The Bootroom: C'mon Exeter!!

See that? Now, that's a proper crest, and it belongs to my beloved Exeter City FC. With all due respect to the Premiership (suck it, Barclays!) and the rest of Europe and even MLS, today is a day for League Two. At least as far as yours truly is concerned.

Much love for Exeter City after the hop, along with the rest of the weekend action (yawn!!).

Now, why should you care about lowly little Exeter? As the Guardian described, the Grecians are a mere six years removed from utter financial ruin. Owners who bilked the club (they were later convicted of fraud), failed celebrity purchases (Uri Geller and Michael Jackson of all people were both linked with the club), and relegation all the way down to the Conference League.

In the intervening years, Exeter have been saved thanks to a supporters trust (member!), they were lucky enough to draw level with Manchester United at Old Trafford in the 2005 FA Cup (gate receipts and the TV rights to the return leg helped wipe out much of the club's substantial debt), and today they find themselves on the cusp of promotion to League One for the first time since 1994. With two matches left to play, Exeter are a mere one point above Bury for the final automatic playoff spot in League Two (top three teams are promoted, next four teams duke it out in a playoff for one additional promotion spot). All credit to manager Paul Tisdale and the players.

Today, the Grecians host Morecambe, who are a good side and still within striking of the playoffs. A win for Exeter would be a huge step forward, and the locals are expecting a record crowd at the REAL St. James Park. Meanwhile, the Exeter supporters will be keeping half an eye on the scoreboard as fourth place Bury and fifth place Gillingham meet. We're rooting for Bury to lose or draw. So, c'mon you red and white army!! (More Exeter coverage at Exeweb and Kellow's Bootlaces)


And now that you are done reading about Exeter, here's the rest of today's action..... (live broadcasts on major US stations listed, all times EST)

Premier League

Saturday:
10:00 Bolton v Aston Villa
10:00 Everton v Man City
10:00 Fulham v Stoke
10:00 Hull v Liverpool (Setanta)
10:00 West Brom v Sunderland
10:00 West Ham v Chelsea (FSC)
12:30 Man Utd v Tottenham (FSC)

Sunday:
8:30 Arsenal v Middlesbrough (Setanta)
11:00 Blackburn v Wigan (FSC)


The Coca-Cola Football League Championship
(For Bigus... Norwich are off until they host Reading on Monday, but in the meantime we want Plymouth, Forest and especially Barnsley to lose, lose, lose.)

7:30 Barnsley v Wolverhampton
10:00 Blackpool v Nottm Forest
10:00 Bristol City v Sheff Wed
10:00 Cardiff v Ipswich Scum
10:00 Coventry v Watford
10:00 Derby v Charlton
10:00 Doncaster v Crystal Palace
10:00 QPR v Plymouth Scum
10:00 Sheff Utd v Swansea
10:00 Southampton v Burnley
12:20 Birmingham v Preston


The Scottish Cup Semifinals

Saturday:
7:15 Rangers v St Mirren

Sunday:
10:00 Falkirk v Dunfermline Athletic


Coupe de la Ligue

Saturday
2:50 Bordeaux v Vannes OC


Other (Games from the continent and MLS that are on TV and/or look interesting)

Saturday:
9:30 Borussia Dortmund v Hamburg SV
2:30 Fiorentina v Roma (FSC)
4:00 Valencia v Barcelona (Gol TV)
7:00 Columbus v. Chicago (FSC)

Sunday
8:30 Ajax v AZ
9:00 AC Milan v Palermo (FSC)
1:00 Sevilla v Real Madrid (Gol TV)
2:30 Napoli v Inter (FSC)