Welcome to NUFC 'Blog's Wigan Athletic v Newcastle United match banter. Apologies in advance if it isn't up to the usual standards, however I am in the latter stages of a fairly horrible 'flu. However, for a more in depth preview of the game, please check out Toonsy's excellent match preview. He will be at [.

Morning to you, the end of another working week. Unless you've got to do blogging at the weekend which, I suspect, many of you don't. Not that I'm complaining. The internet is a 24 hour truck stop and I'm merely the chunky-legged waitress who has seen it all. Watch where you put your hands, mister, and don't complain that there's ash in your soup.

By Ollie Irish

Keys: "Somebody better get down there and explain offside to her."
Gray: "Can you believe that? A female linesman. Women don't know the offside rule."
Keys: "'Course they don't.

Photograph: TalkSport

Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys conducted an interview on live radio Wednesday to say sorry and to share his side of the story regarding the controversy that erupted Saturday and continues to this day regarding comments he made about female assistant referee Sian Massey and West Ham United vice-chairwoman Karren Brady.

An atmosphere of ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,' isn't an atmosphere of change or tolerance. Unseen, unheard, unsaid but still there and right or wrong, where will it go?
Former Sky Sports football analyst Andy Gray may sit (unemployed) and wonder why exactly he has lost his job.

Hello, good evening, and welcome to NUFC 'Blog's 'match banter' for this evening's game against West Ham at St James's Park. In our away fixture earlier in the season we beat The Hammers 2-1, however they certinly seem to be a much improved side of late, managing two wins and a draw in their last [.

Above, NSCAA coaches watch a high school boy's team for our Match Analysis session on Tuesday night.

The times are a-changin'

Even though we've been crazy busy at the NSCAA Premier Diploma course in Ft. Lauderdale, it's important to note that there have been some developments in women's soccer in the last two days.

Good afternoon lads and lassies, welcome to the match banter thread for Newcastle United's third round FA Cup tie against Stevenage. League Two's Stevenage have had a decent start to their first season of league football, securing a mid-table position and having only lost twice at home this season. But the Toon are also amidst [.

As an Englishman in... Sydney, it's become a frustrating experience to merely watch a game of our favourite game. Firstly, it's a struggle to get access to a decent venue. You not only have to contend with sub-standard appreciation of the true global game, but also the nonsensical "footy" sometimes trumping the commentary and thus you watch with a Rugby soundtrack.

By Geoff Reid

First of all, apologies for being away a while. Busy time of year for all of us the last few weeks and life gets in the way. This time of year the game domestically really starts to get exciting with the MLS Combine, followed by the Superdraft and NSCAA Convention before clubs head into their respective pre-seasons.

After Manchester United fans mocked Manchester City's new signing, Edin Dzeko, for attempting to wind up the reds in Manchester by claiming the city was blue (arf!), we were left to wonder whether our Chicharito had become small time too when this picture started doing the rounds online.

But alas, it turns out this was just a return to the good ol' days, when fans got involved in the banter, long before football clubs forked out £1000s on advertising boards in attempt to wind up opposition fans.

I am just wondering if any of you Chelsea fans reading this play any kind of Sport at all?. The reason I am asking is because I used to play football myself until around five years ago when during a game I was kneed in the lower back and due to injury I was forced to quit playing.
I spent three weeks off of work as I couldn't stand up and when I returned to work I was advised that for future, if I wanted to continue playing (even though at the time I had hoped I had some chance of playing again) I would need to take out my own insurance cover to protect myself if something this like was to happen again.

As we haven't even managed a point at St James Park since 2004, I'm not exactly brimming with confidence. However, Spurs haven't been there as title contenders in that period so hopefully we can put things right tomorrow!

Steven Pienaar looks likely to play some part but Wilson Palacios and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are doubtful after picking up injuries in training this week.

Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our regular match banter post. Today of course sees the lads taking on a formiddable Tottenham Hotspur at St James's Park. 'Spurs being, of course, Champion's League contenders and currently standing at fifth in The Premiership. Manager, Alan Pardew, is also having to face up to something of an [.

I know you're probably getting bored of all these Andy Gray and Richard Keys stories on ITS but I promise I will stop soon. Anyone here is a bit more lad-banter from soon-to-be-former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys...

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sky sacked presenter Andy Gray following new evidence of his sexist behaviour came to light. Gray and presenter Richard Keys were warned over their comments about female referee Sian Massey before last Saturday's Wolves v Liverpool match.

Andy Gray's sacking this evening came as a major shock to the football world. The Scotsman had been the face of Monday Night Football since the concept existed and a major player in the rise and dominance of Sky Sports the past few seasons. Some of his phrases have since become infamous from the moment he uttered the likes of 'take a bow son' and 'you don't save those'.

I was going to ask the missus what she thought about the Sky Sports sexism row – but I didn't want to distract her from the ironing.
A decidedly sexist opening gambit, but one that I am confident will not see me barred from Dexy's Den.
The reason being, this is a joke based on an old stereotyped image of a women's role in family life and conjured up specifically for this post.

Andy Gray claimed that women didn't understand the offside rule. Richard Keys responded, straight faced, no wry smile, by saying "of course they don't."

If we're honest, there's more evidence to suggest blokes don't understand the offside rule, given how frequently male referee's assistants get such vital calls wrong.

If I still have the hump of a stegosaurus from the very suggestion that the current QPR side rank alongside the best this league has seen, then I'll confess it, but that raptor of a Ranger Adel Taarabt apart, the employers of those brontosauri Peter Ramage and Clint Hill still don't convince me as I'll happily stand by my prehistoric banter that had Nottingham Forest as the team to finish in

So the "story" of sexism in football culture finally "broke." We have ample footage of Sky Sports commentators Richard Keys and Andy Gray indulging in sexist "banter." From their recent remarks about Sian Massey, to jokes about "smashing it", and a video of the two of them breaking out into giggles (on camera) while reporting on the 1998 women's FA Cup final, we have a veritable archive of evidence demonstrating that sexism animates the way they think, talk and behave.

One is a former football commentator, who loves the sexist banter , the other is a 'pub-landlord' who's job is to give sexist banter...and it just so happens that they look a like...

I bet your bored of Andy Grey themed new at the moment and for that I apologise.

The sacking and resignation of Sky's Andy Gray and Richard Keys for what has been branded all across the media as ‘sexist behaviour' raises many interesting questions.

Reports of a culture of bullying and intimidation featuring Gray and Keys have been detailed by people who worked around them.

Ah, that word "banter" again.

Now I've got to confess I've never played football at any level (Alan Brazil can stop reading now), but now and then by various means we get the odd glimmer of insight into the inner sanctum of the changing room. For anyone who missed it last year, here's the judgment on John McCormack's claim for wrongful dismissal against Hamilton Accies.