Episode 51: end of season special

Ah, the end of another football season in Europe. Across the continent, league titles have been decided, champions crowned and the transfer market is slowly clicking into gear.

Joining us in the studio this week to digest the final week of the season (apologies to the playoff finalists in League One and League Two) is the world class podcasting unit that is The Sound of Football: Graham Sibley, Terry Duffelen and Chris Oakley. And some sweets.

The climax of the European season took place in the Bernebeu last Saturday, and we discuss the remarkable Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese coach continues to - ahem - write the future for himself. This season, he's won the treble with Inter Milan, a league title in a third country, the Champions League with a second club and an attractive if intriguing move to Real Madrid.

But the most noteworthy achievement of Mourinho's final season with the Nerazzurri is not one of silverware or glory, its one of innovation. Inter's Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona was a brilliant demonstration of neo-Catenaccio, a riff on the tactical framework which came to define the perception of Italian football, but the 2-0 win against Bayern Munich was the product of real innovation. Not only can you win the game without the ball, you can control it. It was simply brilliant.

At Wembley, Blackpool defeated Cardiff City in a very entertaining Championship playoff final and can now look forward to turning the Premier League tangerine next season. Cardiff led twice through fantastic goals by Michael Chopra and Joe Ledley but never looked to have a grip on the match after the early withdrawal of Jay Bothroyd. Charlie Adam's superb free kick and Gary Taylor-Fletcher equalised before Brett Ormerod prodded in the all-important winner. And that was all in the first half at a sun-drenched Wembley.

We ask whether Blackpool will avoid relegation next season and speculate about the future of Cardiff, whose financial situation continues to be concerning. We're joined on the phone by Dave Boyle, the chief executive of Supporters Direct, to talk about the latest news from the world of football finance and supporter affairs ahead of Supporters Direct's conference in June.

There's our usual look at the week's action from Major League Soccer, where LA Galaxy shrugged off the absence of Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to bank another three points and go ten clear at the top of the Western Conference. In the East, two wins for Columbus Crew propelled them past New York Red Bulls and they're now fully five points clear. DC United continue to lose like it's going out of fashion.

Finally, there's a chat about World Cup 2010 which focuses on England's friendly win against Mexico at the beginning of this week. Oh, and we taste test some crisps.

So that's that for this season. But if you like the show, stand by for big news about the summer.

Please leave your comments below, follow us on Twitter, be our fan on Facebook and send your questions and comments to twofootedtackle[at]googlemail[dot]com - we also want audio contributions to the show, so feel free to get in touch about that.

Have a great week.

You can listen to this week's episode below:
Download link (mp3, 45mb, 65 mins)