Ahead of another match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford this weekend, Alex Ferguson has made his position on the rash of race-related controversies in the game clear. He's surprised by it all and demands firm action.

As Richard Whittall of The Footy Blog points out, the fact that these cases are getting scrutinized and dealt with should be a sign that progress is being made, but Ferguson seems to want more.

Soccer outside Europe has gained in popularity in recent years, with David Beckham making a high profile move to the MLS in North America, a transfer that transformed soccer into a sport with a widespread global profile and exposed a new generation of potential players to the game, but the latest FIFA tournament, the African Cup Of Nations, has failed to catch the public's imagination.

Dickie V is legendary. Any college basketball fan from over the last 30 years recognizes the face and the voice. He is ubiquitous. He has crisscrossed the country hundreds, maybe thousands of times.
This commercial probably won't air on regular TV. The spot is only found on the Bridgestone Tire website.

Liverpool has received the full support of their multi-million pound shirt sponsor, Standard Chartered, in the aftermath of the recent race-row controversies which engulfed the club.
Anti-racism organisations, especially Football Against Racism in Europe's executive director, Piara Power, claimed Liverpool's reputation and ‘brand' has been severely damaged in the light of the Luis Suárez affair.

By Ulysse Pasquier

Anyone who follows football knows the amount of emotion that the sport can bring in a split second. From total despair to intense euphoria, every fan is ought to have experienced his fair share of hair-raising moments. What happened at the Emirates yesterday however transcended all these feelings.

Sky: Dalglish issues Reds defence

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has again moved to defend his club's record on race relations in the wake of recent controversies.

View the full story here: Sky Sports

A news article on 2012-01-09 21:29:12 from: Sky Sports

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Guardian: Liverpool's Stewart Downing arrested for suspected assault in Yarm

• Winger detained at one o'clock on Sunday morning • Tom Adeyemi suspect arrested and bailed The Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has been arrested on suspicion of assault. The 27-year-old, who has 32 caps for England and joined Liverpool from Aston Villa last year, was arrested early on Sunday morning after an alleged confrontation with a former girlfriend at the Cross Keys club in Yarm, North Yorkshire.

Possible Team v Oldham
Liverpool face a welcome break from off-field controversies with the visit of Paul Dickov's League One side; Oldham Athletic to Anfield at 7:45 Friday night.
Expect to see Liverpool Manager, Kenny Dalglish to ring the changes for this 3rd round tie with Carra making a welcome return alonside Uraguyan youngster Coates in defence.

Photo by Brad Smith/ISIphotos.com

Charlie Davies' comeback in 2011 was one of the stories of the year in American soccer, as he returned to the playing field less than two years removed from a horrifying car accident that nearly took his life and did take the life of another passenger.

Former Liverpool defender Alan Hansen apologises for calling black players ‘coloured'

The centre-back turned television pundit caused an internet backlash with his choice of words when discussing the racism controversies surrounding English football

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-22 11:14:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

I'm not sure if anyone of you out there notice this scenario since the early days of the S.League that there are these two clubs been "close trading partners".
It's not uncommon to see players of this particular club swapping jerseys for another particular side after a season or two that in recent years seems to have intensified.

Dirk Kuyt has been impressed by team-mate Luis Suarez's unwavering focus after the striker put his recent controversies behind him to return Liverpool to winning ways at Anfield.
Uruguay international Suarez scored his first Premier League goal since 1st October as his club beat QPR 1-0 on Saturday to end a run of four successive home draws.

Kuyt backing for Suarez

Dirk Kuyt has been impressed by Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez's unwavering focus amid his recent controversies.

View the full story here: Sky Sports

A news article on 2011-12-12 08:35:55 from: Sky Sports

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

In a week when FIFA president Sepp Blatter was embroiled in yet another scandal: this time about race, we report on four of the many controversies that FIFA's leader has been involved in.

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In a week when FIFA president Sepp Blatter was embroiled in yet another scandal: this time about race, we report on four of the many controversies that FIFA's leader has been involved in.

Let's start with the obvious... soccer bloggers, including (maybe especially) those that track the New England Revolution, love a controversy.

Better yet, a conspiracy.

I do what I can not to jump on most of the conspiracy theory bandwagons. Really, I try.

I'll admit it though, some are hard to avoid.

Frank Lampard has vowed to keep playing for England until the manager stops picking him for the Three Lions squad.

Lampard, 33, has been in terrific form for Chelsea this season and after overcoming selection struggles earlier this season, the midfielder is certainly not thinking about the day he will leave international football.

Former Liverpool defender Gary Gillespie has refuted suggestions that there will negativity around Anfield as a result of the controversies currently enveloping star-striker Luis Suarez.
In recent weeks, the Uruguayan has been hit by a triple-whammy of accusations, with Manchester United's Patrice Evra alleging racial abuse, and both Sir Alex Ferguson and West Brom's Paul Scharner accused him of diving.

I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I like Neil Warnock. After yesterday's 3-1 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur, Warnock had this to say in his post-match press interview:
"I found myself clapping when the third goal went in it was such a fantastic goal by Bale. It's a pity he's not English.

How fortunate that this man was around to make essential repairs to Malaga CF goalkeeper Wilfredo Caballero's Halloween mummy costume. Heaven knows what we would have been exposed to if he hadn't.

We've done our level best to avoid getting embroiled in any 'unpleasant controversies' this week, but events appear to have conspired against us.

Liverpool lifted by Steven Gerrard's display against Manchester United

• Steven Gerrard fit and firing again for Liverpool • Kenny Dalglish: ground is being made on Manchester United Steven Gerrard longs for normality at Liverpool and, though experience may have taught him to appeal in hope not expectation, 13 years inside the Anfield soap opera have not diminished his influence over its return.

Carroll, Suarez and Kuyt to start for the Reds in the derby

A FRESH autumn morning will make way for some Indian summer sun in Liverpool today as the city makes the most of the unexpected heatwave. Not that heat would have been completely unexpected in L4 today – it's derby day, the 185th time The Reds have met The Blues in the league and a time where friendships and family ties are tested to their limits.

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has risked his reputation, particularly in Germany, by claiming that he is unaware of Borussia Dortumund starlet Mario Gotze's rapid emergence due to a lack of interest in the Bundesliga.

Ronaldo, who is no stranger to controversy following a high-profile stint with Manchester United, claims that he does not even know Gotze's preferred position and went as far as asking reporters if the recently capped Germany international is even good enough to be in the spot light.

Sergio Aguero now in a location near you

Carlos Tevez must have got the message loud and clear. Whether he leaves or doesn't Sergio Aguero is set to join City at an estimated price of £38m. However it does set up a quandary for Roberto Mancini who seems to have a line up promising to break all sorts of goalscoring records but are emotionally and mentally brittle.

SANDY, Utah - Real Salt Lake beat San Jose at home in decisive fashion on Saturday night, thanks largely in part to a two-goal performance by Álvaro Saborío. But it wasn't the 4-0 score line so much as a couple of controversies that got RSL there that stood out as topics of conversation after the match.

Here it is, the annual "calculating of the ratings." Like the Running of the Bulls or Airing of the Grievances, this annual event draws spectators and thrill-seekers from far and wide. Well, not really, but let's have some fun with it, okay?

First, some caveats. This is a list of the players who played enough to get rated at least 5 times this season, in ascending order (so, theoretically, from worst to best in order of average performance).

Mario Balotelli has attracted plenty of criticism in his short him at Manchester City. On the day he signed, he claimed he wished he was hadn't left Italy and since then has been involved in a whole host of controversies, including training ground punch-ups to throwing darts at City's youth team players.

"Would you believe it? Would you believe it? WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?"

- Andy Gray or Navjot Sidhu, whoever does it for you.

No this isn't because the scouse get to be represented again. Nor does it have anything to with Joey Barton thrashing Gareth Barry with his verbal Basebats.

"Would you believe it? Would you believe it? WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?"

- Andy Gray or Navjot Sidhu, whoever does it for you.

No this isn't because the scouse get to be represented again. Nor does it have anything to with Joey Barton thrashing Gareth Barry with his verbal Basebats.

Last Thursday, I was invited by Armando and Elisa from Forza Fútbol to be on their podcast, and the discussion centered around several topics: the state of La Liga in terms of overseas marketing, the flourishing cantera youth academies throughout Spain, the controversies with the upcoming La Liga TV contract agreement, the matches from Jornada 22 (Feb.

.. in which I step out of the shower to find myself, seven months later, dripping wet, 5 kilos heavier and still supporting the finest team north of the river Tay? New managers, new controversies, a fixture backlog and Hearts in third place. You can't say Scottish football is dull. So, what has been going on while Inside Left has been away?

Sorry, but this is weird, no? Getty Images/Zimbio

We're prepared to admit we occasionally (and by ‘occasionally, we mean ‘every week') tend to waffle more about the EPL than other European leagues in the Weekend Results post. We don't mean to, but it's like opening a bottle of fine wine, y'see.

POSTED: February 3rd 2011 NewsUpdate LONDON, Feb 03: Andy Carroll skipped nimbly around questions about whether he is worth £35m with an ease which Liverpool hope he will display against opposing defences after his English-player-record move from Newcastle on the eve of the transfer deadline. Carroll, 22, has taken over the No9 shirt abandoned by [.

To begin, I'd like to thank Mohit and welcome him on board! It truly is hard to set apart time to type once you move out to international waters. I'll try chipping in whenever I can and this is one of those occasions that calls for it.

2-4 at Sunderland. This game had so much in it that it almost made me entitle want to chew my !

Watching the U.S.-Chile last night, I couldn't help feeling that we've finally entered the era of bilingualism in U.S. football. The game was a showcase of new players from both sides, pitting two teams in the midst of promising and exciting development. (You can read a great analysis the debates and controversies surrounding Chile's team, and it's coach, by Jeffrey Richey here).

Expecttoseelotsofplayersgettingtheir£1,000′sworth Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill has announced a Twitter ban on his squad, which will see Pompey players fined £1,000 for every word they tweet. The announcement follows a series of Twitter controversies involving footballers, most notably Liverpool winger Ryan Babel's £10,000 fine from the FA for tweeting a Photoshopped image of referee Howard Webb [.

Byron Moreno can add up to 63 months of time in federal prison to his already long-ish list of controversies in his career. Moreno, who was arrested at JFK in New York City in September, has admitted to smuggling heroin into the country from his flight home from Ecuador.

Cam Newton, the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback for the National Champion Auburn Tigers, has entered the 2011 NFL Draft. Newton, who began his college career with the Florida gators, will skip his senior season. In his lone season at Auburn, Newton passed for 2,854 yards, rushed for 1,473 yards and totaled 52 touchdowns.

Short video today for everyone by way of SnappedUp. Think it get's the point across nicely though.

Here's the links:

• Monday Gossip [Sinnacle]
• FA Cup mention [That's On Point]
• Davide Santon transfer [Sport]
• Newcastle United blog [Espn]
• Blackpool will try to keep Adam [Give Me Football]
• Footballers feeling the tweet [Soccer Portal]
• David Moyes thoughts [Inside Futbol]
• Top 10 Twitter controversies [Mirror]

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and let me know if you'd like to suggest an article, video or photo for inclusion on the Premier League Links Of The Day.