The £40m prayer: Five Premier League teams have a last shot at survival on Sunday

22 May 2011 00:29
ShareAfter 33,300 minutes, 1,031 goals and 11,033 ball-winning tackles, it all comes down to this. Four fixtures and five teams on Survival Sunday - the threat of ?40million in lost revenue looming large as two from Blackburn, Wolves, Birmingham, Blackpool and Wigan will join West Ham in the Championship next season.[LNB] Will Sir Alex Ferguson name a side strong enough to beat Blackpool? Has the Carling Cup taken too much out of Alex McLeish's Birmingham City? And will Wolves and Blackburn engineer a draw to keep themselves in the division if other results go their way? The intriguing sub-plot is that Manchester United have already won the title and have an eye on next week's Champions League final. Blackpool's future hangs by a thread and their most famous fan, young Kian Kelly, is praying for survival. The conspiracy theorists are having a field day.[LNB] In with a shout: eight-year-old Blackpool fan Kian Kelly looks to the heavens before his side make the trip to Old Trafford[LNB] The Premier League are concerned enough about fair play that they will ensure all four matches kick-off simultaneously in the second-half. With millions of pounds of revenue at stake, no-one is hiding the magnitude of the outcome.[LNB] 'It's the biggest game of my managerial career,' said Birmingham boss Alex McLeish who has benefited from final day drama twice with Rangers. 'I can't say much more than that. I've won major European trophies as a player with a provincial Scottish club in Aberdeen but this league is where everyone wants to be.'[LNB] Wigan boss Roberto Martinez will doubtless echo such sentiments. He has been moved this week to check on Latics' fan George Owen, 83, who suffered a heart attack during last week's second-half fightback against West Ham.[LNB] He remains in intensive care but Martinez believes it has brought home the emotion of the occasion.[LNB] 'I've been here since 1995,' said Wigan's boss, 'so I know what it means to the town.[LNB] 'When it was impressed upon me was when I learned that George, a fan for 50 years, had a heart attack.[LNB] 'You just understand then how important it is - football affects your own life and your family's.'[LNB] Will he be celebrating again? Roberto Martinez (centre) shows his delight after last week's crucial victory over West Ham[LNB] Over at Molineux, Mick McCarthy, whose side are a point above the drop zone, does not need to know about the pressure as Wolves have been in the bottom three for most of the season.[LNB] Karl Henry, McCarthy's skipper, confirmed what everyone on the outside is thinking.[LNB] 'It's a crazy situation,' he said, 'none of us has ever been involved in anything like this before.[LNB] 'After picking up seven points from three games, we were hoping that other teams down there would have been wilting under the pressure - but they haven't been. Fair play to them all.'[LNB] Blackburn are the outsiders to lose their place in the top flight. But for a point against the champions last week, they would have been right in the thick of it. They still might be, if results go against them. It will be a staggering fall from grace if they do.[LNB] Rovers were seventh after beating Liverpool in January but plummeted after an 11-match winless streak. [LNB] 'We made mistakes talking about the dreams of the future,' said two-time Champions League winner Michel Salgado, 'we didn't realise there was three months of the season still to play.'[LNB] Finally, to Old Trafford, where the majority of a sell-out crowd will be heading for a 19th title party.[LNB] The price of failure: West Ham will lose ?40m in revenue and Avram Grant lost his job[LNB] And whatever you say about Sir Alex Ferguson, he is a football man. Even though he will make six changes, he has sufficient integrity to put out a team to win.[LNB] Well, it's either integrity, or he doesn't want supporters of Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic, Wolves and Blackburn Rovers on his back for the remainder of his managerial days.[LNB]'You should be criticised if you lose a game that affects other teams,' he said, 'I remember we played Hull a couple of years ago and played a lot of youngsters but we won 1-0.[LNB] 'For some reason, Neil Warnock found it easy to criticise us for losing to West Ham a couple of seasons previously. But if he had seen the game, we had battered them, so it was a bit unfair.'[LNB] Appropriately, the final word goes to Ian Holloway. His team has lit up the Barclays Premier League and the Seasiders' manager has been just as colourful.[LNB] 'Other teams have had such a head start on us,' he said, 'their hares are so far away from our tortoise, it is unbelievable. So we have had to gallop as a tortoise, if you know what I mean. But we have just kept plodding and plodding.[LNB] 'And I am terrified of losing it because this is the best thing we have ever had.' [LNB] Tension? You betcha. Survival Sunday is going to be a fantastic spectacle. For all those not involved in it.[LNB] Premier League boot room: Andy Townsend's preview to all the actionGreat final day escapes: Six Premier League clubs who beat the dropFive in the firing line: The relegation dogfightSurvival Sunday - the fan's view: Blackpool's Kian Kelly (aged 8) Survival Sunday: The player's view - Jason RobertsEXCLUSIVE: West Ham caretaker boss Kevin gives the nod to starlet Tombides[LNB] [LNB]  Explore more:People: Alex Ferguson, Neil Warnock, Karl Henry, Ian Holloway, Alex McLeish, Mick McCarthy, Roberto Martinez Places: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Liverpool

Source: Daily_Mail