Manchester United win the Premier League title on a thrilling final day finale which sees former old Trafford legend Roy Keane do one final good turn for his former paymasters.

United’s final game of the season brings a 1-0 victory over Wigan with Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his 40th goal of the season – but it would still not have been enough to clinch the title but for Sunderland’s incredible last-minute victory over Arsenal.

Keano’s boys do the business to save themselves from relegation and hand the Premier League trophy to Wayne Rooney and Co for the second year running.
Elsewhere, Derby and Reading play out an amazing 5-5 draw but it is not enough to save either team from the drop – the latter suffering a surprising dip in 2008 to drop out of the top flight; Derby receive an extra couple of points throughout the season for being honest and trying hard but remain one of the worst teams ever to grace the Premier League.

'Sam Allardyce is finally sacked and Toon legend Alan Shearer takes the managerial reins'


They picked up a miserable 12 points in total - a third of them against Newcastle, who turned so many corners this season that they have ended up back where they started – mid-table mediocrity. Sam Allardyce is finally sacked and Toon legend Alan Shearer takes the managerial reins …

In Europe, an unpredictable Champions League takes more twists and turns than a drunken middle-aged man on a dodgy dance floor. Celtic, who had yet to score an away goal in this year’s competition, are given a huge boost when UEFA feel sorry for them and decide that should they score an away goal in the footballing cathedral that is Camp Nou, then they will deserve to qualify automatically.

Thus, after a creditable 0-0 draw in Glasgow, a 4-1 defeat in Barcelona proves irrelevant as the away goal sends Gordon Strachan's men through!

They are joined by all four English  clubs, prompting the annual love-in about how it will be an all British final. It isn’t, although Manchester United do make it all the way to Moscow where they meet FC Porto. As the two finalists are confirmed, the Portuguese side approach the Special One to manage them for the final in the hope he can repeat the feat of engineering a victory over the Red Devils in European competition. Jose Mourinho duly obliges - and Porto win the Champions League for the third time.

However, in another revolutionary development UEFA decide to rename their flagship competition in time for the start of the 2008/09 season to more accurately reflect the make-up of the tournament. It will be known in future as the Moneybags Elite Greatest Club Football Competition in the World. Current holdersFC Porto will have to demonstrate they have a bank balance in excess of 200 million euros before they are allowed to enter and defend their title.

On the international scene, mighty Austria prove to the world that they were just lulling everyone into a false sense of security by pretending to be one of the worst-ever teams to host a premier international tournament. The Euro 2008 co-hosts stun the football fraternity, a la Greece in 2004, by winning all three group games by a 3-0 margin.

The immaculate record continues as they despatch the Czech Republic 3-0 in the quarter-final before seeing off highly-fancied Portugal by the same 3-0 scoreline in the semi-final. Ronaldo cries. The final pitches them against reigning world champions Italy, managed by Fabio Capello – a man a lot richer and wiser having managed England for one match (a 3-0 friendly defeat by Switzerland in February) before deciding that returning to manage his native country was a much more sensible proposition than taking daily abuse in the English tabloids.

Veteran striker Toni Polster, in his 44th year and coming out of retirement for the tournament, scores a famous winner to break Capello’s heart and crown Austria as European champions. His performance interests Chelsea, who promptly think about spending £40 million to secure his services ...