ONE man’s hero is another man’s villain – at least that is how it must look through the eyes of a mega-rich owner of a Premier League club.

On what should have been the last day of the league’s season – that will now come tonight when Manchester United eventually play Bournemouth – heroes and has-beens stood shoulder to shoulder along the touchlines.

Sam Allardyce is a hero for keeping money bags Sunderland in the top-flight; Rafa Benitez is a hero for trying, but failing, to do the same for Newcastle.

At Watford, where Allardyce shared touchline talk with Quique Sanchez Flores, they saw things differently.

The Spaniard who took the unfashionable Hertfordshire club to the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the safety of 13th place in the table after promotion from the Championship was about to be shown the exit.

Little wonder that Watford skipper Troy Deeney reckoned the sacking was crazy.

“Sunderland have been in the bottom three and managed to stay up and Sam Allardyce is hailed as a great manager, but we have coasted through this season and our gaffer is sacked,” he said. “It’s one of those crazy ones.”

In North London, Arsenal fans flooded the phone-ins with calls of celebration.

Not because they managed to finish a distant second, 10 points behind Leicester and won nothing (apologies to Arsenal Ladies who won the Women’s FA Cup), but because they finished above neighbours Spurs, who imploded up at relegated Newcastle.

Even Arsene Wenger was doing a bit of the old fist-thumping. Good old Robbie Savage, answering the calls, couldn’t contain himself in wondering if that is now the limit of the Gunners’ ambitions.

Manchester City fans could never make up their minds about Manuel Pellegrini. They liked him; he is a nice man but he only won three trophies in his three-year stint and that will never do. Now it’s Pep’s turn.

Roberto Martinez is sacked at Everton and the team that has been hiding behind excuses for weeks suddenly found three goals of their own to beat Norwich; Ronald Koeman is in great demand, but would like to stay at Southampton.

As for the rest, there were emotional scenes at Stamford Bridge where Roman Abramovic shared a hug with the man he sacked, Claudio Ranieri. The Chelsea owner’s season probably ended with a text message that read simply: Hands off! You’ve had your chance.

The Premier League – where would we be without it?

HOW does this sound? Owen Farrell 7 Johann Goosen 3.

That, when you boil it down, was the result of rugby union’s showpiece, the European Champions Cup Final on Saturday. Of course, the official result was Saracens 21, Racing 9.

I am no supporter of rugby league’s current obsession with 15-tries-a-match points gluts (tries are supposed to be hard won and rewards for exceptional play, not handed out like some swap shop deals). But when union’s big day amounts to nothing more than an 80-minute penalty shoot-out, then maybe somebody has got his values wrong.

And when man-of-the-match Farrell said in his interview that he would like to thank the team-mates who had “earned” those penalties, then it is fair to question whether the 15-man code has a problem with its sense of priorities.

IN the end, they went quietly. It may even have passed almost unnoticed this far south.

East Stirlingshire, a homeless 135-year-old club, the perennial whipping boys of football north of the border, have been dumped out of the Scottish League after losing their play-off decider.

They will be replaced by Edinburgh City and will now take their place in the Lowland League next season.

They had to abandon their Firs Park ground about eight years ago to share with neighbours Stenhousemuir and, despite a couple of mini-successes in reaching the play-offs, they have spent most of their time stranded at the bottom of the lowest tier.

At one stage, their players’ wages were down to a tenner a week.

They won’t be missed by too many fans (average gate barely 300) but I for one will be keeping a keen eye on the Lowland League results next season. Haste ye back, Shire.

PETER WILSON