"It only took nine years" was the song booming from the AFC Wimbledon end of The City of Manchester Stadium at the end of the Blue Square Bet Premier play-off final against Luton Town in May of last year. There was a certain irony to the fact that two clubs from the south-east of England had to travel over two hundred miles to play a match that would ordinarily have been played at Wembley.

A finire tra gli indagati, nell'ambito della "new last bet", l'inchiesta sul calcioscommesse partita parecchie settimane fa da Cremona, sono anche il terzino dello Zenit e della Nazionale, Domenico Criscito, e l'allenatore della Juventus, Antonio Conte (nelle scorse ore tanti arresti eccellenti, tra i quali quelli di Milanetto e Mauri).

How do you fancy betting on something different at Euro 2012? We all know the usual bets that can be placed when a major tournament such as Euro 2012 is on. Overall winner, top goalscorer and specific results from matches are among the most popular markets. But reeling off those for you would be a [.

What snivelling wretches we have running football.
Michel Platini and his Eurocrat acolytes make our own dear Neil Doncaster look heroic.
When it's clear that the eyes of global football should be focused on El Broon Sauce Clásico at Hampden, they attempt to divert football lovers the world over with a sideshow in Munich.

The penultimate domestic Bet's be ‘avin you of the season, and we have some right rollocking good games to look forward to. Four finals, four previews, four tips. More simple than The Only Way is Essex crossed with the eye-bleedingly terrible Compare the Market adverts: Champions League final Ol' Bobby Di Matteo has had a [.

Cristiano Ronaldo was disappointed to see City win the league last weekend but says that United are still the "kings of England."

"I saw a few days ago they scored two goals in the last minutes, 91 and 93," he said. "I had a bet that Manchester United would win the league but I lost.

The Premier League Betting Awards – Season 2011/2012 - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Another Premier League season has come to an end. For serious punters, the football season can be a grind. An enjoyable grind but a grind nonetheless. A perpetual routine of updating spreadsheets, adjusting ratings, pricing up match after match coupled with the somewhat schizoid experience of one week begging for heaven that a particular club wins only to find yourself hurling equal hope that they lose the next.

Arsenal posted a curious set of photos on their Facebook page to promote this weekend's "Junior Gunners Camping on the Pitch" event. Per Mertesacker and Gervinho apparently lost a bet and had to pose for the photos wearing pajamas and acting as creepy as possible.

Have a look...

This, however, is still nowhere near as good as when Andrei Arshavin dressed up as a scout for the same cause.

In the end, Kettering Town's wretched season ended with a whimper rather than a bang. They finished the season with just thirty points, rooted to the bottom of the Blue Square Bet Premier, and under the same ownership with which they began the season albeit under the apparent control of a new "acting chairman" and with the future of the club hanging in the balance to the same extent as it has been for much of the last nine months.

So this is it. Ninety minutes away from finishing third, fourth or fifth. A win at West Brom and third is ours, along with automatic qualification for the group stage of the Champions League, irrespective of results elsewhere in the league, or in this year's final. It would bring a happy end to an often difficult season, and of course herald the annual celebration of St Totteringham's Day (and win me the bet I had with a work colleague when we were ten points behind them).

If you like a flutter on football, then you'll know that one of the best bets placed is the one just before you go to sleep, just so that as soon as you wake up in the morning you can log in to your account and confirm that your bet lost because of one selection. [...]

Fifa's World Rankings for May 2012 were published today at FIFA HQ in Zurich, Switzerland.
2010 World Cup winners Spain remain on top followed by Germany, Copa America champions Uruguay, the Netherlands, and Portugal. England are in 7th and Ireland remain in the top 20 teams at 18th ahead of Euro 2012.

This weekend saw the end of the normal season for many of the leagues below the Football League and the beginning of the play-offs in some. This weekend, we're going to have a look at a few of the outstanding issues at the top and bottom of the leagues, starting in the Blue Square Bet South, where a Sutton United side jostling for the best position possible in the play-off positions was at home against a Farnborough team that has only narrowly avoided relegation at the bottom of the table.

It is not that often that league title races are open enough to go to the final day of the season with the whereabouts of the championship trophy still undecided, but this season two of the divisions of the Ryman League will end with five clubs still hoping to win automatic promotion as champions of their division.

First bet of the week covers Saturday's Premier League action. With the top two squaring off on Monday night, the relegation battle takes centre stage, but forgive us if we don't see Wolves suddenly playing with verve and freedom now their failure has been confirmed. Their manager is shite, you see, and some of the [.

It's the penultimate week of the non-league season, and while most of the championship issues have now been resolved there are still relegation places to be filled at the bottom of many of the tables. We've got a mixture of the top and the bottom of the tables for you this evening, kicking off with the bottom of the Blue Square Premier.

Once a old Second Division side, English Conference National (currently called the Blue Square Bet Premier) club Mansfield Town has unveiled its 2012/13 Errea home and away kits. According to...

As the Football League reaches an interesting denouement, I am choosing one bet from each of the three leagues, with a Premier League punt chucked in for good measure. League Two Although Swindon let me down in midweek with their defeat at Aldershot, I am giving them a second chance, on the basis that they [.

Barcelona got a taste of defeat for the first time in over 12 matches when they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last night. A 47th minute Didier Drogba goal was enough to see out a Barcelona side that failed to capitalise on the many opportunities they created.

Of course, the tie is far from over, however, the win does put pressure on Barcelona who have to win by 2 goals or more and avoid a draw of any kind to make it to their 4th final in the 3 years.

What happens when Dominic Oduro puts his salary on the line to prove how fast he is?
Well.... that's a lot to fight for. And you can only imagine how fast one of the fastest players in the league is going to run to protect his earnings.
"@FreakyFast8" on Twitter easily claims his end of the bet, a jelly donut from "Touchline TV" host Brendan Hannan.

Fifa's World Rankings for April 2012 were published today at FIFA HQ in Zurich, Switzerland.
2010 World Cup winners Spain remain on top followed by Germany, Copa America champions Uruguay, the Netherlands, and Portugal. England are in 7th and Ireland remain in the top 20 teams ahead of Euro 2012.

A huge game for both clubs here as Tottenham and Chelsea battle it out at Wembley for a place in this season's FA Cup final. Neither some comes into the match in outstanding form but Chelsea should arguably be the favourites when you consider Tottenham have only managed one victory in their last seven league games and looked woeful in the defeat at the hands of Norwich City on Monday.

End of season title deciders in non-league football have a tendency to bring out vastly inflated crowds which hint at the potential of a club were it to be playing at a higher level, and this weekend was no exception with a crowd of 5,009 people turning out at The Exacta Stadium in Chester to see Chester FC draw 1-1 with Northwich Victoria to lift the Premier Division title in the Northern Premier League.

Oooh Samir Nasri certainly knows how to annoy Arsenal fans and he has now bet the sum of £10,000 that he will lift a trophy with Manchester City before Arsenal win anything. Na$ri came in for a lot of stick from Arsenal supporters during this weekends game against City, and the famous Arsenal fan Piers [.

Effort
Think the biggest problem with the Timbers right now is effort? The Timbers postgame comments would appear to agree with you, as would former captain Ian Joy:
Playing for the Love of the Axe

Tactics
Slide Rule Pass is the go-to blog for post-match tactical breakdowns.

The Easter weekend is important across the whole of football, but in the non-league season, which starts earlier than some professional leagues, it can be make or break time for the whole season of a club. This weekend, we've got matches from the Blue Square Premier, the Blue Square South, the Northern Premier League and the Northern League.

Arsenal fans will have been disappointed not to see midfielder, Jack Wilshere, in action in the Premier League this season. With the youngster nearing a return to full fitness, will he do enough to earn a place on the plane for the European Championships, this summer?
It was disappointing to hear the news that Wilshere had suffered a nasty ankle injury before the first ball was kicked in the ongoing Premier League season.

Caretaker Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo insists the club are an ‘international force' despite never lifting the Champions League themselves.

Those looking at a bet bonus for this evening should note that midfielder Ramires had backed up Di Matteo's statement. The South American said the club are held in the same regard as Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid in his native country Brazil.

By Alan Duffy

"Do me a favour, Sanchez..."

Firstly all these fines for racist abuse, then for homophobic abuse and now former Crazy Gang member Lawrie Sanchez is predicting a female Premier League manager within 10 years!

By Chris Wright

Blue Square Bet Premier side Kettering Town are, like several other clubs of their stature, flirting with a winding-up order at present after several months of financial hoo-doo that has seen them fighting relegation, unable to pay their players and forced to leave former home Rockingham Road and take up residency in former rivals Rushden & Diamonds' grave (the Diamonds went under last summer) currently playing their home games, as they do, at Rushden's old Nene Park ground.

Last week Gylfi Sigurdsson ruined our profit party, but wins for Bolton and Southampton meant that we got our money back on the £50 staked. Time for a big profit week methinks. First bet concerns the Championship's relegation battle, where Portsmouth have responded well to their impending doom. Whilst I don't agree that they should [.

Manchester City v Sunderland (Saturday, 3pm) Free £50 Bet for All New Paddy Power Customers Imagine you're a Premier League manager, three points off the leaders, with some patchy form of late, but 1/4 with Paddy Power for a home win that will take you joint top. How do you prepare? Well, it's doubtful Alex [.

Seldom in recent years can there have been a greater contrast between a clubs performance on the pitch and the condition in which it finds itself away from it. Northwich Victoria, of the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League find themselves continuing to challenge for a play-off place for promotion into the Blue Square Bet North for next season, but such considerations have come to pale in comparison with a state of absolute chaos off of it.

The show is dedicated to Archie Thompson - is he moving on after his latest tweet.
Catch all the A-League news ahead of the finals and which team dropped 3,000 per week this season - this in a season when we had record crowds and more than 10,000 per game per week once more.
A-League on the up.

Some people find their way in the world as a jack of all trades, spending their talents over a range of different tasks. Others, meanwhile, discover that they can do one thing, but do it very well. Midfielder Tom Davis didn't quite make the grade as a Premier League professional and he has also tried other divisions, but like a compass pointing involuntarily north, he always seems to find his way back to the division that he has called home for the lions share of his career: the Blue Square Bet South.

Football betting made smarter – Hotvig.com - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The world of sports betting can be your best friend or your worst enemy, can make or break you, lead you to your fortune or leave you broke. Most of us like a cheeky bet on Grand National day or a flutter at the dogs, but betting on the beautiful game is increasingly the sport of choice for the punter.

Football betting made smarter by Hotvig - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The world of sports betting can be your best friend or your worst enemy, can make or break you, lead you to your fortune or leave you broke. Most of us like a cheeky bet on Grand National day or a flutter at the dogs, but betting on the beautiful game is increasingly the sport of choice for the punter.

A few of the more scenic pics from the USA's brief excursion in Tokyo today...
Amy LePeilbet, Rachel Buehler, Nicole Barnhart and Becky Sauerbrunn take in the sights

We bet the lanterns are even prettier at night


It's busy on a Sunday at the Nakmise shopping street

You know you feel peaceful just looking at this picture
We hope Michael Scott doesn't fall in here (kudos if you get The Office reference)
Kaminarimon Gate from the Sensoji Temple

Free £50 Bet for All New Paddy Power Customers Chelsea v Spurs "‘Arry for England" is a less regular chant at White Hart Lane of late as Spurs have slid out of the title race and are now in danger of sliding right out of the Champions League places. A win for Chelsea will bring [...]

Not a great weekend last time out, adding to my Cheltenham woes, but Manchester United crucifying Wolves provided a decent return on our Asian Handicap bet. In truth, at half-time it looked like you could bet on United winning by more than ten goals an still hope to win your cash. This week we're back [.