Our latest scouting report from outside the Football League comes from Craig Telfer, whose website Who the hell is Akabusi? documents the thrills and spills of supporting Scottish Second Division side Stenhousemuir FC. Here, Craig widens his brief to consider those SFL players potentially capable of doing a job in England's equivalent divisions.

News in the Daily Mirror today that Newcastle are in a race to sign a young English striker. Jay Rodriguez Newcastle interested in 22 year-old striker? The striker is Burnley's Jay Rodriguez, an this is not the first time we have been linked with this player. The 22 year-old has played for the first [.

Glory Glory Leeds brings a mixed show this week despair at a hammering at Barnsley, more doubts over the manager's future and a massive sigh of relief at the win against Burnley to start 2012! We have loads of listener emails this week to read out (again thanks to all who take the time to send them!

A three-year deal Joao?"El MosQuito" will be buzzing around BMO Field for the foreseeable future as Toronto FC announced today that Joao Plata has signed a multi-year deal with the club. The dynamic yet diminutive Ecuadorian was often the only bright spark in a miserable first half of 2011 and his re-signing was considered as an off-season must in most supporters' eyes.

Welcome to The Yorkies' regular off-season rumour roundup - "The Rumoumeter". Too busy to keep your TFC ear to the ground every week? Just stop by the site and we will quickly show you what rumours are hot - and which ones have hit the back burner. Some of the rumours have weight - others little more than whispers; we take their temperature with.

I've written some poems about the Premiership action this weekend. Starting with Chelsea, ending with Swansea... Celebration: A thunderous volley rattles the bar falling to a favorible shin. A smug look of delight floats across number 8 as the ball ricochets in. 'Run Lamps, RUN', point to the sky cherish this moment of celebration.

Newcastle United have apparently shown an interest in Burnley striker Jay Rodriguez, according to local reports in Lancashire. Jay Rodriquez Newcastle may go after him this summer Newcastle are said to have made tentative inquiries about the 22 year-old, who has scored 14 goals in 32 appearances for Burnley this season.

Ecks-iting news!Well that was surprisingly fast! After hearing about the "99% certainty" of Richard Eckersley's return to Toronto FC since late November, it took less than a day after his "Ecks'ual release" from Burnley to finalize a permanent move to Toronto.
　
The Reds officially announced the deal just hours prior to their big media day event, no doubt steering the news of the day onto the English defender.

By Chris Wright

I've been waiting for a video of this to surface since Tuesday night, in so far as it was the only slight sliver of a shred of commiseration we Forest fans were able to take from the night. Burnley won 2-0. Rodriguez scored them both.

Anyway, with the score at 1-0, the man they call 'Jay Rod' up around Turf Moor way stepped up and performed a timely homage to John Terry's infamously spunked Moscow spot-kick which proved to be the only highlight of the game from a Forest perspective.

By Chris Wright

In which, during Reading's 1-0 win over Burnley in the Championship last night, Clarets' centre-half Ben Mee puts his devilishly handsome good looks on the line with a heroic, last-ditch face block to deny Noel Hunt at point-plank range...

COMMITMENT!

John Coleman's departure from the Accrington Stanley job in January after 12 years in the role reverberated throughout Lancashire. The Liverpudlian had transformed the beleaguered Accies from a name used to market dairy products into a serious footballing concern again, and defeat to Stevenage in the play-off semi-final last May wipes none of the gloss from his striking achievements.

By Chris Wright

As alluded to already this morning, Liverpool hammered Brighton 6-1 at Anfield in the FA Cup yesterday afternoon without actually scoring half of the goals, with the Seagulls notching three own goals the first time three O.Gs have been scored by the same side in a match since the FA Cup began in 1871.

After Liverpool's demolition of Brighton in the FA Cup at Anfield on Sunday, all eyes are now firmly fixed on Wembley Stadium and the Carling Cup Final against Cardiff City next weekend.
Liverpool Tickets available for all Premiership games this season at Liverpool Tickets
Both teams will feel they have a realistic chance of claiming the Trophy having done it the hard way in the qualifying rounds.

Este fin de semana vimos una de las salvadas mas impresionantes que se han visto, este jugador si que pone la cabeza por el equipo Burnley, ¡desde el suelo y con la cara! Desafortunadamente el Burnley perdio por la minima diferencia con el Reading .
Anteriormente este jugador Ben Mee fue el capitan del equipo juvenil del Manchester City, equipo con el cual salio campeón de la FA cup juvenil en el 2008.

The way in which various clubs are free to use and abuse the loan system has been criticized on this website but, as a Plymouth supporter, I have to concede that the ability to bring in temporary signings has been a real blessing this season. Having plummeted to the bottom of League 2, Argyle only began to emerge from the wilderness following a flurry of borrowed arrivals back in November, shortly after exiting administration.

It's an oft quoted phrase in football "A penalty shoot out is the worst way to lose". But I think you have to have seen your side ship seven goals at home to Cambridge United or to have seen your club lose 2-1 to an amateur side in the Welsh Cup Final to realise that's not necessarily true.

Spurs are the latest club to be linked with Manchester City's 19 year old Swedish striker John Guidetti who has been hitting the headlines whilst on loan with Dutch club Feyenoord. The striker had an unremarkable career before heading for Holland and this had previously included a forgettable loan stint with Burnley.

Leon Cort has a big summer head of him. While the attention of most of this country will be squarely focused on events in Poland and the Ukraine, his national side Guyana will be stepping out on to the turf at a yet to be determined Mexican stadium; this potential tussle with a man known as Chicharito, the first of a sequence of six games that are the most important in the nation's footballing history.

Eleven matches were played in the Championship, at the weekend, with the most notable development being Birmingham's return to the play-off positions on goal difference. The Blues, in sixth, currently have a goal tally worthy of the top three in the division.
Birmingham drew 1-1 with Cardiff City, after Marlon King failed to score a penalty, and Mark Hudson hammered home for the Welshmen.

Building on our previous post about the most efficient football clubs across Europe's top four leagues this season, here we do an historical analysis of the Premier league and the best performing clubs in the last three years (2009/2010 to 2011/2012).

The chart below shows some fascinating visual data about Premier League teams in the last three years from succintly pointing out Arsenal's #1 issue to highlighting the massive statistical improvements United have made this season to why Liverpool and Wigan are at the wrong end of the tables.

Some weeks it will be tough to pick out a Football League game, but this weekend there is little choice. A south coast derby with bitter rivalry and three precious points at stake when Southampton take on Portsmouth in the npower Championship tomorrow afternoon.

MUST have called for the Glazers to lower ticket prices at Old Trafford next season to reflect the lack of investment that has gone in to transfer sales.

"We are throwing down a challenge to Joel Glazer to cut United fans` season ticket prices next season," said MUST chief exec, Duncan Drasdo.

As regular readers will know, I have long prattled on about goal difference as a good indicator of things not being quite right. If a team is higher or lower in the league than their goal difference suggests they should be then before too long they'll probably regress or progress to their rightful place.

As regular readers will know, I have long prattled on about goal difference as a good indicator of things not being quite right. If a team is higher or lower in the league than their goal difference suggests they should be then before too long they'll probably regress or progress to their rightful place.

[O]nce upon a time, the PFA Awards were the undisputed measure of a season's most valuable players. Voted for by the Professionals themselves, the response to their announcement was one of awed hush and consent – how could mere onlookers presume to know better than those involved in the rough and tumble of the actual sport?

10 Great Footballing Chokes - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Everyone remembers the winners. Most know that Brazil have won a record five World Cups, that Real Madrid have won the European Cup/Champions League a record nine times, and that Manchester United have captured a record 19 English First Division/Premier League titles.

10 Great Footballing Chokes - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Everyone remembers the winners. Most know that Brazil have won a record five World Cups, that Real Madrid have won the European Cup/Champions League a record nine times, and that Manchester United have captured a record 19 English First Division/Premier League titles.

Graham Alexander is a true legend. After moving from Burnley to nearby Preston, the 40-year-old Scotsman retired from professional football yesterday after 1023 matches, after Preston's last game of the season against Charlton Athletic at Deepdale. Thankfully, the game was memorable for the veteran. He was brought on by manager Graham Westley in the 83rd [.

English Football League Championship side Burnley FC has unveiled its PUMA 2012/13 home kit. The new strip will be used for the club's Championship and cup matches at Turf Moor...

With the Premier League season drawing to a close, OTP reflects on the players who were ready to set the Premier League alight last summer... but have hardly been seen since. 1. Park Chu-Young (Arsenal) Park's summer transfer looks increasingly like a marketing ploy on the evidence of his first season at the Emirates Stadium.

With the Premier League season drawing to a close, OTP reflects on the players who were ready to set the Premier League alight last summer... but have hardly been seen since. 1. Park Chu-Young (Arsenal) Park's summer transfer looks increasingly like a marketing ploy on the evidence of his first season at the Emirates Stadium.

With the regular Championship season now over I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some players who featured heavily for their clubs during the 2011/2012 season. With that in mind I've selected eleven players who played more minutes than any other during the Championship season (excluding the playoffs).

Of the 699 players who appeared for Championship clubs during the 2011/2012 season 387 were English. As you'd expect the other nations from the British Isles also featured heavily with (and no, this isn't a joke) 52 Scotsmen, 50 Irishmen, 28 Welshmen and 19 Northern Irishmen.

The table below shows data on each of the twenty-four clubs in the Championship and the nationalities who played during the 2011/2012 season.

My abiding memory of Chris Eagles came from an otherwise long forgotten episode of ITV's Football League highlights hosted by Matt Smith dating back about five years or so now. In that favourite director's technique, players were seen alighting from the team bus and amid the friendly smiles and poised pens for autographs, Eagles stepped down coolly, in possession of headphones the size of which would have shamed the participants of the Live Aid video.

My abiding memory of Chris Eagles came from an otherwise long forgotten episode of ITV's Football League highlights hosted by Matt Smith dating back about five years or so now. In that favourite director's technique, players were seen alighting from the team bus and amid the friendly smiles and poised pens for autographs, Eagles stepped down coolly, in possession of headphones the size of which would have shamed the participants of the Live Aid video.