The final suspense: North by North-east

Ian Ridley looks forward to a thrilling finale at the end of a great season

It was a football season heralded as probably never before; more imported players of quality, more teams seeking to play with style. More money. Remarkably, it almost seems to have fulfilled the expectations and great ones accompany today's final Premiership programme.

It should be simple enough. Victory at Middlesbrough will see Manchester United as champions for the third time in the four years of the Premiership. Defeat opens the way for Newcastle United, who must beat Spurs at St James' Park. A 0-0 draw at the Riverside will mean Newcastle needing to win by six goals, seven given a score draw.

United will not play cagily, insists their manager Alex Ferguson. "If we were to go for a draw, it would take only a second to concede a goal," he says. "That's not our way. We've got to go for it and play our normal style. We have to make sure we get the width and attack them."

Popular support is with Newcastle; who could have been left untouched by those TV pictures of their suffering supporters these last few weeks? Then there is the swashbuckling style, of the first half of the season at least, and the open approach of their manager Kevin Keegan. In this game, though, it is not how you start but how you finish and the wobblies, physical and verbal, have clearly thrown Newcastle. Manchester United have profited with an astonishing sequence of their own, 13 wins and two draws from 16 games since losing at Spurs on 1 January.

The only defeat came at Southampton, which has encouraged Newcastle and will do so again today. Middlesbrough are not fighting for their immediate future, however, as much as Bryan Robson will want to impress his former club having failed to do so at Old Trafford.

Any envy and resentment of Manchester United's potential success deserves re-examination. Last season they were outspent to the title by Blackburn Rovers; this time they have relied on home-grown produce, spending only pounds 500,000 on Tony Coton as back-up for Peter Schmeichel, while Newcastle have lashed out on some items they probably did not need. Faustino Asprilla is again likely to be a sub unless Robert Lee's calf injury has not healed.

The irony will not be lost that the richest club in the country, the one which has been in the vanguard of marketing and largely responsible for the game's burgeoning spending power, could reclaim the title having forked out less on players than anyone.

The talk, accurately, is of a three-tiered Premiership with the prizes increasingly going to the most moneyed but United, having set the standards of attacking play, have now shown that expert development of talent also plays a large part.

Alex Ferguson's team selection today is also likely to symbolise their season, with Paul Scholes retaining his place at the considerable expense of the pounds 7 million man Andy Cole. Steve Bruce is likely to sit out the match to give his hamstring time to heal for next Saturday's FA Cup final.

Though it looks almost a formality for Manchester United - as bookmakers' odds of 12-1 on and 7-1 against Newcastle would suggest - perhaps Juninho will finally perform for Middlesbrough something to astound, perhaps the United kids will finally freeze. Those are not things to bet on, however.

One would feel more hopeful for Newcastle were the visitors to St James' not Spurs, who have a chance of a place in the Uefa Cup and the gifted Darren Anderton back in their team.

His two goals against Leeds on Thursday illustrated just why Terry Venables has kept open a place for him in England's squad for Euro 96 and he should also be heartened by Gareth Southgate returning for Aston Villa at Everton after a knee injury.

Speaking of Venables, Chelsea's board of directors will meet before the home match against Blackburn for preliminary discussions about a successor to Glenn Hoddle, sure of a grateful response from Stamford Bridge before he takes up Venables's England post.

It is likely that the name of Venables, resident in the borough and but a short taxi ride from the High Court, will crop up, as will those of Ruud Gullit and George Graham, available for work again on 1 June. Graham is said to be the choice of the chairman Ken Bates, though whether Bates would be the choice of Graham, or Venables or Gullit, is not yet known.

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