STARTERS
So brutal: Aston Villa announced today that their Bulgarian captain Stilian Petrov has been diagnosed with Acute Leukaemia.
dN
After a final appeal Luke Rodgers was DENIED a work visa and the New York Red Bulls released him from his contract today.

Rangeramerica: Bedoya and Bocanegra's future lies in the balance

The Guardian reports that Rangers players have come to an agreement whereby top earners have their salaries cut by 75% while those earning less suffer a smaller 25% to 50% reduction. This was thrashed out to avoid player redundancies.

It is about to go from bad to worse for a number of players at Rangers FC.

With the outlook of the near future looking bleak after the club was forced to go into administration, Rangers players are meeting with union officials to explore their possibilities in anticipation of numerous cuts.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union

Bolton manager Owen Coyle confirms Sebastien Le Toux is trialing with the Premiership club. "We have received good reports about Sebastian, so we thought we would give him an opportunity to come into the group," Coyle told the Daily Mirror. "He will train with us for a week and we will see where we are after that.

Glen's in good Kompany terrible tackle by soccermr With a huge degree of inevitability following Vincent Kompany's red card at the weekend, a Manchester City was on the receiving end of a two-footed challenge in last night's match against Liverpool. And it went unpunished. Glen Johnson dived into a challenge with Joleon Lescott.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
I would love to see my du Nord Futbol Twitter feed hit 3000 followers by this weekend. Who wants to help me do that?
STARTERS
The BBC reports that Cameroon has suspended Samuel Eto'o for 15 games for his role in a players strike.
DU NORD AT THE CONTROLS
du Nord at the Controls - all new music mix for Tue Dec 13, 2011
USA U23/OLYMPIC TEAM
The USA U23/Olympic team is in Lakewood Ranch Florida until Dec 23 for a training camp.

So, what have we missed in the past week or so?

• Tottenblog Hotspur is running a competition to win a new COYS Spurs Shirt. Click here to enter.

• William Gallas met Snoop Dogg during a gig in London...

• Robin van Persie, following his statement, that "he believes in Arsenal" has put his five bedroom house in Goffs Oak up for sale.

Chelsea has called Stamford Bridge home since 1905, but it could be looking to secure a new place to play after recent actions by the club's executives.

The club does not own the pitch and stands at the stadium, which are instead have been owned by the Chelsea Pitch Owners since 1993 in an effort to make sure that the grounds wouldn't be bought by property developers, according to the BBC.

Arsenal and Barcelona have finally agreed terms for the Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas and the Spaniard is set to be presented to the press as a Barcelona player at 1 p.m. this afternoon (BST). The BBC reports that Arsenal have accepted just £30m for Fabregas with an extra £5m depending on the trophies won by [.

LONDON, England - West Ham United have beaten out rivals Tottenham Hotspur to take over the London 2012 Olympics stadium, according to the BBC. The decision is set to be announced later this week after both English Prmeier League sides submitted bids to the Olympic Park Legacy Company, an unsourced report on the BBC's website said.