The frothing fury of those who feel personally betrayed by Arsène Wenger's recent comments on the January transfer window have had me splitting my sides.

You will recall that our leader seemed to categorically rule out taking the AFC wallet out of the club strongroom (where it is permanently protected by Peter Storey and some ‘friends') to add to our squad this January.

The other day I read this article about Wilshere that had a few quotes. A couple of lines stood out.

You never get ahead of yourself, you just can't. Take the boss, for example. He won't say too much but he's never completely pleased.

Even if you've had a good game he'll always say, ‘You could have done this better'.

Not the article title you'd expect to read from your favorite fantasy football bloggers. But, it's true. (At least for this weekend). Manchester United's match at Blackpool may be postponed this weekend due to freezing weather. Blackpool is one of ... Continue reading →

JimmyG2 rises to the challenge Snow gently falling; skies grey and overcast; can't get the car out of the drive; garden and allotment frozen solid; Christmas cards done; no papers this morning. Thank God for Spurs Musings but there's not an awful lot to muse about at the moment. No midweek game. I knew there was something missing.

If you were to ask Diego Maradona which club he dreams of coaching most, the answer would be succinct:

All of them.

The man may say Boca this week and Napoli next, but there will be a club after that...and a national team after that...and then another one. Suffice it to say, the man just wants to coach someone, anyone, and if he does, it'll be a dream.

Football, comedy, beer and charity.
A fun evening, filled with tons of booze, lots of nice food, a chance to meet or catch up with fellow bloggers and it's all for charity you say? Guests to include Barry Glendenning, Luke Moore, Clive Tyldesley and - to reiterate - it's all for a good charitable cause?

The latest podcast is now available.Another gathering of bloggers for this podcast. Mike from Downthebyline and Thad from Backpost.Net are joined by Andy Edwards from TheDailywiz.com, James Starritt from the recently re-named Sportingtimes.net and Charles Gooch from the Kansas City Star and theFull90.

So what were you doing on Saturday? I was meeting with the largest gathering of soccer bloggers in Kansas City as Thad from The Back Post, James from Sporting Times, Andy from The Daily Wiz, Gooch from the Full 90 and KC Star and myself recorded the latest blogger summit for From the Byline to the Back Post.

Hi guys, it seems none of the Lyon Offside bloggers could write a preview for this game, so let's post your comments and share our views of the game ...

The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.

Danny Blanchflower, Spurs and Northern Ireland captain.

We came, we saw, we drank too much, probably. Wednesday night saw the inaugural Not One Hundred Percent Awards for football bloggers at Hoxton Hall in London, and Twohundredpercent was, as you might expect, represented. In between canapés, more free booze than could possibly helpful and persuading Clive Tyldesley to sign an original Dotmund piece of artwork (long story), there was the serious business of prizes to hand out.

Our buddies at 11Kicks have recently set up an 11Kicks Fantasy Football Challenge League. Here's all the information to join. If you'd be interested in joining the league and playing against me, as well as some of the bloggers from ... Continue reading →

Two large gaps in the soccer blogosphere threaten to engulf us all. First, the spirit of the classic CNN-interview-own-journalist-as-expert. Second, the feelings shared by real celebrities as the "fake-celebrity-twitter" contagion. I had hoped for help from Pusky, but he batted his cyber eyelashes and rejected my online advances in the cruelest form the unreturned email.

Two large gaps in the soccer blogosphere threaten to engulf us all. First, the spirit of the classic CNN-interview-own-journalist-as-expert. Second, the feelings shared by real celebrities as the "fake-celebrity-twitter" contagion. I had hoped for help from Pusky, but he batted his cyber eyelashes and rejected my online advances in the cruelest form the unreturned email.

In India, particularly in the north, there is a saying, "sher kabhi ghaas nahin khaata hai". A loose literal translation would be, a lion (no matter how starved he might be) doesn't eat grass. For a football hungry person like me a weekend disrupted by weather spells disaster when the Arsenal game is postponed.

Describe Manchester United's 2010 in two words that sum up the year best. 'Wayne Rooney'. It was he, and only he, for whom all the talk and buzz was about. From January to April, Manchester's favourite Scouser (pardon me) had the world, not quite literally, at his feet. Then, to use a well-worn cliché, it went all pear-shaped.

Oh, Diego. It's been weeks, maybe even a month, since your last outburst. We were starting to think you forgot about us, the football writers and bloggers who thrive on controversy and quotes. Welcome back, sir. Diego Maradona is suing Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondola for defamation of character.

Though most of the Premier League played on Boxing Day, two notable sides had one more day of break before returning to action today. Arsenal hosts Chelsea at the Emirates tonight, with the potential to shuffle the top four in the table a bit. No matter what happens, Manchester United can rest easy that they will remain top, but a win for Arsenal would put them second, and a win for Chelsea would jump them up to third and move Arsenal to fourth.