Matchday 24: Busy week if you're a football journalist...

'Arry - from following the reports coming out the courtroom, it was pretty clear to me that he was gonna be acquitted. To be overly simplistic, the key argument for me was why someone who pays a hell of a lot in income tax each year would try to fiddle the system for a few thousand? I also disagree with the argument that the £8m spent on the prosecution was a waste - ultimately, if HMRC & the CPS thought it was worth pursuing then that's that - you can't put a price on justice in my opinion. The problem comes when the police seemed to think that the case they had built was strong enough to press charges - clearly they were wrong by the failure to get a conviction at both trials. That is where changes need to be made, not in the finances. To impose some arbitrary limit on how much can be spent to investigate a crime seems ridiculous; I don't see how you could hamstring the police like that in future.

UPDATE: HMRC/CPS have stated that the total cost (to date) was £1.3m. Point still stands however

Capello - as a self avowed "give 2 hoots about England" kinda guy, I'm amazed how much I care. The FA have cocked this up big time - if they wanted to sort out the Terry captaincy situation, then it should have been done when the CPS first got involved, not 3 months later. I don't see how Terry could have remained as captain with this over him - that's not to prejudice the court case, but to be captain, you have to be a leader, be respected by the squad, be able to stand up and face the world as a representative of the team. Ideally, he would have stepped down himself, much as Chris Huhne (hahahaha) did to "clear his name". In reality, it's because being a leader in the public eye means you have to keep your life whiter than white - unfair, perhaps but that's how the world works.

I don't blame Capello for feeling aggrieved that he was undermined by the FA, and having read Marcotti's transcript of his Italian interview, I don't think that what he said was too bad - I think this was the straw that broke the camel's back and the media and the FA can pat each other's backs for getting rid of a manager better than England could have hoped for or deserved.

Finally, Man Utd vs Liverpool on Saturday - anyone want to predict how many fans are going to disgrace themselves by "defending" Evra or Suarez? Will they even shake hands? I'm pretty sick of the whole thing - my view is that Evra is a prick and undoubtedly provoked Suarez (hardly out of character) but Suarez clearly used unacceptable language and deserved a ban. He also has failed to apologise to Evra for that, and comes away from this with his reputation deservedly poo-brown. Dalglish and Liverpool's continued "Luis is the victim" shtick is tiresome and has lost them the support of the neutral.

Would be interested to hear anyone's views in the comments, through twitter or by facebook is anyone wants to reply.

Enough ranting - predictions:

Man Utd vs Liverpool - MAN UTD

Blackburn vs QPR - QPR

Bolton vs Wigan - WIGAN

Everton vs Chelsea - DRAW

Fulham vs Stoke - DRAW

Sunderland vs Arsenal - ARSENAL

Swansea vs Norwich - SWANSEA

Spurs vs Newcastle - DRAW

Wolves vs WBA - WOLVES

Aston Villa vs Man City - MAN CITY

Total odds: 15, 401/1 with Paddypower

Predictions in the comments below as per usual, good luck!