Chris Hughton claims he will fight to improve Newcastle United's squad in the January transfer window. Since being made permanent manager it seems many people think he'll just be a 'yes man' a puppet and apologist for Ashley's regime but Hughton was keen to dispel such rumours, indicating that he's strong enough to get [. Click to continue reading...

Lizzy Hildebrandt scored in the 15th minute Friday as Memphis blanked the Colorado College women's soccer team 1-0 in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament in Dallas.

Memphis advances to Sunday's title match against regular-season champion Central Florida, which claimed a 1-0 triumph over Alabama-Birmingham in Friday's other semifinal.

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Chris Hughton has asked Newcastle United fans to put their disagreements with the board behind them and support the team. Fans are, of course, particularly upset that Ashley plans to peddle Sports Direct on the back of or, to be more precise, on the front of the St James' Park name. Hughton evidently fears [. Click to continue reading...

I weep for the Newcastle fans who have to put up with this execrable name. How about MikeAshleydumbass@StJames'Park while we are at it?

I remember living in Miami when they renamed Joe Robbie stadium, home of Miami Dolphins as Pro Player Stadium which I thought was soulless but inoffensive.

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Jonathan Spector started the game on the bench for West Ham United, but was on the field within eight minutes as they beat Aston Villa 2-1 at Upton Park. Spector subbed on for injured defender Herita Ilunga, with West Ham saving the offense for late in both halves. Mark Noble put them up from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time, beating Brad Friedel. Click to continue reading...

Ashley Young scored a blinder but was unable to prevent the Hammers from stealing a draw.. There was no fairy tale ending and Aston Villa drew West Ham 2-2 at Upton Park. Click to continue reading...

! Article Start >Dave Clelland MP tabled a Commons motion asking Ashley to reconsider his plans to sell the naming rights to Newcastle United's stadium. He claimed the stadium was symbolic of the game, its supporters' loyalty and that it has been "an integral part of the city since 1892". The club, predictably, has declined to comment. Click to continue reading...

There's little doubt that Ashley's decision to take the Newcastle club off the market last week was very unpopular for Newcastle fans, to say the very least. Chris Hughton hopes Newcastle fans will remain united But Chris Hughton, now in one of the most difficult management jobs in football, whether he likes that or not, or [. Click to continue reading...

! Article Start >Alan Oliver is running an article in The People claiming that all the money from the stadium naming rights will go straight to Chris Hughton to spend on the Newcastle United squad. Ashley has apparently insisted the naming rights won't go cheap and he's looking for £6m a season before he'll sell off [. Click to continue reading...

As we had pointed out yesterday having Ashley staying at the club and Chris Hughton as full time manager does help the stability of the club. Chris Hughton - more stability at the club We are even hoping that Ashley may mend his ways a bit, but that might be asking too much but surely this [...] Click to continue reading...

Former Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd has blasted Ashley over his plans to sell the stadium naming rights. Freddy said: "I suppose nothing surprises me about the current regime, so news they are ready to sell the naming rights isn't exactly a shock. "I appreciate we are living in a commercial world, but there are some things money [. Click to continue reading...

There comes a point at which inept management crosses an invisible rubicon and passes into something even more depressing and worrying. There can be little arguing with the case for the prosecution. Ashley's time in charge of the club has been an unmitigated disaster. He oversaw relegation from the Premier League when the club had the fifth highest wage budget, has managed to almost the entire support of the club and managed to fail to sell the club when it had a buyer which seemed keen to tie up a deal to secure the purchase of it from him.

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I like people who are prepared to show a bit of courage now and then and stand up to the crowd.
I have no problem with people being prepared to make unpopular decisions if their motives are good and they have really thought through the consequences.
But I am equally clear that there is a difference between this and simply being thick-skinned. Click to continue reading...

Chris Hughton has deserved to be appointed Newcastle's permanent manager let's make no mistake about that. Chris Hughton - honor and privilege Chris was the only man left standing on July 1st,� after Ashley's stupidities over the summer, and he quickly recruited Colin Calderwood and started training a bunch of players who just happened to [. Click to continue reading...

We read the statement from Newcastle with dismay and disappointment last night, even though it was no big surprise. Laurel and Hardy continue their mess at Newcastle Steve Wraith, the editor of Players Inc fanzine, said the news that Ashley was staying would dismay most of the Toon Army and his statement is right on: "I don't [. Click to continue reading...

Alan Shearer says he would still love the Newcastle United manager's job but is also prepared to consider managing other clubs. At the end of last season it seemed almost certain that Shearer would be given the Toon job despite failing to keep us in the Premier League. Ashley had described employing Shearer as 'the best [. Click to continue reading...

Newcastle United manager-in-waiting Chris Hughton, heaped praise on the players after the 2-1 win over Doncaster Rovers at the weekend. Rumours suggested that Hughton would be appointed as permanent manager before the game but there's been no official confirmation of that, possibly because Ashley is still considering Barry Moat's latest offer for the club. Click to continue reading...

It isn't my intention to steal the MMM's thunder but I figured I'd throw out a few observations from my weekend of watching a pretty crazy amount of footie... 1. This is definitely the year where forwards are re-establishing themselves as the league's goal-getters.� In recent seasons we've seen the ascent of CRon, Lamps, Gerrard, Ashley Young, and others among the league's top goal scorers. Click to continue reading...

A we had expected Chris Hughton will be given a new contract until the end of the season with an option for another year should Ashley decide to keep the club passed the summer (that would be disastrous) Chris Hughton new manager by tomorrow? That's the news today and Chris may even be installed as the [. Click to continue reading...

You see that great big ditch down there? The one big enough to swallow St. James's Park? That's how far my heart sank when I heard the news that Chris Hughton was offered the manager's job on a permanent basis.

Firstly, this is a huge backwards step and reeks of the lack of ambition wafting out from the Gallowgate.

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Aston Villa overturned the odds and the form book to beat Chelsea 2-1 after going a goal down early in the game. It was Chelsea's second away defeat and the shoddy defending on display will certainly raise questions at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea had taken the lead when Brad Friedel failed to deal with a long-range effort from Didier Drogba, but they failed to capitalise and conceded goals from set plays either side of half time.

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DENVER – Becca Mays is the type of player who makes her teammates better, and she showed it on Friday against Regis University. Mays didn't score any of her team's goals, but had a hand in all of them as the Metropolitan State College women's soccer team scored three quick goals in the second half for a 3-0 victory at Auraria Field in downtown Denver.

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From Dan:

The nature of sports being what it is, the greater outpouring of sympathy was for the one who survived ... but fan tributes aren't really equipped for innocent victims. A simple jersey number was enough for a very moving tribute for a recovering player, but a soccer game is an impossible context to show adequate respect for Ashley Roberta and her family's loss.

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I don't want Prairie's banner of Charlie Davies off the top yet, so here it is again.
You can't separate out the emotional aspects of this week, because the emotions caused and overwhelmed the actual events.
Another of Andy's pictures is worth more than a thousand words, because most of the words are misleading or inadequate:
There's a lot going on there, and I'm sure when you saw Landon with that particular banner you felt a whole bunch of conflicting emotions. Click to continue reading...

This week's Quote of the Week comes with some bad news; Charlie Davies, USA International striker, was in a car accident and received serious injuries. While this news is bad, there is worse, he was in the car with two other people, one of which died. Ashley J. Roberta, 22, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, the only details on the third person, who was also the driver, are it is a female. Click to continue reading...

The United States' men's national soccer team finishes World Cup qualifying tonight with a home match against Costa Rica (7:30pm ET, ESPN2). As the US clinched a berth in the Finals by winning in Honduras over the weekend, the game didn't figure to be too dramatic, but that all changed yesterday.

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Standout United States striker Charlie Davies was seriously injured in a car accident in Virginia at 3:15 AM on Tuesday morning. Davies was a passenger in the vehicle along with accident fatality 22-year-old Ashley Roberta. Davies, 23, was airlifted to the Washington Hospital Center in Washington DC where he underwent several hours of emergency surgery to repair [. Click to continue reading...

If the latest report from Lee Ryder in the Chronicle is anything to fo by, Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton won't be getting much cash to spend in the January transfer window. Following Keegan's tribunal and the £2m it awarded him, it was speculated that Ashley would give Hughton some of the £8m he had set [. Click to continue reading...

Apparently the Sheard-fronted Star Foundation has made a bid for Newcastle United and the group expect an answer this week. Sheard claims the matter is in the hands of lawyers with Halliwells representing the Americans and Travers Smith representing Ashley. Sheard claims it's "all done", saying: "We will push it forward this week and it will be [. Click to continue reading...

This is one of the most distressing posts that I've had to write on this site. I'm sure you all know the news by now that US national team striker Charlie Davies was a passenger in a SUV that was in a horrific one-car accident this morning on the George Washington Memorial Parkway just outside of Washington DC. Click to continue reading...

I am deeply saddened by the tragic auto accident that took the life of Ashley Roberta and left Charlie Davies and others with serious (although not life threatening) injuries.
I am really thankful to BigSoccer for giving me a voice that is heard by footie fans the world over. One of the appeals of the beautiful game is the tribal nature of the fans. Click to continue reading...

US Men's National Team forward Charlie Davies was involved in an early morning fatality accident outside of Washington, DC. Davies injuries are not considered life threatening.
22-year old Ashley J. Roberta was killed in the accident.
My MFUSA sidekick Jason Davis has a timeline of the events and links to various stories about the accident. Click to continue reading...

United States National Team and Sochaux forward Charlie Davies was involved in an early morning traffic accident on Wednesday. The SUV Davies was in ripped in two after colliding with a guard rail on the George Washington Parkway outside of the District. Davies is currently undergoing surgery at George Washington Hospital. Click to continue reading...

U.S. Men's National Team forward Charlie Davies is in serious but stable condition at Washington Hospital Center MedStar Unit after a car accident early Tuesday morning.

A 22-year old woman, identified as Ashley J. Roberta of Phoenix, Md., was fatally injured in the crash and died on the scene.

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So two weeks ago I set off to Florida on holiday with the blue boys flying high on top of the league following eight straight wins this season. With the next two trips to Wigan and Apoel next I didn't even think about checking the scores every five mins as I thought like the rest of you it would be a breeze! Click to continue reading...