The Birmingham City board have slammed the decision of walkaway coach Alex McLeish to leave the club with a potential move to city rivals Aston Villa firmly on the cards.

Birmingham City were rocked by Sunday's news that coach Alex McLeish had decided to call time as Blues boss with McLeish's resignation coming via email while Birmingham's acting Chairman Peter Pannu was on business in Amsterdam.

FC Porto have denied that current boss Andre Villas-Boas is set to join Chelsea amidst mounting speculation that the highly-rated coach is to be unveiled as the new Blues boss.

According to reports, Chelsea are set to move for the current FC Porto boss with The Times in particular reporting that Jose Mourinho's former assistant is ready to leave the Portuguese champions and follow in the ‘Special One's' footsteps and sign for Chelsea.

It is commonly stated in footballing circles that a team is too good, too big, too experienced or have too much quality to go down. Quite simply, this is not true. Ask the fans of Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham Forest or Sheffield Wednesday.

You have to earn your right to stay in the Premier League.

Join me for live blogging of the Premier League game between Blackpool and Arsenal. Just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

Kick off is 1.30pm team news posted as soon as we have it. You can also join in with 'Matchday chat'.

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Liverpool and Manchester United are favourites to land Blackpool's Charlie Adam, according to bookmakers William Hill.
The Scottish midfielder was relegated with the Tangerines after defeat to United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
But after Adam scored a stunning free-kick at the Stretford End and following Sir Alex Ferguson's comments earlier in the season that Adam's corners alone were worth £10 million, United have jumped to the front of the queue, along with long-time admirers Liverpool.

According to two leading bookmakers, Bayern Munich are still favourites to sign Nicklas Bendtner, but according to his father it is Borussia Dortmund and Sporting Lisbon that are leading the chase right now. Talking to the Danish Sporten.dk, Thomas Bendtner said: "There is interest from several German clubs for Nicklas and I can confirm that [.

With the start of the Premier League season just around the corner now is the time to get all you season bets down with the bookmakers. The coming season looks an exciting and competitive one and one that certainly could through up a few surprises. So with this in mind we'll be looking at all the betting for the season and try and find that extra bit of betting value to help win that little bit more from the bookies.

By William Taylor
With Manchester City and Liverpool dominating the transfer window in the Premier League this season, it would appear unlikely that Spurs will be considered favourites among bookmakers to win the title.
However, it appears as though manager, Harry Redknapp has the title in his sights, with a return to the Champions League a must for the club.

It's not often that you able to back Manchester United at odds-against to win at home, but you can this Sunday when they play host to arch rivals City.

United are 2.1 Boylesports and Victor Chandler to bag three points in the Derby clash and regain the top spot in the league from Mancini's men.

Arsenal are on a roll and the bookmakers have taken no chances by chalking them up at a top price...
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Following the departure of Roberto Di Matteo, the bookmakers have installed Chris Hughton as the betting favorite to become the next permanent West Brom manager.

A run of 13 defeats in 18 Premier League games forced the hand of those in charge of West Brom and now the search is on for a new manager at the Hawthorns.

Join me for live blogging of the Champions League 2nd leg between Barcelona and Arsenal. Just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

Kick off is 7.45pm team news posted as soon as we have it. You can also join in with 'Matchday chat'.

Join me for live blogging of the Premier League clash between Arsenal and Sunderland. Just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

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Join me for live blogging of the FA Cup 6th round game between Man United and Arsenal. Just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

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Tifosi, pundits and bookmakers have it all figured out. Roman Abramovich will dispense with Carlo Ancelotti following Chelsea's ‘annus horribilis'. Jose Mourinho, disenchanted with Madrid's political machinations will return to Stamford Bridge; with Carlo free to fulfil his often discussed dream of managing AS Roma.

Join me for live blogging of the Premier League game between West Brom and Arsenal. Just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

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Prandelli's Blueprint Notes on the new Italy is a post from: Just Football

You do remember Italy at World Cup 2010 right? Hopeless. David Swan reports on the newly evolving Azzurri:

There is nothing Italy loves more than being written off, ignored, and forgotten.

Join Arseblog for live blogging of the Premier League game between Arsenal and Blackburn. Just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

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The Action in Serie A returned this weekend and both Genoa clubs, it was mixed fortunes as Sampdoria drew away 0-0 at Chievo and Genoa lost 1-0 at home to Cagliari. Before there relegation game away at Chievo, Bookmakers suspended betting on the game. Reports showed that suspicions were raised after large amounts of bets were placed on the draw.

It seems that everyone on this website has been able to spot Spurs' attacking deficiencies for months, but they've only been highlighted in recent weeks because the likes of Bale and VDV haven't been scoring the goals that should be coming from the strikers.

We go into tomorrow's game having not scored in the last four so where's the next goal coming from?

Spurs two nominees for the PFA player of the year award are polar opposites with bookmakers to land the honour. Gareth Bale is the runaway favourite at around 2/7 with Rafael van der Vaart the rank outsider at 40/1.

Bale is some distance ahead of second favourite Nemanja Vidic and at such slim odds, there's little point in putting your money on our Welsh midfielder to receive the honour from his peers.

Join me for live blogging of the Premier League game between Arsenal and Liverpool. Just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

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Join me for live blogging of the Premier League game between Bolton and Arsenal. Just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

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It's the final Premier League game of the season and Arsenal travel to Fulham. Live blog coverage right here* just open the window and read updates will post automatically so there's no need to refresh the page.

Kick off is 4pm team news posted as soon as we have it. You can also join in with 'Matchday chat'.

Harry Redknapp moved quickly to comment on reports linking him with the Chelsea post and insisted that he is happy at Tottenham.

Speaking on Sky Sports News Harry said: "Well I have got a great job at Tottenham, things are going well for me.

"I have had a couple of great years it couldn't have gone better for me there.

Harry Redknapp has today emerged as the new favourite with bookmakers to become the next manager of Chelsea.

The Spurs boss is trading at odds-on to move to Stamford Bridge. It could all be speculation, but few Tottenham fans would be surprised if Harry took the job if it were offered to him.

With thirty minutes left to play in Dresden last night, it looked as if the England team was heading out of the 2011 Womens World Cup. A goal down against New Zealand, having picked up a draw against Mexico in their opening match, they looked all but out of the competition, but two goals from Jill Scott and Jess Clarke managed to pull an iron from the fire, and they now go into their final match against Japan knowing that a draw will definitely see them through to the quarter-finals and that even should they lose, they could still go through to the quarter-finals should results elsewhere go their way.

The more something is hyped, the more difficult it will be for that thing to live up to said hype. Even allowing for the excesses if the media over the last couple of weeks or so, though, the new Premier League season started with a faintly ridiculous raspberry noise rather than a bang. Five of the eight matches played ended in draws, all of which made the league table look even more ridiculous than it usually does at this stage of the season.

In May of 1983, three clubs were relegated from the First Division. Brighton & Hove Albion were one, and the other two were Swansea City and Manchester City. Manchester City returned to the top flight a couple of seasons later but, for Swansea City, the intervening three decades have brought hardship and a couple of seasons during which even the league status of the club was thrown into doubt.

Arsenal's chances of beating Manchester United at Old Trafford are put into some sort of context by investigating the odds the bookmakers are offering.

Unibet, Arsenalinsider's betting partners, make Arsenal a huge 7.0 (6/1) to gain what would be only the Gunners' fifth victory in Manchester in the last 23 Premier League encounters at Old Trafford.

Arsenal's chances of beating Manchester United at Old Trafford today are put into some sort of context by investigating the odds the bookmakers are offering.

Unibet, Arsenalinsider's betting partners, make Arsenal a huge 7.0 (6/1) to gain what would be only the Gunners' fifth victory in Manchester in the last 23 Premier League encounters at Old Trafford.

Whether it be in the newspapers, on fans forums or on radio phone-ins there have been some Arsenal fans suggesting, or even demanding in some cases that Arsene Wenger should be sacked as Arsenal manager. The bookmakers have been having a field day with Arsenal all summer, but they have also been having sleepless nights [.

Arsenal's chances of beating Manchester United at Old Trafford today are put into some sort of context by investigating the odds the bookmakers are offering.

Unibet, Arsenalinsider's betting partners, make Arsenal a huge 7.0 (6/1) to gain what would be only the Gunners' fifth victory in Manchester in the last 23 Premier League encounters at Old Trafford.

Javier Hernandez is fit to face Stoke at the Britannia this weekend, and that's the last news that the Potters would have wanted.

Chicarito has scored three goals in two appearances against them and netted in the 27th minutes in both games.

He was lucky to escape serious injury following Ashley Cole's horror tackle in United's 3-1 defeat of Chelsea, and it was terrific news when the gaffer revealed on Thursday that he was available for this game.

Arsenal take on Bolton at the Emirates, and despite a 3-1 win by a second XI over Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup on Tuesday, the Wenger Boys still have plenty of points to prove.

Arsenal are short priced favourites with all bookmakers for their game against Bolton, but once again Unibet offer you the very biggest odds on the planet!

The year is 2018, Italy is a nation in chaos, shaken to it's foundations by the leaking of documents proving that for the past twelve years Leonardo Araujo has been single-handedly running the FIGC. The national team, under the stewardship of the controversial yet well-liked coach Massimiliano Allegri, has embarked in a state of disorder to Russia, as a result of their dramatic securation of qualification for the World Cup on a windy december night in Zagreb, courtesy of a late goal scored by Azzurri icon Alberto Paloschi.

If you are trading on the ICC Cricket World Cup (and after England's 'efforts' in their opening 'match' versus the Netherlands, who wouldn't be?), you should be aware that there is a varying delay in time between the action taking place on the Indian sub-continent and the hyperreality being put on your screens by the Murdochracy.