In Affectionate Remembrance
of
ENGLISH FOOTBALL,
which died at the Southwark Crown Court and the Football Association
on
8th FEBRUARY 2012,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing
friends and acquaintances
R.I.P.
N.B.—The body will be cremated and the
ashes taken to the Asian Underground.

In Affectionate Remembrance
of
ENGLISH FOOTBALL,
which died at the Southwark Crown Court and the Football Association
on
8th FEBRUARY 2012,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing
friends and acquaintances
R.I.P.
N.B.—The body will be cremated and the
ashes taken to the Asian Underground.

The Arsenal v Aston Villa FA Cup tie has been moved to Sunday 29th January to accomodate the TV schedules, which has meant that Arsenal's game against Bolton the following midweek has also been moved back a day, and Arsene Wenger is not very happy with this at all! At the end of last season [...]

The 2011 season grades forge ever onward! Corey, Matty, and I have looked at the four major areas of the team - goalkeeping, defense, midfield, forwards - and assigned our grades on a 4.0 scale.

Unfortunately for the New England Revolution, we don't curve based on the rest of the league.

Without further ado, here are our grades for the Revolution midfield, which was strong on paper but still performed below expectations.

Featured image: Earl Gardner

2011 was a great year for Philly soccer fans. The Philadelphia Union made it to the playoffs in just their second season. For the second year in a row, and their second year of existence, the Philadelphia Independence made it to the WPS Finals. Nearly 58,000 turned out to see the Union play Real Madrid at the Linc, where the USMNT would host Mexico only a few weeks later (even if the home support was outnumbered by the support for the visitors at both games).

Hi everyone,
Having gone through another engaging Premier League weekend, I think that the most talked about incident is the ''penalty that never was'' in the every so interesting game between title holders Manchester United and ''hot runners'' Newcastle. This was bound to be a eye catching for the fans but ever so difficult for everyone involved with the clubs and especially referees.

Kenny Dalglish is convinced his Liverpool squad can cope with the absence of key men Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher as they are much better equipped compared to last season.
Gerrard and Carragher, the local heroes who have been the backbone of the Liverpool team for 12 years, have always been indispensable members of the squad with the club's success very much dependent on their availability.

A team new to the league.

A team with a backbone of experienced veterans, but also a team with a commitment to young players, led by a coach who wasn't afraid to put those young players in key positions to perform in important games.

A team with a tough, hard-nosed style of play backed by a dominating defense and keeper.

Off the pitch, it's been a really poor few weeks for English football. People wanting to renegotiate TV deals, and now suggestions that relegation should be scrapped. How long before the Premier League gains a backbone and stops being the ...
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I posted the other week about some of our unsung hero's that don't make many headlines on the football pitch. One was Ramires as we all know how well he has been playing this season, the other was Ashley Cole who has been outstanding for us this season!.
His form has been consistently good and once again he is having an influence on our attacking play as much as defending.

The boy's time has come, let's give him a little help

If you listen to any football pundits or experts out there (ones in the British game anyway), they will tell you that the catalyst to a championship (Premier League, if you like) winning side is one with the meanest of defence as the backbone.

"I think this is a team game and unfortunately there isn't an equal level between my teammates and I." -Rafa Marquez

I'm not an athlete, I've never been one so my understanding on the locker room dynamic is limited. However, as a human who has engaged in a variety of relationships in the last 31 years (I'm dating myself) I think I understand the importance of not selling out people you work with.

While the U-18s and U-16s were playing their first matches on the road down in California over the weekend, both splitting, the biggest news concerning Seattle Sounders youth players would be the call-up of Paul Christensen to the US U-17 Fall Residency. Why haven't you heard of Christensen yet? Because he is part of the pre-Academy though eligible to play for the U-16s he's still young for that level.

Emmanuel Frimpong who has emerged as a very reliable deputy to Alexander Song in anchoring the midfield is seriously contemplating switching national allegiance to Ghana. The Arsenal midfielder has long flirted with the idea but it appears he's come to a decision after meeting with Ghanaian FA officials earlier this week.

The Alliance Council met prior to the match against the Columbus Crew. An update is now posted over at the SoundersFC.com Alliance Council Blog (which will be getting frontpage attention soon). The main issues resolved around voting changes, work on the Constitution/ByLaws/Charter (which will be public for voting in Sept) and the End of Year Meeting.

Sammy Ochoa, the former U.S. Under-20 forward, is set to return from Mexico to the U.S. - and could join Chivas USA, 100 Percent Soccer has learned.

Chivas USA remain atop the MLS allocation order and the 24-year-old who is from the Los Angeles area and living in Corona would seem the type of young Latino player that should form the backbone of the club.

Yes, NBC Sports relationship with soccer isn't historically strong. Their connection with the NHL and the Tour de France wasn't strong either, and then they took those on and have more than succeeded. NBC and Versus have managed to create a strong hockey presence, and that's the hope of every Major League Soccer fan with the new agreement that starts in 2012.

SAM BARKER
(Philadelphia Union)
So after a crazy few weeks where I've not written anything for MLS UK, I'm stepping up to the plate to grace you all with my thoughts on the Union. This week there has been absolute outrage, sadness and despair at the loss of Jordan Harvey; a backbone of our defence.

Things continue to go wrong in New England. First there was Fortgate and the blatant mistreatment of loyal Revolution fans by Bob Kraft's gestapo force and the Foxborough PD. Next the sham of a meeting between the front office, a TeamOps rep and the supporters groups in which team COO Brian Bilello and Kelly Way from TeamOps ignored the real issues brought up by supporters and tried to push their ridiculous belief that the situation is all about bad language.

Now this must be one of the strangest Arsenal transfer rumours this summer! The Mirror reckons that Arsene Wenger is preparing a £12m bid for the Wolves striker Kevin Doyle after seeing him play his heart out for the Republic of Ireland against France. It seems that Wenger's plan is to get Doyle, along with [.

Ex-Chelsea man Frank Leboeuf has stated that AVB and Chelsea have to deal with the player power that he believes exists at Chelsea. He believes it is now "out of control" and Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard must leave to get rid of the problem.
He said:

"The club is at the end of the cycle for some players.

Chelsea are going after class. United are going after class. Liverpool are going after class. City are going after class.

Arsenal are looking set to be shorn of one of the worlds finest players and a player with the potential to hit that level in Samir Nasri. Forgive me for being a little underwhelmed with the mooted replacements as well.

It has been reported for the last few weeks that Arsene Wenger is very keen on bringing the Blackburn defender Phil Jones to the Emirates, as he tries to beef up the Arsenal defence with some English backbone. Arsenal have been linked with the older Christopher Samba, but Jones is much more like a typical [.

I'm going to deviate from Arsenal for a little bit today, mainly because I'd only be covering old ground if I talked about spineless defeats and potential exits. Instead, I'm going to take a look at the doomed Respect campaign, which has been so woefully implemented both by the FA and officials since it was introduced.

Big news from the site of the new Dynamo Stadium, tomorrow afternoon Manhattan Construction will begin pouring the concrete foundations for the new building. It may not sound super exciting, but it's a huge step towards the new home of the Dynamo opening next spring.

There should be plenty of photos from the event as the team has invited the media, so I'll be sure to post whatever I can find so we can all ogle at what will become the backbone of our favorite team's new home for years to come.

Kevin Muscat retires at the end of the Asian Champions League - and he's been the backbone of the Victory side for years.
A leader on the park - hard to believe he wouldn't have had huge influence over the playing side of things at Victory - but his name rarely seems to be mentioned in the mix for the Victory job.

Correspondent Wenger.

• FIFA Rankings explained. (The Best Eleven)
• A racist banana in the real world. (Studs Up)
• Serbia's nonexistent backbone. (WSC)
• Bendtner's truth. (The DA)
• Surge of the Central African Republic. (Guardian)
• Inside Ajax.

Every successful front office is bolstered by a backbone of employees that never receive credit due their work. D.C. United is no different.

Whether they are providing assistance to other staff members, sorting out HR details, making sure that all team and office details are accounted for seven-days-a-week, or keeping the bottom line in check, there is a crew of people in place here that make everything we do possible.

It's not a stretch to say that every aspect of our business is tied in to the digital media department. Used equally as media outlets, promotional tools and technological business solutions, our club website and social media platforms provide the backbone of our organization. Our digital media staff – Mark McClure, Oscar Merida, Brandon Kalber and Lee Burrows – has been hard at work this off-season extending our efforts in a number of areas.

LONDON, England - A second key presenter for Sky Sports News left the network Wednesday over a sexism row engulfing the British broadcaster. Anchorman Richard Keys resigned after 20 years with the network, a day after his fellow presenter Andy Gray was fired. The scandal was sparked by off-air footage from Saturday of Keys and [.

Yesterday we won against Ipswich at home in a 3-0 victory (a score I predicted). It was a great game that had a fair amount of tension built up after a scoreless first half. We never really looked in doubt though, given the amount of pressure we were putting on their goal.

I was a bit nervous after seeing the line-up.

With the departure of Steven Pienaar to White Heart Lane for 3 million euros this week, Everton lose a star winger and a crucial player to the team. For years the Liverpool side have sat on the backbone of Cahill, Pienaar and Mikel Arteta and built around that. Now something different will have to be devised and the following article will entail just what I would do, formation and line up wise, if I was David Moyes.

News is beginning to break that Sunderland striker Darren Bent has handed in a transfer request admits rumours that Aston Villa have launched an £18 million bid for his services...

It seems strange that the England International would want to leave Sunderland.

Cobi Jones with Manny Lagos at the 2007 Copa Minnesota at the Metrodome. Photo by Brian Quarstad.

Cobi Jones has left the Los Angels Galaxy after 15 years and 300 matches played for the club. He retired in 2007 and came back with the Galaxy the following year as an assistant coach in 2008 and '09.