Tuesday 29th April was a very sad day for football in England. Forget Manchester United beating Barcelona in the epic encounter at Old Trafford. I'm talking about the alleged woeful, terrible and despicable decision of Manchester City owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, to relieve Sven Goran Eriksson of his duties at the end of this season.

This is a decision that defies logic and belief and should rightly send shock waves around the world of Premier League football. I believe that there must be a backlash against this ridiculous demand for immediate success. Manchester City will finish ninth at worst at the end of the season. They have completed the double over Manchester United and have improved considerably on last season.

Sven Goran Eriksson has done an excellent job at the City of Manchester Stadium and deserves a pay rise, not the sack!

It is easy for me as a non Manchester City fan to say this, but I really hope that City supporters get together to demand a rethink from the owner or take drastic action such as boycotting games if he doesn't.

The Premier League is being taken further and further away from the fan on the street and this decision is just a decision too far. It must be reversed and we must regain control over our national game from the money men who simply don't understand football.

I don't remember ever being quite so disgusted on hearing the ridiculous actions taken by an owner of a club. The man quite obviously doesn't have a clue. I was no major Sven fan when he was in charge of England but his club record is second to none and he has been doing a fine job of sorting things out at City.

We are always hearing about 'Player power'. It would be nice to see that used by the City players in support of their manager.

Come on footy fans, let's do what we can to bring the game back to reality.

Not many teams concede six goals in a game in the English Premier League. In fact, nobody managed to get more than four against my beloved Watford last season, and only Chelsea and Manchester United managed that.

Last night's 6-2 defeat at home to Arsenal was the fourth time Derby had shipped six goals in a game this season after Aston Villa, Chelsea and Liverpool had all managed the feat before. West Ham and Arsenal, in the game at the Emirates, had put five past them and Tottenham and Manchester United hit four. Even Championship side Preston scored four against them in the FA Cup.

With just two games to go Derby sit with eleven points and only one win all season. They have conceded eighty-two goals in their thirty-six games and scored only nineteen. They need four points from their last two games to equal the worst ever points tally in the Premier League and they are just not going to get them. They travel to Blackburn next, which will probably be a damage limitation exercise, and then entertain Reading, who might be fighting in that game for survival. I don't see Derby picking up another point.

So the question is, was it worth getting promotion? The exhilaration felt by the staff, players and fans after their play-off final success last May was unrestrained. It was what everyone at the club had worked for and dreamt of. They knew it would be tough in the top league and in reality, they may well have expected to suffer relegation. They would certainly have expected a relegation battle.

What they wouldn't have expected was the total humiliation that the season has been. The club are going down with a healthier bank balance and a decent manager, but it will be a remarkable performance if they can turn things around sufficiently next season in the Championship to recover from this season and mount a serious challenge to come back.

This season in with the big boys could have done horrible long term damage to the club. You only have to look at the big clubs at the lower end of the Championship to see that any exit from the Premier League can be enormously damaging, let alone one so ignominious as the one Derby have suffered.

I truly hope that Derby can regroup in the summer and put this last season down to experience and move on. They have a good fan base, a fine stadium and a well respected manager. The first few games of next season will be absolutely crucial and will be key to the club's short and medium term future.

I hope they can recover quickly but I do fear for them.

Just when everything seemed to be going well for Manchester United and they were being rightly acclaimed as worthy champions and potential Champions League winners, just about anything that could possibly have gone wrong on Saturday, went wrong at Stamford Bridge.

It wasn't simply that they lost although that was bad enough for them, it was the manner of the defeat and all the baggage that went with it.

For whatever reason, Manchester United failed to turn up for the first half. Chelsea dominated the game and went in at half time with a deserved 1-0 lead and probably should have had the game wrapped up already. United couldn't keep the ball and seemed intent on proving that they could play the 'long ball game' every bit as well as Chelsea. They can't.

The reds were then handed a lifeline through an horrendous error by Ricardo Carvalho. How glad I was that I'd written an article earlier that day describing Carvalho as 'magnificent'.

Wayne Rooney took his chance with style and it looked as though United would get the draw they required. A late penalty by Michael Ballack following a Carrick handball gave Chelsea the three points and although the visitors finally found some attacking quality and created a couple of good chances, it would have been a travesty if they had got anything from the game.

If it was only a poor performance and a defeat that Sir Alex had to contend with I'm sure he could deal with it. Two wins against West Ham and Wigan and they are champions after all. But there was so much more that went wrong.

Nemanja Vidic was injured again, taking a blow from Drogba's knee that would have knocked out a mere mortal! Wayne Rooney hobbled off and never looked comfortable. The behaviour of the players on the pitch was questionnable as they constantly surrounded and harrassed the referee Alan Wiley.

The penalty decision was hotly disputed by the players on the pitch and after the game and by Sir Alex and his staff afterwards. I have seen the incident several times now and I don't understand their arguments. It was handball. Simple as that.

After the game Rio Ferdinand kicked a wall in anger and accidentally kicked a female steward in the process. He has apologised and the steward has accepted the apology. Hopefully that will be the end of that incident.

On the pitch after the game the Manchester United substitutes were involved in some sort of scuffle with the Chelsea ground staff. The FA have requested the CCTV footage of the incident.

All in all this was not a glorious day in what has been a great season so far for Sir Alex and his team. They have just two days to recover and prepare for the visit of Barcelona. I hope that Saturday was a 'one off' and United's season doesn't unravel before our eyes at the very end.

Thierry Henry has had a difficult time since his move from Arsenal to Barcelona. At the Emirates he was a hero. He was the big star and he could do no wrong. In English football he was regarded as one of the best, if not the best.

At Barcelona he became one among many superstars. He needed to impress a whole new set of fans, a new set of players and a new football nation. So far, he has failed in that task.

So does Henry regret his move from the safety of Arsenal to the difficulties at Barcelona?

The answer is no. He has said this, "I don't regret stuff in my life. Stuff happens for a reason. You don't regret stuff that you thought about. I don't regret it."

But then again, he said this, "But England... I watch every game that I see on TV. I was watching Stoke City versus Crystal Palace. I will always miss it. There has been since I arrived here a lot of speculation from day one but, hey, go back where? There's only one team for me in my heart. It took me a while to understand what that club, Arsenal, meant."

No, he is happy, he said this, "People who know me will tell you, I'm the same in training, I'm the same in life - I cannot act. If I'm not happy, I'm not happy."

Or is he? He said this, "But there's only one team in England for me. Everybody knows the love and affection I have for Arsenal. I was so into it, I became a fan."

Come on Thierry how do really feel? "I'm happy - I don't regret leaving Arsenal."

Ok so that's settled then. You are definitely, totally happy? "Everybody knows the love and affection I have for Arsenal. I was so into it, I became a fan."

I'm glad Thierry has cleared that up for all of us because before that interview he did with the BBC I was unsure as to whether he regretted his move or not.

Cristiano Ronaldo's season took a very rare turn for the worse last night in the Camp Nou when he blasted a second minute penalty wide of the Barcelona goal.

As it turned out, that penalty was one of only very few chances to score in the whole game. For those of us expecting a feast of football between two of the best sides in the world, maybe a repeat of the great 3-3 draw of ten tears ago, the game turned out to be something of a damp squib.

For United, Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney all worked hard defensively, but none of them produced anything like what they are capable of at the business end of the pitch. Like Gerrard and Torres for Liverpool the previous evening, the big stars didn't quite manage to produce in the big game.

Barcelona, for all their possession and pretty football rarely threatened to break through United's excellent back line. Although you could feel the tension and fear every time the exquisite Messi got hold of the ball, Patrice Evra did a pretty fair job of preventing him from seriously hurting United. Rio Ferdinand, as so often this season, was faultless, and Wes Brown filled in for the ill Nemanja Vidic admirably.

Sir Alex Ferguson had promised that United would attack in this game and he said again before the kick off that he thought an away goal was crucial. They couldn't have had a better start and, of course, we shall never know what would have happened if the normally reliable Ronaldo had scored from the spot. After the penalty, United rarely attacked and only once on a counter attack did they look like scoring when Michael Carrick should have done better shooting wide after good work to get in the position.

A 0-0 draw at Barcelona can't be regarded as anything other than a decent result, but I can't help but feel that United could rue the penalty miss. Without an away goal, United will need to attack at Old Trafford and this Barcelona side, although struggling in La Liga, will be a formidable proposition on the counter attack.

It is all set up for a titanic encounter at Old Trafford next Tuesday. It won't be for the feint hearted, but it could be a classic. At this stage it is probably just about advantage to United, but the lack of an away goal could be decisive in the end.

Roll on next Tuesday. It will be fascinating.