By Chris Wright

On the day of his 30th birthday, Genoa's Rodrigo Palacio (he of 'abysmal rat-tail/Jedi bog chain' horror hair fame) scored against Lazio on Sunday with an absurdly deft, over-the-shoulder flick at the near post that lobbed over the flapping Federico Marchetti and in at the far post.

By Chris Wright

In which, during last night's Copa del Rey quarter-final first-leg El Clasico in Madrid, Real Madrid's in-house butcher Pepe indulged in a spot of what he loves to do the bestest stamping on Lionel Messi's hand as the Barca tyke sat on the turf after being barrelled over by Jose Callejon.

Craig Bellamy is the 'signing of the season' - according to former Liverpool striker John Aldridge.
Bellamy returned to Anfield on a free transfer in the summer and netted his third goal of the campaign to set the Reds on their way to three points at Villa Park on Sunday,
After picking up the man of the match award as he helped Liverpool move to within three points of the top four, Aldo was fulsome in his praise for the Welsh international.

By Chris Wright

In which Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Pirmin Schwegler is struck on the cranium by a wayward till roll, catapulted from the stands by the St. Pauli fans in the 2. Bundesliga last night, only to hit the deck like he'd just been picked off by Vassili Zaitsev as he made his way through the rafters at the Millerntor.

By Chris Wright

Saturday evening sees Real Madrid welcoming Barcelona to the Santiago Bernabeu for the first league El Clasico derby of the season, and to whet your appetite we've put together a bumper gallery of some of the finest still images the game has produced down through the years.

The rumor mill continues this offseason and another new rumor regarding a potential player has surfaced. Rumors out of Sweden is that Sporting KC has Swedish defender, Anton Hysen in their sites as a potential target. From looking at a translation of the article, it appears though that the Vancouver Whitecaps are the leaders in the race to get the 20 year old defender.

By Chris Wright

Several of Nike's international kits for 2012 have apparently been 'leaked' by a company in China, and we've snaffled a few photos for you to give the once-over. See what you reckon (open in a new tab for larger images)...

Any favourites Pies fans?

By Chris Wright

Here we see Klaas-Jan Huntelaar returning to Hessencombinatie '03 - the first club he ever joined, at the age of five - to film a little video of a striker in ruthless form (21 goals in his last 19 games for Schalke) demonstrating his finishing chops for Nike's new T90 'Perfect Strike' series.

By Chris Wright

Would you just have a butcher's at Andres Iniesta's opening goal in their 2-0 win over Viktoria Plzen last night? Depressingly, it's just the latest in Barcelona's ever-lengthening canon of exquisitely effortless team goals...

While we're on the subject, here's Lionel Messi's 'ball on a string' cabaret act from the same game thrown in for good measure.

Butcher on Bulgaria 0-3 England: a bad night for Lampard but a great one for Capello

Frank Lampard's England career is hanging by a thread after being axed by Fabio Capello It was the biggest call of the night and it could have serious ramifications for the Chelsea midfielder as both Scott ­Parker and Gareth Barry ­dovetailed well in front of the back four.

By Chris Wright

Umbro have roped in Liam Gallagher and the rest of the Beady Eye chaps to help launch the new Man City home kit, which they did with lilting rendition of the City's appropriated anthem, Blue Moon...

The bods over at Umbro have also released a video that documents the story of the 'Blue Moon soundwave' design that they have studiously incorporated into the new shirt.

By Chris Wright

Some clever bods in the Man City marketing department chose the club's FA Cup parade through the streets of Manchester yesterday as the perfect platform to unveil their new Umbro away kit for next season and a right bobby-dazzler it is too.

But don't just take Pies' word for it, have a butcher's.

Remind us why Nuri Sahin is moving to Real Madrid again? From the looks of it, his appetite for sabotaging press conferences/throwing beer on the coach's head should take him to Corinthians or at least at an event Robinho will be attending! At least we can still see Borussia manager Juergen Klopp (on the extreme left) in this photo.

He may only be 30, at or only just past the peak of his abilities, and still arguably the best option for Harry Redknapp at centre-back, but make no mistake about it- Ledley King, by most popular accounts, has seen his best days come and go at Tottenham.

Having spent almost all of the past season under the cloud of groin and recurrent knee injuries and with Michael Dawson emerging as a competent and trusted understudy captain, questions have already started to emerge over just how long King's gilted Spurs career will last, with some speculators already suggesting that he's already on the way to retirement.

Those of you who have a certain grasp of our history will understand the relevance in the title of this post.

I truly believe tonight will be one of those special games at the Lane.... Newcastle's performance to cost United 2 points last night should be the catalyst to fire our gunners right up for the Derby scrap tonight.

I remember when Sky first happened. They showed American Football (then very fashionable in the UK), NBA basketball, WWF (wrestling), and all sorts else besides. It would have been amazing to have a dish, but Mum wasn't interested in that. She claimed that she didn't want a dish on the side of the house, and this may very well have been true, but I suspect that it was also true that we watched more than enough TV as it was, and the subscription fee (which I'd have been oblivious to) was not inconsiderable either.

March 10th, 1905: the day Chelsea Football Club was founded in a little pub (now called the Butcher's Hook, if you want to visit) across from what would later become Stamford Bridge. So today let there be cake!

In the past 106 years, our club has been through many ups and downs in a history that may not be as full of trophies as some, but it is still a history I am very proud of.

One word from a dozen managers to sum up the SPL this weekend:
Aberdeen 5 v 0 KilmarnockCraig Brown: "Pleasing."
Mixu Paatelainen: "Farcical."
Hearts 2 v 1 Dundee UnitedJim Jefferies: "Determination."
Peter Houston: "Cruel."
Inverness 2 v 0 St JohnstoneTerry Butcher: "Effort.

Talked with Calum Butcher after practiceCalum Butcher running the agility test under the watchful eye of Coach Vermes...

Late last night, Thad at The Back Post got an interview with Peter Vermes up on his blog where he discusses a lot of things involving the preseason. So far Vermes seems to be pretty high on all of the team's draft picks, including supplemental draft pick, Mike Jones. Vermes (and people at training) confirmed that the Julio Cesar Santos is the same one that was guessed by people, the one that's played in England, Mexico, Spain, and multiple other places around the world.

Robb Heineman continues to give us an inside look at some players that are in camp on trial as preseason kicks off. Yesterday he told us about trialist Julio Cesar Santos, and today he gave us four more names. Two have already been mentioned, the two Trinidad players, Daneil Cyrus and Sheldon Bateau, both defenders.

Macclesfield Town FC have been rocked again by the un-timely death of influential midfielder Richard Butcher.

Butcher (29) was found dead at his home after he failed to turn in for training on Monday, it's believed the midfielder died in his sleep.

This latest tragedy to strike the club comes just 10 months after the teams manager Keith Andrews died just a few hours after a mid-week match.

1981-2011 The sudden death of Macclesfield Town's Richard Butcher at the age of just 29 came as a major shock to the footballing world yesterday. It will have hit those involved at the lower end of the Football League the hardest. Richard was no stranger to League Two football, having played for Lincoln City, Peterborough [.