolton in my own back garden I would not open the curtains. And that's not to mention the thrills and spills of watching the likes of Middlesbrough - or Stoke.

For all the hype surrounding Super-duper Sunday, or however they will bill this weekend's fixture list, the "most entertaining league in the world" is not what it's cracked up to be.

Great players abound, of course, but there is also a large dollop of very ordinary ones, where the only thing remarkable in their repertoire is the vastly-inflated pay packet.

Shoot me down if I'm wrong but can anyone seriously see Wigan or Bolton causing an upset against the big two?

If United cannot win at the JJB Stadium then they do not deserve to be champions; simple as.

The same with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge against a Bolton side who have already got their own job done by escaping the bottom three.

I'd love to see Emile Heskey give United a rocket up the backside by scoring straight from the kick-off - but is that really likely to happen?

Kevin Keegan has been criticised for his moan that the Premier League is too dull and predictable but he's only come out with what we've all been thinking.

Forget the corporate spiel aimed at attracting vast global fan-bases, Keegan realises it's the supporters who turn up and pay their money that really count.

When he describes the Premier League as "one of the most boring" competitions in the world, then something is seriously wrong.

For someone with a reputation as bubbly as Keegan to admit defeat like that should set the alarm bells ringing.

The powers-that-be won't be bothered, of course. They just keep milking the cash cow and pretend that setbacks such as England failing to reach Euro 2008 are entirely unconnected.

But as Keegan says, you can predict next year's top four now; just as you could have done 12 months ago.

For four of the last five seasons, United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have hogged the Champions' League positions and there's no indication of that cartel being broken into any time soon.

Keegan insists Newcastle, even with their spending power and crowd potential, have "no chance". So where does that leave the rest of them?

Many moons ago, Geoffrey Richmond was one of the movers and shakers behind plans for a breakaway Premier League Two. His grand scheme was laughed out of court.

Yet now we have it, in effect, as well as a Premier League Three and Four. Look at the current table and see a division split into three, possibly four clear sections.

And looking at the names, would you have predicted any different before the first ball was kicked?

Never mind. We've got Stoke's total football to look forward to in August.

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