By Chris Wright

Well, what do you know? Looks like Manchester United and Liverpool are keen to get all their summer transfer dealing out of the way up top.

Several newspapers are claiming this morning that 'third parties' acting on behalf of Nasri and United met in Manchester yesterday to discuss a potential move, though the Daily Telegraph are also offering the explanation that the Frenchman may just be flirting with the Premier League champions in order to eek a new £120,000-a-week out contract of Arsenal doing a 'Rooney' so to speak.

Images: ElPais.com; Thx to Emma for the tip!

Like the 'chicken or the egg' theory, we face a conundrum here, Kickettes.

Shall we be the bearers of blasphemous bulletins and admit defeat first or soften the blow with some positive peace of mind?

Instead of wasting our time trying to decide, we went with our guts and own personal affinity for being the "good news first" kinda girls.

Image: Divinity.es.

Looks like The Ramos has found some friends while working on his tan in Marbella. Unfortunately he hasn't given us any interesting fashion moments (yet), but by the looks of his new female friend's bikini, perhaps he's found a fashion soulmate.

For those who participated, you may recall how last week we asked what angle was best for gawking at this Spanish-stud-on-holiday.

Polish female football fans strip off to save club (NSFW pictures)

Football clubs going to the wall is obviously a terrible thing, but sometimes even the darkest clouds have silver linings. Take Polish IV League side Klub Sportowy Hutnik Krakow. The club went bust once before in 2010, and are now on the verge of a second liquidation.

By Neil W. Blackmon The bad news: the United States lost 4-0 on home soil today to the European and World Champions and for very little of the ninety minute match did the Yanks look even remotely like they belonged on the field with what was essentially a B-PLUS version of La Furia Roja. The [...]

By Chris Wright

"I won't ask for a transfer, no. That would be disrespectful" Luka Modric, June 18th 2011.

"I don't think he'll hand in a transfer request. He will honour his contract" Luka Modric's agent, July 7th 2011.

Skip forward to today, July 14th 2011, and the Guardian (among several others) are reporting that Luka Modric has indeed handed in a formal transfer request at Tottenham in a bid to begin forcing through a move to Chelsea.

Sorry for the long absence. I've spent the past two months in Mexico and Central America and it turned out that finding free and convenient wifi in the area wasn't so convenient. Plus, I was just having way too much fun. (Feel free to read about the adventures here.)
But, we're back.

It's been nine months on the making, but MLS fans are finally starting to see a healthy and fit Thierry Henry and that is bad news for the rest of Major League Soccer.

Henry was hampered by injuries last season and managed two goals in his first year in MLS. That is a total he matched against D.

In front of an over-capacity crowd at LIVESTRONG Park in Kansas City the United States squeaked by Guadeloupe 1-0 last night behind a wonder goal from Jozy Altidore. That is the good news. The bad news, its hard to get excited about this win and the performance of the Yanks thus far in the tournament.

"I want to leave Tottenham as friends. I have enjoyed my time there, but now it is right for me to look at another club."

I know it's the Daily Mail, but they can't make shit up like this can they? Can they?

Open arms

Everyone's topic of choice at the moment, Luka Modric, has apparently been speaking to Sportsmail aka Matt Lawton.

Bad news for Chonburi and South China.
Persipura have been given the go ahead to use their Mandala Stadium in Jayapura for their remaining AFC Cup games.
There are no direct flights to Jayapura (DJJ) on Garuda, the only airline I would consider for such a trek. You get to transit at places like Denpaser, Timika or Makassar depending on the flight.

Sunderland are at home this weekend against Fulham without a fit striker in their first team. That's the bad news. The good news? Fulham have been poor on their travels this season. No Gyan. No Welbeck. No Frazier Campbell. All ... Continue reading →

Prior to joining the United States Gold Cup team, Marcus Hahnemann made a stop in the Seattle area. It turns out, he wasn't just making a quick run to his offseason home. While he was here, Hahnemann met with Seattle Sounders officials about the possibility of joining the team, perhaps as soon as this summer.

I don't think I'd classify this as a good day to bury bad news although your tastes may cause you to disagree, but while we're all wailing and gnashing teeth over the Alex McLeish debacle, it appears that the new 2011/12 away shirt may have found its way on to the internet.

I stress may because unlike the 2011/12 home shirt, which I have very high resolution pictures I obtained myself, I'm not sure of the authenticity of this one.

News today in the Journal that the powers that be at Newcastle will be deciding whether to bring in two new center-backs in the January transfer window. James Perch -- becomes important player for Newcastle The big bad news on Saturday was with just two minutes left in the game Steven Taylor ruptured his Achilles, and he is in London today having an operation that [.

Ahem. Excuse us for a moment. We just need to save this to the Kickette hard drive for closer examination later. All in the name of science, you understand. (Getty Images/Zimbio)

Seeking solace in the arms of a buff bloke is an extremely popular way to deal with bad news here at Kickette. In fact, we actively encourage the practice, both for ourselves and between men, although the latter is largely to satisfy our slightly odd and potent lust.

With the bad news on the injury front on both Andy Carroll and Dan Gosling this morning, there's some decent news on Hatem Ben Arfa. Ben Arfa - returns to Newcastle for Arsenal game With all the positive reports going around in the last two days on Newcastle's top French International Ben Arfa, the Newcastle [.

Shall we have the bad news first? We're still in the midseason slump I keep talking about. I realise my previews are getting fairly repetitive. Every game I've been saying "This is the one, we're coming out of it now, how could anything possibly go wrong?" Every game, things do go wrong. It is Bolton after all.

I logged on to Arsenal.com this morning to news that Laurent Koscielny had earned his first call-up to the French national squad. This is certainly great news and while I'm a fan of the defender I didn't really expect it to come so soon. It could be that Blanc wants to see some new players in action in a friendly before serious games resume.

Roman Pavlyuchenko could be an £8m striking option for Newcastle United this summer. Rumour has it that Newcastle may be after Roman Pavlyuchenko this summer, which would be more bad news for me as it's another name I struggle to spell. The Russian has a career total 179 goals in 371 appearances, giving him a [.

Image: EQ.

We live in dangerous times, Kickettes. In today's world, snark plus sirius bizniz can be a minefield. Our infamous office might be packed with women experienced in the arts of explosive management and/or removing stubborn mudstains from cotton mix, but even we know that when bad news breaks, waiting until the full story/truth/both sides are revealed, is the only way to avoid the backspray.

There is some good news and some bad news for Joey Barton today. Joey Barton in action against Arsenal earlier this year The good news is that Alan Pardew will make Joey captain of the side for the next two games, in Kevin Nolan's enforced absence. Kevin picked up his 10th caution of the [...]

Photo credit: courtesy of Chamber Images
Good afternoon! The Red Bulls are back in action tonight (7:30pm ET, MSG), @The Cathedral of Football, against Eastern Conference rival Columbus Crew. Let's examine how both clubs come into this one.
Like the Red Bulls, the Columbus Crew went through the month of May winless.

By Pieter Brown - Thursday night the Miami Ultras held an emergency meeting to plan and discuss what can be done to save Lockhart Stadium.
Recent reports came from the Sun Sentinel stating that the FAA wants all stadium revenue generated by the school system and the Strikers going to the airport.

For all the armchair football experts out there who also happen to have a passing interest in female beauty, I have a message. Yes, all three of you, gather 'round, for yours truly brings some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there's some rather delicious football action coming right up, World Cup action no less.

By Chris Wright

In which the Egyptian Premier League tie between Al Ittihad and Wadi Degla (both are flirting with relegation in the bottom four of the table) last night quickly descends into complete anarchy after Ittihad concede a goal at the death with score previously deadlocked at 1-1.

I'm getting today's Match Thread up a little earlier than usual on account that the USMNT vs. Jamaica Gold Cup game is on at noon. If you're at all interested in watching that match you can check it out on Fox Soccer Channel or via a live CONCACAF stream which is free. Just follow the link.

Anyway, today is a rather large game for the Portland Timbers, partly due to a series of victories for Western Conference teams yesterday including both of our most heated rivals: the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps.

Bad news for the English journalists who want Italian Fabio Capello, fired from the England job. England boss Fabio Capello - hey we're 4th in the world! It was clear to an outside observer, that after last summer's tragic display by the England team at the World Cup, that English Journalists were hell bent [.

The news on the transfer front probably canceled themselves out today for Geordie fans. Daniel Sturridge no Newcastle interest There was some bad news coming from the local press this afternoon, that Newcastle were not going after 21 year-old Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge. That was disappointing, because the comments on this site have been [.

Effects of the Financial Fair Play Regulations - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

On the 27th of May 2010, UEFA announced the approval of the Financial Fair Play(FFP) regulations. The aim of these regulations is to make the football clubs self sufficient. With the advent of these sanctions, every football club has to break even i.

Some bad news form Alan Pardew last night about the two top players at Newcastle who have just one year left on their contracts. Jose Enrique may have already left club at least in his mind Newcastle manager Alan Parde whas talked about both Joey Barton and Jose Enrique, but he says their focus [.

By Chris Wright

Bad news Bolton fans, winger Lee Chung-Yong suffered a double leg fracture in yesterday's pre-season friendly thanks to a horrendously unnecessary challenge from Newport County's Tom Miller, and is now expected to miss the next nine months as a result.

In case you haven't been anywhere near a TV or computer today, our home game with Everton this Saturday has been called off due to the recent disturbances in Tottenham and across London. While there had been some assurances that the game would go ahead, this isn't a great surprise to anyone but the frustration was summed up by Spurs skipper Michael Dawson.

Trouble arrives for Chelsea ahead of their second league game this weekend against West Brom after reports from the Blues' camp confirmed that goalkeeper, Peter Cech, picked up an injury during training and is likely to be absent for three-four weeks.

The bad news was revealed by the London club's manager, Andre Villas-Boas to the press stating that the Czech international player suffered a ligament injury because he fell awkwardly in the end of Wednesday's training.

I would have imagined that Ronnie Whelan was watching the Euro 1988 final with his friends or family and reflecting back on his great year, great Euro, and most important, his great goal that would be undoubtedly win the memory of the world as 'goal of the tournament'.
Ronnie goal was against Soviet Union in the first round, and after Republic of Ireland defeated England 1-0, they almost did the same with Soviet Union, but the game ended 1-1 tie.

I might as well start with the bad news because there is plenty of it at the moment. We are currently tied at 18 points with Hungary for the second place in group E and while Hungary have only one game left (and that is Finland at home), we have two to go and one of them is Finland away and the other is the Netherlands at home.

Ricardo Montolivo and Jan Vertonghen are two players that have been linked with Arsenal over the last couple of months, and today there is good news and bad news to report about them both. Montolivo is out of contract in the summer with Fiorentina and just two weeks ago said, "Florence has always been my [.

Bad news for Italy's coach Cesare Prandelli, as one of his most talented forward could miss Euro 2012, on the next June. Antonio Cassano has suffered a small ischaemia after the winning of AC Milan against Roma last saturday. When it happened the player was with his teamates on the airplane, coming bacfrom Rome to Milan.

Bafana Bafana and Tottenham play maker Steven Pienaar has admitted that life has not been easy for him since he left Everton. However, Pienaar who has struggled to establish himself as a regular in Harry Redknapp's starting line up, maintained that he is not about to quit the team just yet.

Some bad news this morning that both Cheick Tiote and Danny Guthrie are out injured and will not play on Saturday. Danny Guthrie out from four to six weeks And the news is that Danny Guthrie could be missing up to six weeks with a groin problem, and that's not good news for a Newcastle squad [...