Avoiding the Drop

What you missed while Londoners were welcoming their new parakeet overlords…

• FA Cup final: Manchester City 1-0 Stoke City.
• English Premier League roundup: Blackburn 1-1 Manchester United, Blackpool 4-3 Bolton, Sunderland 1-3 Wolves, West Brom 1-0 Everton, Chelsea 2-2 Newcastle, Arsenal 1-2 Aston Villa, Birmingham 0-2 Fulham, Liverpool 0-2 Tottenham, Wigan 3-2 West Ham.
• MLS roundup: Real Salt Lake 0-0 Houston, Toronto 2-2 Chicago, FC Dallas 2-0 Philadelphia, DC United 1-1 Colorado, Los Angeles 4-1 Sporting KC, New England 1-0 Vancouver, San Jose 3-0 Columbus, Seattle 1-1 Portland, New York 2-3 Chivas USA.
• Sir Alex Ferguson made a rare media appearance to talk about Manchester United’s record 19th title win.
• A few Manchester United fans spent their Sunday unveiling a “MUFC 19 TIMES” banner at Anfield ahead of Liverpool’s loss to Tottenham.
• Manchester United fullback Patrice Evra thinks that United is more of a team without Cristiano Ronaldo.
• Chelsea haven’t sacked Carlo Ancelotti yet.
• Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger isn’t planning on making assistant manager Pat Rice the fall guy for Arsenal’s failings.
• Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish wasn’t impressed with Howard Webb’s officiating in Liverpool’s 2-0 loss to Tottenham, and thinks that Webb should have to explain himself. No word on whether Andy Carroll should also have explain himself for being largely nonexistant for the vast majority of the game.
• West Brom have unveiled plans for increasing seating capacity at the Hawthorns to 30,000 within the next three years.
• West Ham, relegated over the weekend, have sacked manager Avram Grant.
• Rangers won their third consecutive Scottish Premier League title.
• Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets has been cleared of allegations that he made racial remarks directed at Real Madrid fullback Marcelo; this paves the way for him to play in the Champions League final.
• Valencia have sealed qualification to the Champions League next season.
• Atletico Madrid manager Quique Sanchez Flores will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.
• Bayern Munich have all but confirmed the transfer of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from Schalke for €15 million.
• Wolfsburg playmaker Diego has been fined by the club for walking out of the team after being dropped from the roster for Wolfsburg’s 3-1 win over Hoffenheim; that win allowed Wolfsburg to narrowly avoid relegation on the last day of the season.
• Napoli have secured their spot in the Champions League next season.
• A year after qualifying for the Champions League, Sampdoria have been relegated from Serie A.
• Ajax celebrated their 30th Eredivisie title win by dropping the trophy off the bus during their victory tour. This was somehow a lot funnier when Sergio Ramos did it.
• In spite of their inability to hold onto the trophy, Ajax legend Johan Cruyff thinks that this win signifies a new start for Ajax.
• FC Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman hasn’t allowed a goal in 309 minutes.
• Chivas USA striker Justin Braun’s hat trick gave his team a 3-2 road win over the New York Red Bulls.