By CALEB SONNELAND

As if the local rivals needed any more animosity between them, Aston Villa is closing in on the capture of Birmingham City's former manager Alex McLeish after agreeing to pay the Blues £2 million in compensation for the head coach.

Having quit Birmingham City via email just four days ago, McLeish has been in talks with Villa over the last couple days and it appears the two sides are ready to make a deal for his services.

By Darshan Joshi, writing from Sydney

The powers of fate will look upon the masses of match previews as one collective jinx, but as far as European football goes, it does not get bigger than this. Sure, the winner of the Coca-Cola Championship playoff will go on to receive a payoff the size of which the likes of Rupert Murdoch have not (yet)* seen, but as far as the weighing scale entertainment potential goes, we are at our sport's zenith.

Bidding adieu to the Blues
Watching Birmingham City's demotion to the less vaunted throes of the Coca Cola Championship last Sunday was one of those rare karmic events in modern football. Let's be clear for a moment. Birmingham are, and have for some time been a championship outfit.

Success in the Carling Cup final earlier in the season was hardly fitting reward for a side who display such prosaic and uninspiring tactics that only a depressed sadist could truly justify supporting them.

Cardiff v Reading 2011 Championship Semifinal playoff second leg- 17/5/11 Final score:- Cardiff City vs Reading 0-3 ( Shane Long*2, Jobi McAnuff) Reading set up a Championship playoff final with Swansea after beating Cardiff 3-0 in the second leg of their semifinal playoff at the Millenium Stadium. Two goals for Shane Long and one for [.

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- Flashback: QPR's Defiant 1968/69 Farewell to the First Division: We'll be Back (Thanks as always to "Bushman")
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- Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard.

This is the new Newcastle home shirt 11/12, unveiled by Newcastle United on 4th May, 2011. This Newcastle home shirt 11/12 will be worn by the Magpies during the 2011/2012 Premiership season. The design of the new Newcastle home shirt 11/12 was leaked on several sites prior to the official release by Puma.

Sunderland AFC have just officially released the new Sunderland home kit for the 11/12 season. The new Sunderland kit 11/12 has been made by Umbro and is part of the kit makers' "Tailored by Umbro" collection. The SAFC home kit 2011-12 will officially be launched on May 12, 2011, two days before Sunderland's final home [.

Normally, successful Olympic bids require a healthy dose of Seb Coe schmoozing but West Ham have proven that some Karren Brady mud-slinging can be just as effective. The Hammers bid to have the largest stadium in the Coca Cola Championship has been approved. The Eastenders successfully kept Tottenham off their turf.