Football is a peculiar old beast.

Just a couple of months ago Championship strugglers Barnsley were dreaming of fence-jumping their way into the greatest European party on earth, where long-haired hippie types mingle with short-cropped Johnny Trendicles in one back-to-nature celebration of football. And better still, Jay-Z wasn't invited.

Man City, on the other hand, were in disarray. Sven was rapidly becoming the victim of the most public sacking since Louis Walsh's dismissal on P45-Factor, and the club's early-season European ambitions had ebbed away .. peculiarly since the signing of Benjani, but that's neither here nor there.

Wind forward a few short months and it seems we've all been the victims of another one of Father Football's sick games ... indeed, if you know where to look in the midnight sky, you can catch a glimpse of him pointing down and cackling at us footy fools.

In short, Barnsley's reasonable chances of European action fell short of the required standard, although many would have predicted that, to be fair.

City, on the other hand, who finished a very non-European standard 9th in the Premier League, two-fingered their way through the perimeter fence tunnel and are playing in the UEFA Cup after scooping the Fair Play qualification place.

And to make it all the more obscene, their 1st Qualifying Round clash against EB/Streymur from Faroe Islands will be played at none other than Barnsley's Oakwell ground, with work on the City of Manchester Stadium pitch not expected to be completed in time.

Remind me again why we take this game so seriously? Someone up there is definitely having a laugh ..

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