"We're a Football League club, how good is that?" Gary Mills' reaction to York City's return to the league was typically unshowy, embodying the calm, quiet way the Minstermen have gone about their season.

There were no tears, no whoops of delight and not much in the way of a wild celebration, just an acknowledgement of how much it means for the club to win.

Chelsea will take the field at Stamford Bridge this evening for the first leg of a Champions League match against Barcelona which must surely rank amongst one of the more unlikely to be played all season. The sacking of Andre Villa Boas was supposed to draw a line below the competive side of Chelsea's season, an acknowledgement of the failure on the part of the directors of the club in terms of their last managerial appointment.

Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, will be required to provide a full written report to the club's American owners at the end of the season to explain an unacceptable league slump.
As part of a wide-ranging review into what has gone wrong during an appalling Premier League run, Dalglish, director of football Damien Comolli and assistant manager Steve Clarke will be called upon to dispatch a thorough debrief across the Atlantic.

The good people at CNN's fact checking department failed to consult a map before airing this little spot on APOEL's tremendous Champions League victory last week. And really, it almost serves to shine a brighter light on their accomplishment, since know knows just where the hell this club is from.

By Chris Wright

For reasons unbeknownst or cared about by anyone other than himself, Piers Morgan has continued in his po-faced attempts to rile Gary Lineker using his entirely flaccid 'thorn in the side of celebrity culture' Twitter mumblings and found himself, once again, subtly yet completely and utterly owned by MoTD's velvety host.

I took the shot of Lee Lim Saeng and post in this album and saw the almost identical on another websiteStraight to the point here that I would like to seek third-party opinion if these two shots are identical here?
If it's identical, I would like to state that under no circumstance was I ever being approached by any organization or individual to request to reproduce this picture for any purpose on prior notice.

The legend of Pep Guardiola continues as he was named the best manager of 2011, ahead of José Mourinho (Real Madrid), last year's winner, and Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).

Guardiola, who was recently named the world's best manager by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), picks up yet another acknowledgement to his brilliant career.

The legend of Pep Guardiola continues as he was named the best manager of 2011, ahead of José Mourinho (Real Madrid), last year's winner, and Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).

Guardiola, who was recently named the world's best manager by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), picks up yet another acknowledgement to his brilliant career.

We're so close now you can almost smell the reindeer dung. We reach the final window in the SPL Advent calendar. Fling open the curtains and have a nosy at St Mirren.
One thing you can say about St Mirren is that Danny Lennon will do what's best for St Mirren Football Club and what's best for Danny Lennon.

Rumour has it that although the initial diagnosis wasn't a positive one, until the swelling goes down enough to perform an MRI the exact nature and extent of Lucas' injury won't be known. By most accounts that means later on today there's a good chance we'll find out just went wrong, which jumble of letters describe the part that went wrong, and how long he's likely to be out because of it.

One thing you have to agree about Fernando Torres, he has never hidden away from his struggles he had at Chelsea last season. When questioned about it at the time, he answered every single question about his form and the doubters time and time again.
This season we have seen a very different Fernando Torres.

-
- The Morgan Twins Turned Sixty-Five Yesterday - Additional Old Photos (Several from the Bushman Archives)
- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union manager Peter Nowak can prove Sunday just how good a manager he really is.

It will happen when the starting lineup is announced.

Outsiders may think Nowak's a potential coach of the year, but those who follow the Union closely know he's been a better executive than a chooser of starting lineups.

Pressure grows on ITV and others to drop MacKenzie

Earlier in the week ITV sent a standard reply to questions about their use of Kelvin MacKenzie on This Morning. MacKenzie was the editor responsible for the front page lies under the headline "The Truth" in the Sun in 1989.

Kelvin MacKenzie and ITV's This Morning

THE following points were sent to various ITV communication and press executives earlier today with the intention of allowing them a right of reply. As of publication of this article at 6.30pm Tuesday there had still been no response from ITV, not even an acknowledgement.

The largest challenge that awaits a defending title holder is managing the high level of expectations that go along with being the favorites or defending champions.
Rio Ferdinand talks of how last season's Premier League trophy will not hamper performances this season.
Ferdinand told the BBC: "I think it's just acknowledgement of the season we had before really, but that doesn't mean you're going to win it just because you're favourites.

Seattle Sounders Defensive Midfielder Osvaldo Alonso earns recognition as an MLS All-Star after the player vote for the final six named he and five non-Sounders. As an inactive All-Star he is under no requirement to be at the game, but Alonso will get a bonus (hitting next year's cap) and the resume bullet-point as well.

Hertha Berlin will return to the top flight after just one season in the lower league wilderness but it is likely a long battle against relegation awaits them.

Their last top flight campaign ended not just in relegation but humiliation – an embarrassingly poor hinrunde effectively condemned them by Christmas and after winning at home on the opening day, they failed to triumph again in front of their own fans in the whole campaign.

Time to spill the beans, boys, and divulge who/what club shared the secret to Kickette front page success? We only ask because if this is what your newly-promoted squad is planning on bringing to the Bundesliga come fall, him/they deserve a distinguished acknowledgement and a life supply of Jaffa Cakes.

It seems to me there are three distinct types of football writing.
First, we have the straight-up, journalistic, newspaper style match-report. There are some intriguing variations on this approach, like Michael Cox's Zonal Marking with its intense tactical hermeneutics, or the florid style you might sometimes find in a strange place like the Mirror, incorporating all sorts of colourful, often mixed metaphors that end up featured in the opening pages of When Saturday Comes.

Roger Levesque realises a moment too late that his generosity is about to be exploited in a most alarming manner. Images: AP Photo/Daylife, Getty Images/Zimbio.

We like to feel that in the years we have existed, our influence has infiltrated the collective consciousness of the footballing world in some small way.

Have you ever noticed how many of our players can accomodate the arse? In their name, I mean.

Cesc Fabregarse, Andrei Arseshavin, Thomarse Vermaelen, Bacary Sagnarse, Nicklarse Bendtnarse, Lukarse Fabianski, Emmanuel Eboue. No, wait, he is an Arse. Still, quite something if you were to stop and think about it for a second.

It wasn't pretty and the scoreline didn't do Wigan justice especially the way they played in the first 45, but a win is a win. With 2 massive games coming up next week, we'll take the 3 points in any shape or form.

Impressions:

Rooney – Should probably have been sent off for that flailing elbow in the first half.

Ok then, the talk is almost over and tonight's the night. Arsenal v Barcelona, Champions League. For both sets of fans it's a great fixture and it's certainly one for the neutrals to enjoy. But then who gives a fish's tit about neutrals?

The footballing philosophy of both sides is similar attractive, passing football with an emphasis on attack.

Manchester United have been very guarded about how they view rivals City, so it s good to see Ryan Giggs finally coming out and admitting Roberto Mancini's side are genuine title rivals, something that has been reflected in the odds for Premier League winner for a while now. The Blue half of Manchester have made [.