LET'S hope Tottenham and Chelsea's bonehead fans don't ruin the Carling Cup Final


REVEALED: Gam£ 39 is just a smokescreen to get Celtic and Rangers in the Premier League


FOOTBALL'S to blame for Gazza's decline and should save him

Let's face it, Chelsea and Tottenham fans just don't get on. Over decades they've been bringing the worst out of each other with vile chanting and some of the worst hooligan clashes around.

• Yesterday's HATCHET MAN

From the mass pitch battle at White Hart Lane in a crucial relegation decider in 1975 to the pre-arranged brawl near the White Horse pub in Parsons Green only last season, the rivalry has developed into a bitter hatred for some of the football-supporting world's biggest boneheads.

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For the first time since the 1967 FA Cup Final the two will meet in a major match at Wembley on Sunday and there are fears that the nutters will be back in force around the ground to ruin it for the majority who just want to support their team without the risk of a smack around the chops for their trouble.

But it doesn't have to be like this. When the Chelsea fans' favourite director, Matthew Harding, was killed in a helicopter crash in 1996, their next match was at home ... to Tottenham.

A minute's silence was held with emotions running high and the Spurs supporters treated it with utmost respect.

In fact, the only sound was that of police helicopters overhead, hunting troublemakers. Chelsea and their fans were grateful for the dignity shown by the visitors.

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When the ultimate Chelsea legend, Peter Osgood, died in 2006 the next home game was, you've guessed it, Tottenham. Another emotional afternoon and another tribute, this time with a minute's applause in celebration of a great player's life. And again it was treated with respect by the Spurs fans there.

With Tottenham showing signs that they are turning into an exciting side and the Chelsea squad back to full strength, Sunday's Carling Cup Final could be a thriller on the pitch.

Is it too much to ask that the fans of both sides can do it justice off the pitch by remembering a recent past? Manchester City fans set an example at Old Trafford recently. Now can the London clubs follow suit?

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Football's rulers should hang their head in shame at the fate of Paul Gascoigne. Why has the game not found a role for a footballer whose magic created our dreams?

Why has he not been given a football and told to show the next generation of English schoolboys how it can be done, gliding past defenders, running at the heart of a team, creating chances.

West Ham had no time for Bobby Moore when he was alive but named a stand after him when he was dead and built a bronze statue.

Moore, captain of West Ham and England, would have made a great ambassador for the club but instead they ignored him, until it was too late.

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Will Wembley have the Paul Gascoigne Suite in years to come, once he has departed to the great centre circle in the sky?

He's not the brightest brain but he was the brightest player and football should put an arm around his shoulder, rather than a gun to his head. He needs help, so help him.

Without his tears in 1990, would football have enjoyed such a renaissance? Let's not forget his role in the saving of our once ugly game. Now the game needs to save him.

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News from Spain that Arsenal are going to take another 15-year-old – this time it's centre back Ignasi Miquel from Union Deportiva Cornella.

Nice to see that Arsene's foreign policy shows no sign of letting up. How about watching a school match in Islington?

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Richard Scudamore must be after something else. Trying to force through the 39th game, an international round of matches, he must have known we'd all say no. He's a bright chap (really, he is), he's not likely to be so off target, so I wonder if he's using it as a smokescreen.

So try this one then ... While we're all having a rant about his silly idea, suddenly Rangers and Celtic playing in England is back on the schedule, which would appease the greedy mob in the Premier League by guaranteeing another lucrative double-header, without the travel to Dubai.

They can't wait to escape their own two-team league, so it works for them and Hatchet Man might consider it as an option, if it doesn't compromise the integrity of the Premier League.

What do you lot think?

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Jose Antonio Reyes, Luis Garcia, Diego Forlan ... your boys took one hell of a beating. Bolton through to the last 16 in Europe, having defeated Atletico Madrid. Who would have thought it?

Gary Megson, whose appointment was greeted with sniggers by the rest of us and outrage by Bolton's own supporters, is looking more like the Ginger Mourinho with every round.

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Tip from Hatchet Man ... Sam Allardyce to be the next manager of Wolves. He's too good a manager to be out of the game for too long and they are too good a club to be out of the running in the Championship. Watch this website.