BIGGEST upset of the weekend: Bolton beating Manchester United. Second biggest shock of the weekend: One of the big four is last on Match Of The Day.
Last on MOTD: Derby 0 Chelsea 2. Commentator: Steve Wilson.
A shot of Derby manager Billy Davies shouting instructions from the touchline in the pouring rain.
Commentator Steve Wilson says: “Tell you what, it would be very, very brave manager who puts up an umbrella this weekend.”
If Graham Taylor’s epitaph was ‘Do I not like that?’, Steve McClaren’s will be ‘The wally with the brolly,’ the headline that adorned the back page of Thursday’s Daily Mail.
And you thought that the umbrella would forever be associated with Rihanna.
Anyway, back to the match. Even though Chelsea were playing in an away strip the colour of a motorway workman’s jacket, the match officials failed to spot their defence playing Kenny Miller onside – and so ruled out a legitimate Derby equaliser – and then didn’t notice Andriy Shevchenko plough into the back of Giles Barnes in the build-up to the visitors’ second goal.
Michael Essien’s sending off was so clear cut that Mark Lawrenson lost interest in talking about it halfway through his sentence in the post-match analysis. Can’t say I blame him. Derby’s hard luck stories were far more newsworthy.
But I can’t help feel that Chelsea would never have been last on Match of the Day in the Jose Mourinho era. He would have complained about the Essien sending off, said something memorable.
Mind you, Chelsea are a lot more fun to watch under Avram Grant – and no-one goes to a game to see the manager.
Chelsea’s appearance at the tail end of MOTD is the shock. But what’s the change of scene about? Well, let me explain.
This is the final time I’ll be updating the Gubbometer on this blog. I’m leaving the MEN next Friday for a new working adventure, and my blogging will be moving elsewhere too. Whalley’s World Of Sport will continue here until Friday.
But I wouldn’t leave the Gubbometer race half-finished: you can rest assured I’ll keep you up to date with the scores on my new blog.
Gubbometer
1. Derby: 5
2=. Wigan: 4 (Gubba Difference: +1)
2=. Fulham: 4 (GD: +1)
4. Aston Villa: 3
5. Gubba: 2
6=. Bolton: 2 (GD: +1)
6=. Reading: 2 (GD: +1)
8. West Ham: 2 (GD: 0)
9=. Birmingham: 1
9=. Chelsea: 1
9=. Everton: 1
9=. Middlesbrough: 1
9=. Newcastle: 1
9=. Sunderland: 1
9=. Bury: 1
9=. Workington: 1
(NB. Where teams are level, positions are decided by Gubba Difference; the number of times a team is on Match of the Day last with Tony Gubba commentating.)

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