Liverpool's management had seen and heard enough. Kenny Dalglish's head in the sand post match interview coming on the heels of Luis Suarez's dastardly snub of Patrice Evra's handshake were considered damaging enough for their MD, Ian Ayre, to come out condemning their striker.

In particular, Suarez's promise to shake hands with Evra made earlier in the week and then reneging caused much anger.

I have always thought that one (of the many) reasons that I did not become a footballer was because I am too intelligent. In fact, as has often been the case, with some notable exceptions (Jorge Valdano, Socrates, Ruud Gullit....), intelligent footballers seems to be more the exception that the rule, and at a time when the media scrutiny is so intense, the demand on a bit of brains in footballers

Everton v Chelsea Preview, Prediction, TV Listings, Betting Odds EPL 11 February 2012 - The 90th Minute Soccer Blog

Chelsea are unbeaten in their last five league matches as they travel to face 11th place Everton in the English Premier League. The match will take place at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England on Saturday, February 11, 2012.

For all the crisis talk, it hasn't been a bad fortnight for Arsenal. At half time against Villa, we were staring down the barrel of a fourth successive defeat, and an early exit from a competition that was beginning to open up thanks to some high profile ties that we had managed to avoid. Since then, we have seen actual mental strength (as opposed to the professed type that leaves us scratching our heads in disbelief) in that comeback win, a match against Bolton which, while frustrating from a result point of view, was a sharp improvement in performance on those that had come before, and a thumping seven goal win over a Blackburn side that inflicted perhaps our most painful defeat of the season back in September (yes, I count that 4-3 loss as worse than the United hammering).

After spending yesterday not thinking about the England job, Harry Redknapp has now given it some thought and decided that he is "flattered". Meanwhile, the rest of English football's great and not-so-great have been falling over themselves to declare that they have no interest in the vacancy. 1. Arsene Wenger "I have never really been [.

Liverpool travel to Manchester and Old Trafford to face United for the second time in two weeks in a match that, depending on your resting heart rate, is either mildly exciting or something that's possibly life threatening. There's as much to cover off the pitch as there is on, but for everyone's sanity we'll try to just do the football.

Redknapp's version of Usain Bolt's iconic celebration was lacking in many areas.In the aftermath of the chaos that was February 9th 2012, no-one could discuss the position of Tottenham manager with any certainty. Harry Redknapp, the current incumbent, began the day with the verdict of a court case for tax evasion hanging over his head yet, come the day's completion, his immediate and medium term future was the most speculated upon in all the land.

The football world already has it all planned out: fans, players, ex-players, pundits and journalists alike all want Harry Redknapp to replace Fabio Capello as England manager, following the Italian's resignation yesterday evening.

Some were already looking beyond Euro 2012 Capello had already planned to retire after this summer's tournament to the Redknapp era, convinced he would be the man for the job at some point.

Here is my thinking:

1. Harry is battered and bruised after the court case, just look at the interview this morning outside his home in Dorset. Think all the media pressure and the cushy job at Spuds, no doubt a massive pay rise and more money for players to come from Levy will mean... thanks but no thanks.

English football in 'shambles' shocker. With a major tournament around the corner, the FA intervene and strip John Terry of the England captain without consulting the manager. The manager resigns. England have no captain, no manager and naff all chance of winning Euro 2012.
In many ways, I don't blame Fabio Capello for leaving.

Welcome to English football in 2012. The captain of the national team faces a criminal charge for the use of racially aggravated abuse during a Premier League match. Five months after the event, the FA announce that this player will be stripped of the captaincy without, it would appear, having consulted the manager.

Audit and financial advisory firm Deloite & Touche released it's football money league rich list yesterday with La Liga club Real Madrid topping the list for a seventh successive year. Closing following Madrid in second was fellow Spanish club Barcelona.

United came in third on the list, however, it is the dominance of English clubs in the top ten that has got people really talking.

Fabio Capello has stunned English football by quitting as England manager having fallen out with the FA after defender John Terry was stripped of the captaincy. The news rocked football journalists across the land as head coach Fabio Capello turned his back on the English national team and resigned with immediate effect.

Park Ji-Sung made his 200th appearance for United last weekend in our 3-3 draw with Chelsea.

When Park joined United for £2m in 2005 several people claimed it was just to appeal to the Asian market in order to sell more shirts. Those people obviously didn't watch him play for PSV against AC Milan in the Champions League a few months before we bought him.

Harry Redknapp was found innocent of tax evasion on Wednesday afternoon in London. The court hearing did not merely determine whether Harry Redknapp was going to find himself imprisoned, or at the very least fined and reprimanded, for tax evasion but, perhaps just as importantly, whether Harry Redknapp was still on course for the top job in English football.

We have something a little different for you today on Twohundredpercent, as Paul Grech meets Ben Perry Acton, a player that forsook the English game to pursue a career in Malta. In addition to this, Ben had a grandfather whose name will be more than familiar to the supporters of Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers Bill Perry, who scored the winning goal in The Matthews FA Cup Final match between the two clubs in 1953.

Davide Santon had another decent game for Newcastle on Sunday against Aston Villa, and he moved forward well down the left wing, and defended well too. Davide Santon coming along well at left back Davide has been introduced slowly and well into English football by manager Alan Pardew, but the lad still has 13 appearances for the side, and he seems [.

England striker Wayne Rooney scored 2 penalties and produced an inspiring second half display as Manchester United fought back from a seemingly hopeless position at Stanford Bridge. Trailing by a single goal at half time, even the most die hard of United supporters must have thought all was lost when a disastrous start to the second half saw early goals from Chelsea playmaker Juan Mata (who buried a stunning volley) and a deflected set piece header from centre back David Luiz treble the home side's advantage in a sequence of events that all Chelsea fan's must surely have believed would put the game to bed as a contest.

Over England way, John Terry has been stripped of his national team captaincy. The move comes in the midst of Terry's ongoing prosecution for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, with a trial on the incident set for the summer. Terry's leadership of England was under question before, but the controversy surrounding what he allegedly said to Ferdinand was the tipping point for removing him as captain.

The Flowers of Manchester - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Daniele (from Red Rants) has a written a moving piece on the Munich disaster here's an extract:

Sam couldn't have been more focused if he had been watching a movie, so I moved on: "Harry Gregg, United's keeper, had been thrown out the cabin after the impact along with Bobby Charlton.

We're back with another Premier League Saturday. I, for one, am glad that we can talk about English football again. I'm getting a bit sick of non-soccer related stories that are monopolizing the coverage of the Premier League. Yes, they're ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I like to pick out a video on YouTube now and again to showcase some of the work being done by fantastic people on there. In the last few days my Torres post which had over 10,000 hits alone featured work put together on the video channel.
Here I present to you yet another one to have a watch.

The 2012 January transfer window was a rather more sedate affair than it's 2011 predecessor. Money was spent much more sensibly this time around as opposed to being thrown around like a compulsive gambler who had hacked into a free bets website.

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez did not get a move away from the Etihad and Manchester United did not break the bank to sign Wesley Sneijder.

There was a lack of real excitement during the final day of the 2012 January Transfer Window, with none of the Premier League's big names on the move and a subsequent drop in spending from the same day 12 months ago means the latest transfer window closed without much of a noise.

The speculation that ran wild from Sky Sports News reporters situated at Premier League grounds became boring with attention being finally turned to actual fixtures that took place on the night.

In our last poll, we asked whether the club needed to sign a striker, winger, attacking midfielder, or holding midfielder in the transfer window to shore up one of the areas of weakness that had become apparent over the course of the 2011-12 season. An overwhelming majority of nearly 70% said that what the club needed more than anything was a striker, while 17% said winger, 8% said attacking midfielder, and only 5% said holding midfielder.

Chris Perez, our newest Albion Road correspondent, takes a look at English football just after the midpoint - revenge of the little guys, the contenders and pretenders, the latest news, and predictions for February. Think he's right or wrong? As always have your say in the comments.

Just like the cosmos the year 2011 died and in its place a supernova of excitement exploded onto the scene in the form of 2012, which in turn brought the infamous "January Transfer Window".

By Chris Wright

Given the furore at Leeds yesterday, we thought it would be fairly timely to put together Pies' pick of the ten English-based football managers that, for one reason or another, are almost impossible to foster a begrudging respect for let alone take to your heart.

John Terry Good Or Bad For England's Euro 2012 Campaign? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The extraordinary delays in a resolution to the Terry-Ferdinand affair have already resulted in the wholly unnecessary cop-out by the FA and the Premier League in asking Chelsea and QPR to forego handshakes in their recent league clash.

After Blackburn got their very own Olsson twins yesterday, we look at the best of twin team-mates to grace English football. 1. Rafael and Fabio Da Silva Arguably English football's top-achieving twins to date, in tag team terms. Unlike some sets of footballing twins, the talent seems to be fairly equal between the pair.

When transfer deadline day rolls around, Sky Sports News' Jim White gets more excited than a puppy attached to a leash made of bacon. So excited, in fact, that sometimes his mouth is so overeager to spit out the latest transfer dealings that it creates a perfect sized opening for his foot.

The mystery surrounding the death of Wales coach Gary Speed unraveled somewhat today at the official inquest.
While the coroner concluded there was not enough hard evidence to record a deliberate suicide, instead of just a cry for help presumably, we did learn that Speed and his wife had been having problems in their marriage and had rowed on the night he died.

Manchester City's Mario Balotelli could quit English football over the perceived unfair treatment he has been receiving, his agent has claimed.
The striker has been charged with violent conduct by the FA, which will carry a four match ban if he and City don't contest the charge.
The charge relates to an incident in Sunday's match against Spurs, in which he appeared to stamp on Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker.

Newcastle United midfielder Yohan Cabaye has invited trouble after kicking out at Brighton & Hove Albion left-back Adam El-Abd during the Magpies' 1-0 defeat in the FA Cup on Saturday.

The incident occurred in the second half following a tackle from El-Abd. Unfortunately for the 27-year old defender, the tussle ended with a bloody lip.

It wasn't exactly Premiership action over the weekend but it was still a FA Cup Party out there, nonetheless! Arsenal, of course, deserve a round of applause for springing back from two goals down to make it 3-2 against Aston Villa yesterday.

By now all Manchester United fans would have known that we've agreed to sell Mame Biram Diouf to Hannover 96. The question, I'm pondering over is Why? Diouf was signed from Molde FK in July 2009, and after a 30-month stay in English football, he's moving to Germany. I find his transfer really weird! During all this time, he has played lot of football, he has gained valuable experience and made

By Chris Wright

Apologies for the lack of proper match report, but I'm afraid you're going to have to make do with the brass tacks this morning.

The long and short of it is that Everton booked themselves a place in the last 16 of the FA Cup last night, coming from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at Goodison courtesy of two big headers from two big chaps Denis Stracqualursi (his first goal in English football) and Marouane Fellaini who got themselves on the end of a pair of excellent Landon Donovan crosses.

A core problem locus in English football is the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB).
This body, which oversees the management and appointment of referees and junior officials for matches, is simply not fit for purpose and needs to be deconstructed and reformed...
... with immediate effect.

Deloitte report assessing the financial impact of The FA Cup reveals: £650m earned by clubs in the past 10 years Crawley Town receive £1m pay day from single FA Cup tie

As excitement builds ahead of The FA Cup with Budweiser Fourth Round Proper, the financial impact of the competition has been revealed in a new report by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

Liverpool's big week culminates with Manchester United's trip to Anfield in the fourth round of the FA Cup tomorrow, two weeks ahead of their visit to Old Trafford in league. United had the more arduous task in the third round, traveling across town to the Etihad, where they scraped past City in a 3-2 win.

The 4th round FA Cup tie vs Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday promises to be another classic to add to the list of FA Cup classics previously played out down the years between the two most successful clubs in English football. In thirteen previous ties, Manchester United have lost just three times to Liverpool.