Going Down 降級球隊

This weekend saw the last matches of the 2010/11 English Premier League (EPL) played. When the final whistles sounded up and down the country, two teams' fates were sealed 命運已定。Birmingham and Blackpool will join West Ham, who were relegated 降級 on the 15th May, in the Championship next season.

Blackpool boss Ian Holloway, speaking after his side's 4-2 defeat at Champions Manchester United said:

"It wasn't this game that cost us, it was one or two further back. I'm going to dread looking at them 害怕看到它們…It boils down to 歸結為 'were we as a club ready for this'? Probably not, but we gave it as good a shot as we could" 盡了我們最大力量。

Alex McLeish, the Birmingham manager said of his team:

"We are devastated 受到了嚴重打擊，and I am devastated for the fans."

It is a crushing 毀壞性的 conclusion to a season that saw them lift their first major silverware 獎杯 in 48 years, courtesy of a 2-1 win over Arsenal in the Carling Cup final - a victory that means they will be playing European football next season as a Championship club.

There was some good news for the Birmingham manager though as the club's board have said that his job is safe. This is in stark contrast to 與…形成鮮明對比 the fate of Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancellotti. He was sacked by Chelsea shortly after the final whistle of their game which confirmed 2nd place in the EPL. For many teams this would be an excellent result after a long and hard season, but not for Chelsea who released a statement saying:

"This season's performances have fallen short of expectations 沒有達到預先期望 and the club feels the time is right to make this change ahead of next season's preparations."