It’s the end of the 2001/02 season and as you can see from the title, it’s another big one for Aston Villa. With Auxerre still in the Champions League, it could yet be a big season for me and to top it all off, the World Cup is round the corner. Shall we?
League Cup
As ever, the first final is the league cup – this time contested between Aston Villa and Gordon Milne’s resurgent Chelsea. It’s a close one, but Chelsea nick it on penalties
That is day time TV’s Jeff Brazier on the scoresheet, who has somehow forged a decent career
FA Cup
Meanwhile, the FA Cup is still ticking along and somehow, Division 1 Crystal Palace are hanging in there. Can they cause an upset to meet Arsenal in the final?
No.
It takes penalties after 240 minutes of goalless action, but Man Utd prevail.
In the final, they have no such trouble and Fergie has another FA Cup for his collection.
The Premier League
A fascinating finale, as going into the last games of the season, Man Utd and Aston Villa are level on points separated by only goal difference (in Man Utd’s favour). The door swings open for Villa as Chelsea claim a draw.
Villa can’t take advantage though, as a stubborn Coventry hold out with 10 men and deny their midlands rivals the title.
The final table:
Newcastle and Blackburn finish a creditable 6 points behind the top two but there’s a definite hierarchy with Man Utd & Villa at the top.
The three promoted clubs go down with Fulham managing a feeble 14 points, getting Ray Wilkins the sack in the process.
Top scorers:
UEFA Cup
It’s rare I mention the UEFA Cup but look at Leicester go
A very brave effort. Bayern take care of the final in their ruthless efficient manner.
The Champions League
The semi finals saw my Auxerre side go toe to toe with Man Utd, but it wasn’t to be. A narrow 1-0 loss at Old Trafford gave us a chance, but Faulconbridge missed a pen on the way to a 1-1 draw at home. Unfortunate!
Real Madrid go on to win the final, which is just as well for them as they come 2nd in La Liga and runners up in the Copa del Rey both to Barcelona
Ligue 1
As I mentioned previously, Ligue 1 is no longer a priority. I’ll be leaving at the end of the season regardless, and it’s worth peanuts, so I’ve been preserving players for the big CL games. We finish a very average 9th
I will be tendering my resignation after the World Cup. Meanwhile, Villa get over the disappointment by doing this:
Whilst Fulham bring an old favourite back to England
All that’s left then is to sum up Auxerre’s squad that I’ll be leaving them with. It’s a huge improvement over what I inherited and I imagine whoever takes it on will have few issues.
In the next update, I’ll cover the World Cup 2002 tournament and see if there are any jobs going