Kit cock-up Wolverhampton Wanderers are already enjoying the trappings of life in the Premier League as they launched their new kit for their return to the top-flight. New sponsors Sportingbet.com came along to welcome Wolves back to the big time. Or not. The company's chief executive, Andrew McIver, managed to refer to Wolves as Spurs three [.

Turning to the Guardian's sports blog this morning, it is disheartening to see that 39.4% of people replying to a poll asking the question of "Are Chelsea the victims of a UEFA conspiracy?". Leaving aside the fact that sending off a Barcelona player and leaving it until the ninetieth minute before Barcelona have their first shot on goal of the match (which would, more likely, require the compliance of the Chelsea defence rather than UEFA officials or the referee of that particular match) and that, let's be honest, if UEFA wished to conspire against Chelsea, they could have found a far more watertight way of doing it than the one that they used, here's an alternative "conspiracy theory" over what was going on at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

Carlos Tevez will be the next to join Manchester City - unless neighbours United salvage a deal today. The Argentine striker's advisor Kia Joorabchian is due to meet with Old Trafford chief executive David Gill. The pair will discuss the possibility of United paying a further £25.5million to turn Tevez's two-year loan into a permanent move.

West Ham have today been taken over by asset managing company, CB Holding.

With the shake-up have come the resignations of Chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and Vice-Chairman Asgeir Fridgeirsson. The new non-executive Chairman will be Andrew Bernhardt, who is a senior director with Iceland's Straumur bank, which is the major shareholder of CB Holding.

UPDATE: According to the Daily Post, Los Angeles Galaxy striker Landon Donovan is drawing interest from other clubs besides Everton. A statement was made by the Galaxy saying,

"We are aware of Everton's interest in Landon Donovan as they are one of a number of clubs who have contacted the Galaxy about the possibility of a short-term loan agreement .

Arsenal's Emirates Stadium might still be shiny, but it lacks history and has been criticised for its soulless feel, a fact recognised by Arsene Wenger. "Highbury had a natural soul, because of the history," said Wenger "We have to create history here at the Emirates.

It was back to training today for the players, or at least most of them, as pre-season began in earnest ahead of our first warm up match against Barnet in eleven days time. You can take a look at photos here, and while we shouldn't read too much into the first day back, they do raise a few points:

• Rumours that Vermaelen is short are wide of the mark.

Javier Mascherano has pleaded with Liverpool to sign his Argentina team-mate Carlos Tevez. Tevez has come to the end of his lease deal at Manchester United, who are reluctant to pay the £25 million fee it will take to make the move permanent. United chief executive David Gill is planning more talks with Kia Joorabchian, the man [.

Big Story
It's not often a 6-2 loss is taken to presage a "nation's arrival on the big stage", but that's the reaction today in the Guardian from Anna Kessel on the England's women's team's defeat in the UEFA European Championship final to Germany last night.

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.

GA_googleFillSlot("Sb_Home_Right_1_120x240"); North American football broadcaster GolTV has acquired the rights for the German Bundesliga in the US and Canada until the end of the 2011-12 season. GolTV has been the rights-holder in the territories since 2006-07, prior to which Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) held them.

Avram Grant has been named director of football at Fratton Park. My apologies for twittering prematurely that Paul Hart had been sacked this morning- I watch sky sports with groggy eyes. But I think the writing is on the wall and my guess is that recent financial insanity at Portsmouth probably has the funds needed to send Hart on his way tied up.

Boro are determined to hold onto their star winger.

As you well know, Everton will play Chelsea in this year's FA Cup final. A chance for thousands of Everton fans to make their way to Wembley....at 90,000 capacity, there should be plenty of tickets available right? Ermm....no.

Everton have been given 25,000 tickets for their supporters, Chelsea the same.

A few days ago the press would have had you believe that Paul Scholes was in two minds over ending his Manchester United career this summer and moving to Stoke for a player-coach role.

Shockingly, it appears that was all a load of bollocks. Who would have thought eh?

"I know nothing about it and neither does (chief executive) Tony Scholes.

Today is in fact the 98th anniversary of the Titanic being launched, and NFN is acknowledging this by publishing this unsinkable preview, which will no doubt hit a metaphorical iceberg at the earliest possible opportunity.

Monday

Fredrikstad (13th) - Start (2nd)

FFK's bright idea of going into the season with eight players in their first team squad on the last year of their contracts was always going to end up creating some sort of a stink, and their chief executive's bright idea of telling Norway's biggest tabloid that the situation was like "winning the lottery" didn't really help.

Great to hear that the first person to ring Frank Lowy to congratulate him on Socceroos qualifying for the 2010 World Cup was fmr football boss and head of Australian Rugby Union...John O'Neill. We need more of this.
And even Andrew Dimitriou, (see quote below) AFL Supremo has come out and has said AFL supports the Aussie World Cup bid.

Liverpool are set to score their first victory of the new season over Chelsea – by clinching the signature of Glen Johnson from Portsmouth.
Pompey chief executive Peter Storrie has confirmed that the England full-back had been given permission to speak to TWO clubs.
"Glen has got permission to speak to two clubs and I think that is what he is going to do," he said.

The English Football Association (FA) has released a statement regarding Setanta UK going into administration.

"The FA will now consider options to find the best platform to broadcast those fixtures contracted to Setanta," said FA Chief Executive Ian Watmore. "These include England home friendly matches, FA Cup ties, England U21 games and the FA Community Shield.

This mornings papers all appear to be following the same lead; that John Terry is set to 'reject' a move to us in favour of remaining at Chelsea. From Dominic Fifield in The Guardian (who is in the US covering the side):

John Terry has reached an agreement in principle to remain at Chelsea despite persistent interest from Manchester City, with the England captain expected to reaffirm his commitment to the club publicly before the weekend.

UPDATE: According to Kickoff.com, Bafana Bafana midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi is close to signing for Fulham. He said,

"I started a medical test today and will complete it tomorrow. Everything has gone well and depending on the medical test I will sign soon.

No, that's not a picture of Peter Crouch from before his move to Spurs, that's new Pompey owner Sulaiman Al Fahim going all Mike Ashley on everyone and wearing his side's shirt, which appears to fit him a bit snug around the...everywhere region, as he watched them lose to Man City at Fratton Park today.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was an unhappy man after UEFA's decision to charge Eduardo for diving against Celtic. UEFA's reply, coming from chief executive David Taylor, was immediate.

He said:

What he is saying is totally without foundation. No-one is re-reffing a game, this is about the image of football.

Manchester United are to ask their own supporters for ways to help eradicate the "disgusting" chants that are aimed at Arsène Wenger whenever Arsenal visit Old Trafford. Wenger was subjected to a chorus of "sit down you paedophile" during Arsenal's 2-1 defeat on Saturday and United are so embarrassed that the club's chief executive, David Gill, is to raise the matter as a lead item with a panel of influential supporters.

We should have expected as much.

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Liverpool chief executive Christian Purslow has insisted manager Rafael Benitez's position is safe, despite the club's early Champions League exit.

‘Learning from Mistakes' was an article headline from last night's match programme, though it is hard to see what aspects of the football club, if any, this is being applied to at present.

It certainly does not apply to the football aspect, with Saturday and last night's capitulations the 12th and 13th time we have surrendered a lead this season.

If your a KC Wizards fan you can... Other clubs you're next.
Remember back on March 13 when we posted the following email?

Hey guys, in the next few days we will be launching a Wizards-themed Firefox browser. This way, fans will be able to access Wizards information whether they're on our website or not.

Southend United chairman Ron Martin has moved quickly to reassure fans that there was - in fact - no fighting between Shrimpers' supporters during Saturday's game with Leicester City at Roots Hall.
As reported on longpier.com yesterday, fans were calling for the Chief Executive of SUFC - Geoffrey King - to resign following comments he made on the club's official website which accused a small section of Blues fans causing trouble between themselves.

Everton have kicked off the now traditional April sport of complaining about their FA Cup final ticket allocation. 25,000 tickets isn't that bad for Everton because we don't have the huge corporate presence of other clubs.
Still it's going to be tricky to get a ticket...there were 32,000 blues at the semi and now everyone is going to want to go to Wembley.

We've had both Darlington and Southampton fall into the hands of the administrators in recent weeks. Add to that now Stockport County.

The club failed to secure a long-term plan which guaranteed the future of the club, and the administrators have been forced to take action.

In the stark reality of today's game, their level of debt will bear little comparison to the over-paid wages of our mega-rich footballers that currently grace the PL.

Daniel Craig was spotted in the crowd at Anfield yesterday afternoon and looked to be enjoying Liverpool's 3-0 win over Newcastle.
The Wirral born star, who is a keen Reds fan, was in the VIP box with his Japanese American film producer girlfriend Satsuki Mitchell.
Wearing a black leather jacket and matching black flat cap, the Bond star was sitting inches away from Liverpool FC Chief Executive Rick Parry.

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis believes the club is not facing a crisis despite crashing out of the F.A. Cup and Champions League and losing 1-4 at home against Chelsea.

He told the club's official website:

I am not happy where we ended up but I am pleased we are disappointed by it.

Something, apparently, since the AFP Foundation is launching a FIFA-backed "training program" for several hundred African football reporters and photographers in advance of the World Cup. The program involves eight cities, where journalists from all 53 African countries will convene for two one-week courses in Arabic, French, English, or Portuguese.

The all new rumour reporting article system is in full effect! The Rumour ARSENE WENGER will test the backing of the Arsenal board with a £15million move for Fulham defender Brede Hangeland. The unhappy Gunners boss has been offered the club's ‘unequivocal support by chief executive Ivan Gazidis following a long meeting .

Hold the front back page! Everything you understood about the cost of watching Premier League football was wrong! It must be! Richard Scudamore said so! Well, not quite. The chief executive of the Premier League, who has been mercifully quiet since he proposed the Premier League's version of colonialisation - Game 39 - last year, was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 earlier this week and, in the course of his interview, he made a rather rash claim.

Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi-based national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has signed a three-year deal to be the official shirt sponsor and partner of Premier League side, Manchester City FC. The Etihad Airways brand logo will appear on Manchester City shirts from the summer.

The partnership is initially for three years and was announced today at the City of Manchester Stadium by Etihad Airways' Chief Executive, James Hogan, Manchester City FC Chief Executive Garry Cook and Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council.

Manchester United have hinted they are ready to shell out the £25.5m asking price for Carlos Tevez. On the eve of the Champions League final, United chief executive David Gill admitted: "It is clear that, if we wish to secure his rights and agree a personal contract with him, we have to pay a certain sum [.

Just prior to the start of the Women's Professional Soccer season, global sport lifestyle brand PUMA and WPS announced an exclusive partnership making PUMA an official founding partner of the new league and an official sponsor of all WPS franchises.

The multi-year partnership makes PUMA the official sport and lifestyle apparel, footwear and equipment supplier of WPS, including the official WPS Match Ball.

Surprise candidate in race to fill vacant post. Celtic have made an official approach for Swansea City boss Roberto Martinez. Swansea confirmed to BBC Sport Wales that the Scottish giants have asked to speak to Martinez about becoming Gordon Strachan's successor at Celtic Park. "I had a call off their chief executive [Peter .

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis was speaking to Arsenal.com about the season which just ended and what to expect from the new one.

He said:

I think perspective is very important You need to take a distance when you assess the season. This club has over 120 years of history and if you're looking at where we are and how we're doing at this period of our development you have to say it is one of the special times, one of the golden times.