Devin is slammed and I'm sick (laryngitis). That being said, we're not sure a preview of Everton will be making an appearance prior to the match. Apologies. What we do have for you, however, are some excellent pieces on Chelsea's finances.

Someone asked us about the recent release of our financials for the year (June 2010-June 2011).

Photo by Nick Turchiaro/ISIphotos.com

The pieces are in place for it to be the weekend of the landmark appearance for Americans across Europe.

After Tim Ream was named to Bolton's matchday roster and Charlie Davies was named to Sochaux's, West Ham announced that centerback George John will be part of the 20-man traveling party for the club's match at Peterborough United on Saturday.

Jozy Altidore made the most of his 14-minute substitute appearance on Wednesday evening, adding AZ's fifth and sixth goals in their rout of ADO Den Haag.

Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, where it's always a party in here before the weekend! Of course, Crackovia is one of the most craziest football sketch shows from Catalonia and this week was all about Barcelona's quest to slow down Madrid using some insane dressing room rituals.

The Anfield tabby who made an appearance in the Liverpool vs Spurs match has become a major sensation like Susan Boyle, out of nowhere. Probably the most exciting event in that match other than Luis Suarez's kick to Scotty Parker's stomach that sent the Spurs midfielder to the ground grovelling in pain.

Park Ji-Sung made his 200th appearance for United last weekend in our 3-3 draw with Chelsea.

When Park joined United for £2m in 2005 several people claimed it was just to appeal to the Asian market in order to sell more shirts. Those people obviously didn't watch him play for PSV against AC Milan in the Champions League a few months before we bought him.

Internet's been down in the FootyBlog mansions recently, so we were unable to share the story of the Anfield cat...

Apparently its a homeless cat named Kenny who is often spotted around the ground, but this was the first time it made an appearance on the pitch at Anfield. A spoof Twitter was set up after the game, reaching 25,000 followers the next day (is currently above 40,000!

The Kickette round commences at 38.29. But really, you should watch the whole show. You're clearly not busy, because you're here.

If our appearance on ESPN's Talk Of The Terrace didn't give you a hint that boys have no clue what a woman wants from a footballer, our latest foray into TV territory certainly should.

The Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has had a fairytale return to the Gunners, scoring within ten minutes of his debut against Leeds, and also scoring in the last minutes of his final appearance at the Emirates. Arsene Wenger hinted that he may try and extend the loan period so that he could be part of [.

"We don't think he should ever have been away but we are delighted to get him back," Kenny Dalglish said when asked about the return of Luis Suarez following Monday's match against Tottenham. The response from the papers was immediate—and exactly what one would have guessed it would be.

"Kenny Dalglish has risked infuriating Manchester United ahead of Luis Suarez's appearance at Old Trafford next weekend," began the always understated Daily Mail.

It is being reported this morning that Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs are both scouting the England U19 star Jamaal Lascelles, who made his first senior appearance for Nottingham Forest last weekend against Burnley, watched by both Arsenal and Spurs scouts who were alerted beforehand. It was reported that Arsenal made a £5million offer for the [.

Sounders v. Whitecaps Preseason Liveblog

Game will be three periods, with two 45 minute "halves" and a 30 minute additional period.

Reportedly Zak will be making an appearance, though he is not starting. Follow along with Matt Gaschk through the link. This is not really a gamethread, though feel free to discuss here.

What is it with unusual pitch invaders on Merseyside lately? Last week, a protestor cuffed himself to the posts at Goodison Park to register his disgust with a budget airlines, and tonight a cat found its way onto the pitch during Tottenham's bout with Liverpool at Anfield.

Brad Friedel was visibly freaked out by the impromptu appearance of the misplaced moggy — perhaps he thought Harry Redknapp had sent one of his pets in his absence from the match — and Liverpool fans responded with the inventive chant "a cat, a cat, a cat, a cat, cat.

EURO 2004 champions Greece qualified for EURO 2012 by winning its qualification group in October 2011. The appearance is Greece's third consecutive in the European championships after failing to qualify...

I do have a soft sport for Thai Port but as they go into their third final appearance in three years next week against Buriram PEA they don't look to have much of a squad left for next season.
The exodus started during the mid season break when their coach Sasom Pobprasert moved to First Division side Buriram, taking three players with him including Sompong Soleb.

Here, in the latest of our book reviews, Ben Summers takes a look at Barney Ronay's The Manager, a book which surely deserves more than its two current stars on Amazon. The Manager: The Absurd Ascent of the Most Important Man in Football By Barney Ronay Published by Sphere August 2010, £8.99, ISBN: 9780751542790 This book's incongruous appearance in Fabio Capello's 2010 World Cup luggage leant it a curious subplot that could easily have been incorporated into the book itself.

The club has announced that Tom Carroll has joined Derby County on loan and will stay there until the end of the season. Tom has featured heavily in our Europa League campaign and this looks to be an ideal move for the player as Derby look to push into the play off places.

"We are delighted to welcome Tom on board.

Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football. Have your name in the book as an official sponsor. Updated information here

By Walter Broeckx

With Nico Yennaris making his debut against Leeds in the FA cup this month and making another appearance as a substitute against Manchester United we have seen another youngster making [.

Kenny Dalglish insists Liverpool will give everything against Manchester City to get the fans back on side following Saturday's deflating defeat.
The Reds put in a woeful performance against Premier League strugglers Bolton at the weekend, going down 3-1 at the Reebok Stadium.
They have a chance to redeem themselves when they host leaders City at Anfield on Wednesday in the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final, having established a 1-0 lead at Ethiad Stadium last time out.

On Sunday night IMS reported that the Soccer USA stores in the Twin Cities and Austin, Texas had the appearance of a failed business. The store had evidently shut down Sunday evening, January 15th after its Sunday shift. On Monday afternoon, Soccer USA released a statement via email, concerning their Burnsville and Blaine stores.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has acknowledged that Manchester City's continued hold on the Premier League's top spot is impressive but warned the Citizens that "funny things can happen" between now and the end of the season.

Scholes, 37, came out of retirement earlier this month and has since played a part in each of United's three victories, the latest being a substitute appearance in the 2-1 win away to Arsenal yesterday.

It's the latest, and greatest, episode of Seeing Red: The NY Soccer Roundup. This week is Mark Fishkin and Dave "The Emperor" Martinez have none other than NY Red Bulls President of Business Operations Chris Heck. Mr. Heck makes a massive 40 minute appearance here and lots of topics (Season Tickets, Harrison lawsuit, the 2012 schedule, Cosmos, etc.

Player news is starting to pick up a little bit for Sporting KC. The team today made two announcements on player news, and a new rumor has cropped up on another player.
First, after the announcement yesterday of the trade for Michael Thomas' rights, the team today announced that they had signed the Olathe native to a contract.

It's being reported today that Liverpool have agreed a deal with Sporting Lisbon for their young midfield starlet Joao Carlos Teixeira, in a deal believed to be worth £1million.

Young Teixeira has impressed while playing in the NextGen series, scoring against Liverpool in the process.

While he hadn't made a first team appearance yet for Sporting, he is highly rated in Portugal and has already been compared to Deco.

The club website sprang into action again yesterday afternoon and highlighted a double strike for our forgotten man John Bostock as a strong Spurs XI demolished a weaker Celtic side by four goals to one at the Lodge.

Perhaps it was more telling that John had started the game on the subs' bench and only came into action after an injury to Cameron Lancaster, who had opened the scoring in the 18th minute.

A couple photos of Michael Thomas. Sporting KC acquired the right of first refusal to Thomas earlier today for a fourth round Supplemental Draft pick. Presumably he will be signed soon. Last year Thomas trained with Sporting KC and even made an appearance in a reserve match as the often seen but rarely named "Trialist 1".

Barca beat Real Betis as midfield maestro Xavi making his 400th appearance for the Catalunyans scored the opening goal. Leo Messi fresh of his third Ballon D'Or scored two. Betis made it a game but Barca's victory means they are within five points of league leaders Real Madrid. Keeping fingers crossed.

Good signing for Everton today as they picked up midfielder Darron Gibson from Manchester United for a reported £1million with a further £1million in appearance-related bonuses.

David Moyes gets a 24-year-old international who made 60 appearances for United, but never was able to grab a regular starting position.

Most of the current group in Carson, Calif. has U-23 MNT Camp experience. Many of the players have been in one camp under Caleb Porter (December in Lakewood Ranch, Fla.) and were part of the first U-23 Camp (November in Duisburg, Germany). The group isn't entirely the same, however, and one of the new-ish faces in U-23 MNT Camp this time is Joshua Gatt.

Wojciech Szczesny has apologised for a Twitter update in which he said team-mate Aaron Ramsey looked "like a rapist". The 21-year-old was responding to a photo of Ramsey attending a golf event. Clearly unimpressed with the Wales captain's appearance, he wrote: "I don't wanna be rude mate but you look like a rapist on that [.

What started as a rumor on the ECS message board can now be confirmed: Brad Evans has been called into the United States national team camp as they prepare for games against Venezuela and Panama later this month. The source was of the confidential variety, but I can assure you that it's highly reliable and is someone who is in position to know.

It's not all that surprising that an American scored at Goodison Park on Wednesday. After all, Everton's match against Bolton marked Landon Donovan's return to the Toffees. Thing is, Donovan wasn't the one to find the back of the net.

In open play, goalkeeper Tim Howard unleashed a long kick from his own box that took a perfect bounce from about 25 yards out and got carried by a furious wind over Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan into the goal.

More than a year since his last appearance in a US jersey, New England midfielder Benny Feilhaber is aiming to re-establish his place on the team and carve out a place in Jurgen Klinsmann's system.

The Cordell Cato v Mrisho Ngassa "battle" may not exist at all. Word out of Mrisho Ngassa's Tanzanian club (Azam FC) is that they will release him to Seattle Sounders FC on a free. After purchasing him for a national record 40 thousand dollars this would be a huge move for a club in a relatively poor footballing region.

Another match, another dazzling display off the bench for Steven Gerrard. Only this time it led to three points, with the captain once again changing the complexion of a match with his introduction. Like the appearance against Blackburn, the boost was both sentimental and practical, with a notable change in confidence and quality in the side.

Blackpool have agreed a deal to sign Liverpool defender Danny Wilson on loan until the end of the season.
Wilson has yet to make an impact at Anfield since his arrival from Rangers in 2010 and has made just one appearance in the Carling Cup so far this season.
The Scotland international admitted earlier this season that he would be open to a loan move away from Liverpool in search of regular first-team football and Reds boss Kenny Dalglish has now decided to let him move on.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard insists the Reds have nothing to fear from their trip to title-chasing Manchester City at the start of 2012.
The England international scored on only his second appearance after two months out with injury as the Reds beat Newcastle 3-1 at Anfield on Friday night.

World number four Gary Anderson has admitted he was far from at his best in his scrappy win over the relative unknown German Jyhan Artut in the first round of the Ladbrokes PDC World Darts Championship.
Last year's runner-up was made to fight all the way to make it into the second round after eventually winning the closely-fought clash at Alexandra Palace on a final-leg shoot-out.

Cardiff City are enjoying a good start to the 2011-12 season, and whilst the priority for all clubs in the Championship will always be to make it to the Holy Land of the Premiership, this season a rare opportunity has opened up for Malky Mackay's side.
Having defeated Blackburn Rovers in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup, they now find themselves just two games away from an appearance at Wembley in what would be their second run-out at the famous stadium in the last four years – not a bad record for a side that has been stranded outside the top tier of English football since 1962.

Want to feel better about your Xmas bloat? Look at these pictures of Ronaldo's charity comeback!

There's no denying the fact that Brazilian legend Ronaldo is one of the greatest strikers ever to have played the beautiful game. Unfortunately, there's also no denying that he was prone to carrying more timber than an octopus lumberjack.