Big Story
It's been a bad week for football with racism by fan(s) prominently rearing its head again. Supporters continue to take a stand against racism in the game, but sometimes even their own clubs don't support their efforts in a shocking and petty move, Bristol Rovers management have refused to run an anti-racism ad in the club's matchday magazine by the club's own supporters trust, the Gas Independent Fans' Trust (GIFT).

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Liverpool's co-owner George Gillett has reportedly defended his and Tom Hicks's reign at Liverpool and pointed the finger at the manager, Rafael Benítez, after a disappointing start to the season.
Liverpool's defeat at Chelsea on Sunday was their third in the Premier League this season and followed a 2-0 reverse at Fiorentina in the Champions League. Click to continue reading...

The Independent reported today that  documents have been revealed "which suggest Liverpool's net summer spending will be locked at £20m until 2014″. This is slated to include player pay raises and not just transfer fees. This story has also appeared on Sport.co.uk and in the Daily Mirror.

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I have a big problem with Liverpool's new sponsor. While I'm glad to see a deal that will provide the club with £80m over the next four years, and while the hope that new stadium plans and healthier transfer budgets will emerge gets me giddy... it's Standard Chartered Bank... I can't drink it during matchtime.

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Usually the lower divisions offer calmer seas for managers to negotiate. Away from the cash rich goldfish bowl of the Premier League, fans and chairman are more sympathetic to the restrictions placed on lower league managers.
But given that Bryan Gunn was sacked less than a week into the new campaign those days appear to be numbered. Click to continue reading...

Fernando Torres admits he fears the spending power of Liverpool's Premier League rivals could scupper the Anfield club's title hopes.
Manchester City spent a massive £120million during the summer and, although Chelsea and champions Manchester United were more circumspect, Torres fears Liverpool could be left behind. Click to continue reading...

Usually the lower divisions offer calmer seas for managers to negotiate. Away from the cash rich goldfish bowl of the Premier League, fans and chairman are more sympathetic to the restrictions placed on lower league managers.
But given that Bryan Gunn was sacked less than a week into the new campaign those days appear to be numbered. Click to continue reading...

The new League Two season has started with everybody financially stable - more or less - but Lincoln City supporter Keith Duncan doesn't feel that the authorities are going far enough.

In 2002 Lincoln City FC nearly closed down. In fact, the club was 24 hours from having its application to enter administration in court considered when two of the then Board got together to try to secure enough funding to make that a reasonable possibility.

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Its the battle of 17th versus 18th in the Blue Square Premier tomorrow night. Boro are still unbeaten, but have struggled so far this term, while opponents Ebbsfleet are still finding their feet after a traumatic summer which saw just 3 players remain from last season's squad. Even their official website is having problems at the minute!

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Sir, I read your magazine with interest each month and so was particularly excited to see my own city, Liverpool, featured in your mini-guides this month.

Alas you saw fit to label stoop to gaining lazy, easy laughs at the expense of Goodison Park, home of Everton FC. I presume this stems from a lack of editorial judgement on your part and a mischevious streak on the part of your correspondant Richard Vaughan.

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It might not be getting the 16 page pullout supplements in every newspaper that the Barclay's Premier League is, but the F.A. Women's Premier League also kicks-off this weekend. The shadow of the men's game (as well as the women's European Championships going on concurrently) obviously looms over the season's launch, but so does a black cloud over the future prospects for women's football in England as a whole.

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Continuing what we hope will be the most comprehensive pre-season previews of the season that you will be able to find anywhere on the net, we're heading north of the border tonight for the first of a gargantuan two-part look at what we can expect in Scotland. Gavin Saxton is your guide to the 2009-10 season in the SPL and the SFL Division One, with The SFL Divisions Two and Three to follow tomorrow.

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What's the difference between Manchester City and a Harry Potter movie?
Both have big budgets.
Both have a cast of stars.
Both are eagerly awaited by expectant fans.
The difference?
Well one is guaranteed to be successful and full of magic. Click to continue reading...

Tranmere Rovers are attempting to strike up a closer relationship with Liverpool in order to strengthen this season.
Anfield legend John Barnes (pictured) was recently appointed manager at the League One club, with fellow former Reds player Jason McAteer serving as his assistant.
And McAteer believes Rovers should become close to their Premier League neighbours in more than just a geographical sense. Click to continue reading...

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Teaching Ideas

The summer transfer window is upon us which, of course, means that clubs are allowed to buy and sell players for a fixed period of time. In this teaching ideas post we take a look at the language of football transfers.

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A post by MLS Talk was the immediate catalyst for this poll, but the reality is we have been pondering the question for a while. How good is Major League Soccer when compared to some of the world's best professional soccer leagues? Specifically, the English Premier League? Nobody is going to mistake MLS clubs for the best the EPL squads, even on a good day and for good reason.

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When times get tough, brands endure.
By snapping up two of the world's best - Kaka (£56 million) and Ronaldo (£80 million) - Real Madrid's Florentino Perez has broken the bank in his quest to build Galacticos 2.0. And he's not done yet. Click to continue reading...

Setanta may not have actually stopped breathing yet, but the last rites are being read in the media. It now seems like only a matter of time before the plug is pulled and the company disappears from our (well, some people's) screens forever. This, however, doesn't come without consequences and the hardest affected clubs are likely to be those that can least afford it, in the Blue Square Premier.

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For those not emotionally invested, the sale of a prominent Premier League club is chum in the water. We want easily caricatured nutballs in charge, huge transfer budgets, grandiose schemes destined to fail and decimations of the club's staff. We want entertainment.

Given that context and the club's unique penchant for disaster, West Ham's sale was abominable, substandard and lamentable.

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Not quite halfway through its first season, Women's Professional Soccer is hanging in there at the gate. With slightly fewer big names and vastly reduced budgets, the new league appears to be staying within its projections. Here's a comparison of each of the three years of the old WUSA and this season of WPS after 29 games:

2001 SEASON Team G Total Average Median Washington 3 62,226 20,742 21,682 Atlanta 4 46,996 11,749 9,541 Philadelphia 3 29,324 9,775 11,092 Boston 3 26,035 8,678 8,193 Bay Area 4 27,532 6,883 6,418 San Diego 4 23,121 5,780 5,828 Carolina 4 23,033 5,758 5,938 New York 4 22,836 5,709 5,246 WUSA 29 261,103 9,004 6,432 2002 SEASON Team G Total Average Median Boston 3 34,591 11,530 6,747 Washington 3 33,024 11,008 8,206 Philadelphia 2 14,814 7,407 7,407 San Jose 5 36,951 7,390 6,051 Atlanta 4 29,193 7,298 7,103 San Diego 5 28,286 5,657 5,779 Carolina 3 16,317 5,439 5,420 New York 4 17,956 4,489 4,446 WUSA 29 211,132 7,280 5,815 2003 SEASON Team G Total Average Median Washington 4 40,484 10,121 6,745 San Jose 3 29,263 9,754 6,189 Boston 4 29,231 7,308 5,996 Atlanta 5 34,869 6,974 7,238 Philadelphia 2 13,612 6,806 6,806 San Diego 3 17,254 5,751 5,965 Carolina 4 22,594 5,649 5,712 New York 4 17,044 4,261 4,266 WUSA 29 204,351 7,047 5,965 2009 SEASON Team G Total Average Median Los Angeles 6 43,396 7,233 6,165 Washington 5 34,972 6,994 5,028 Boston 3 17,076 5,692 4,804 FC Gold Pride 4 18,593 4,648 4,801 Chicago 5 22,951 4,590 4,461 Saint Louis 3 13,096 4,365 4,228 Sky Blue FC 3 12,299 4,100 3,493 WPS 29 162,383 5,599 4,884

Keep in mind that the early-season WUSA numbers were all skewed by either the inaugural match in Washington (which drew 34,148) or doubleheaders with MLS teams.

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The summer transfer window does not open for another four weeks, but the amount of money being branded about by as being available this summer is astounding. Newspaper reports say that both Manchester City and Real Madrid have transfer budgets of between £250 and £260 million. Yes you read that right.

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The Finnish newspapers have been full of talk about Veikkausliiga's apparent 'crisis' in the last few weeks. Domestic football in Finland has long suffered from poor facilities, low attendances, players leaving for richer foreign leagues, but these problems have become more prominent recently, and the football media has not been slow to point out the difficulties.

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According to Oliver Kay at The Times, Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has full control of transfers. Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook said,

"There are budgets. People talk about a list like it's the back of a fag-packet and some names.

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Ari Hjelm has been with Tampere United throughout their ten-year history, first as an assistant to Harri Kampman and then from 2001 as head coach. He has won three championships, and it is a common refrain in Tampere that he is primarily responsible for the club's success, and that he is the best coach in the country.

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HJK 2 TPS 2

Highlights

Pasi Rautiainen's haircut garnered a lot of headlines when he unveiled it at the Veikkausliiga media event on the eve of the season. The formerly wild-haired TPS coach claimed that his new, clean-cut image was the result of a marital diktat after his wife finally snapped at her husband's barber-aversion.

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HJK 2 TPS 2

Highlights

Pasi Rautiainen's haircut garnered a lot of headlines when he unveiled it at the Veikkausliiga media event on the eve of the season. The formerly wild-haired TPS coach claimed that his new, clean-cut image was the result of a marital diktat after his wife finally snapped at her husband's barber-aversion.

Click to continue reading...

Veikkausliiga announced their hoped-for attendance figures yesterday, and they seem to be grounded in as much reality as the budgets. Clubs are hoping for an increase in their attendances that may be difficult to achieve with current facilities, as well as the cold, hard fact that most clubs will be unsuccessful in most seasons.

Click to continue reading...

Veikkausliiga announced their hoped-for attendance figures yesterday, and they seem to be grounded in as much reality as the budgets. Clubs are hoping for an increase in their attendances that may be difficult to achieve with current facilities, as well as the cold, hard fact that most clubs will be unsuccessful in most seasons.

Click to continue reading...

Veikkausliiga announced their hoped-for attendance figures yesterday, and they seem to be grounded in as much reality as the budgets. Clubs are hoping for an increase in their attendances that may be difficult to achieve with current facilities, as well as the cold, hard fact that most clubs will be unsuccessful in most seasons.

Click to continue reading...

There are just three days left till the start of the Veikkausliiga season, and it's about time we previewed the league. The tardiest of the Nordic summer seasons, Finland's is the most susceptible to inclement weather, and already there is a postponement: Jaro-RoPSÂ rather than this weekend. It is still cold up north.

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There are just three days left till the start of the Veikkausliiga season, and it's about time we previewed the league. The tardiest of the Nordic summer seasons, Finland's is the most susceptible to inclement weather, and already there is a postponement: Jaro-RoPSÂ rather than this weekend. It is still cold up north.

Click to continue reading...

There are just three days left till the start of the Veikkausliiga season, and it's about time we previewed the league. The tardiest of the Nordic summer seasons, Finland's is the most susceptible to inclement weather, and already there is a postponement: Jaro-RoPSÂ rather than this weekend. It is still cold up north.

Click to continue reading...

In: Pyry Kärkkäinen, Cheyne Fowler, Valeri Popovitch, Sebastian Sorsa, Juho Mäkelä

Out: Tuomas Aho, Miikka Multaharju, Sakari Mattila, Erfan Zeneli

Coach: Antti Muurinen

Claimed playing budget: €670,000

Egan says: Another spring, another deluge of signings for HJK.

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In: Pyry Kärkkäinen, Cheyne Fowler, Valeri Popovitch, Sebastian Sorsa, Juho Mäkelä

Out: Tuomas Aho, Miikka Multaharju, Sakari Mattila, Erfan Zeneli

Coach: Antti Muurinen

Claimed playing budget: €670,000

Egan says: Another spring, another deluge of signings for HJK.

Click to continue reading...

In: Pyry Kärkkäinen, Cheyne Fowler, Valeri Popovitch, Sebastian Sorsa, Juho Mäkelä

Out: Tuomas Aho, Miikka Multaharju, Sakari Mattila, Erfan Zeneli

Coach: Antti Muurinen

Claimed playing budget: €670,000

Egan says: Another spring, another deluge of signings for HJK.

Click to continue reading...