LONDON –

It is easy to understand why Manuel Pellegrini is unconcerned about continuing media speculation that he could be sacked by Manchester City at the end of what is proving to be a disappointing season for the Champions.

City go into Sunday's derby against an in-form Man United on the back of five defeats in seven games and while it has a seven-point lead over fifth-place Liverpool, finishing fourth would mean playing a potential banana skin Champions League qualifier to reach the group stage.

The sack is a lucrative occupational hazard even for top managers and does not seem to affect their future job chances. Pellegrini was dismissed by Real Madrid after one year in 2010 and left Bernabeu Stadium with a £3.5 million compensation payout.

His predecessor at City, Roberto Mancini received a £7 million payoff; Andre Villas-Boas was paid £4 million by Spurs two years after receiving £12 million from Chelsea, which gave Luiz Felipe Scolari £12.6 million after being in charge for 36 matches. England manager Roy Hodgson received £7.3 million after six months at Liverpool.

Life moves on with a fistful of dollars.

That is not to say the Chilean does not care what happens to City in the remaining weeks of the season, but his future and that of chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain will be decided by chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak whose views will be rubber-stamped by owner Sheikh Mansour.

Fernando, Eliaquim Mangala and Wilfried Bony have been expensive failures and Al Mubarak must decree how culpable Soriano and Begiristain are in City's slide from grace.

None of which worries Louis van Gaal, who has turned around United's fortunes after a slow start to his reign at Old Trafford. When United lost 1-0 to City at Etihad Stadium in November, the Reds, in 10th place, trailed their neighbors by seven points. United goes into Sunday's match one point ahead of City with a settled team and formation after months of chopping and changing.

Van Gaal now uses a 4-3-3 system with Daley Blind, normally a defensive midfielder, excelling at left-back in place of the unconvincing Luke Shaw. Michael Carrick plays at the base of the midfield triangle with an improving Ander Herrera on the right and Juan Mata on the left.

Ashley Young and Marouane Fellani support central striker Wayne Rooney, the Belgian belatedly showing why David Moyes was right to pay Everton £30 million for him. Fellaini operates as a second striker, a willing target man who times his runs from deep so well.

Victory for United would put it four points clear of City and while the title is almost certainly a step too far for van Gaal, five months ago finishing second seemed an impossible dream.

THE MOST poisonous atmosphere in England this weekend will be at Loftus Road on Sunday when Queens Park Rangers play Chelsea. Forget the fact that the West London neighbors are, respectively, battling against relegation and trying to win the title. The verbal venom will be directed at John Terry as he makes his first return to the ground where, four years ago, the Chelsea captain was accused of making a racist remark to Anton Ferdinand.

Cleared by the court, Terry was found guilty by the Football Association and banned for four games. In what will be a highly charged game, Terry will be unaffected by the abuse directed at him.

While not the most popular footballer in the country, Terry is playing as well as ever —which is very well — and has the thickest skin possible. Whatever he has been through, he has bounced back with interest and will be the coolest man on the pitch at Loftus Road.

FIVE YEARS ago Blackpool was promoted to the Premier League for the first time. The small, seaside club was awash with money thanks to the £42 million television rights deal for those in the elite league.

Pool rubbed shoulders with Chelsea, Man United and the other traditional powerhouses for just one season, the Oyston family, which owns Blackpool, preferring not to spend the club's new riches, instead paying themselves, by many millions, the biggest bonus ever in English football. Maybe in football anywhere.

Blackpool paid a company owned by Owen Oyston, the club's majority shareholder and a director, £11 million. Karl, his son and chairman, said the transfer of money was done for tax purposes, but added: "After the way he (Owen) has supported the club all these years, if it was an £11 million salary to my father, so what?"

Indeed.

At the beginning of this season, Blackpool had a squad of eight players and no goalkeeper. Owen Oyston asked to be judged in May, but as the Tangerines were relegated to League One after Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Reading the jury can return earlier.

Blackpool is in a mess, which is being polite. It has had five managers in three seasons, has won only seven of its last 70 matches, the chairman is facing a possible lengthy ban for comments made to a fan, there's no GM and the club secretary is doubling up as kitman.

Unsurprisingly, the supporters want the Oystons to sell up and get out of town. Eggs were thrown toward the directors box on Tuesday, while the best selling scarf in Blackpool reads "Oyston Out."

Next season, Blackpool will almost certainly be playing Wigan in League One as the 2013 F.A. Cup winners clings on to its Championship status by their fingernails.

The fall of Wigan, relegated from the Premier League the same year as its Cup win, is down to the appointment of wrong managers to succeed Roberto Martinez, who left for Everton after the F.A. Cup/relegation double.

Martinez had been in charge for four years and former chairman Dave Whelan called the Spaniard "the best manager in the world." Finding the right man to follow "the best" has been mission impossible. Owen Coyle lasted six months, Uwe Rosler 11 months and Malky Mackay five months.

Christopher Davies was a longtime Premier League correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph.