This post, which is totally for subscribers only, examines the performance of the English refereeing team for the Europa Cup match in Croatia yesterday between Dinamo Zagreb and Ajax Amsterdam.
The referee was Mike Dean, neatly fitting this event in between two live BSkyB matches.
Will he match his skip of delight at giving Birmingham their penalty last Sunday? Click to continue reading...

Big Story
Jack Warner has returned a handbag given to him by the England World Cup bid because of "embarrassment", launching even by his absurd standards a bizarre rhetorical attack on the Football Association.

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Alan Dzagoev showed exactly why he is Russia's brightest new hope with a masterful display on how to use operational space.
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I was first alerted to the dazzling talents of Alan Dzagoev during a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa in last year's Europa Cup campaign and it is noticeable to see just how far he has come since then.

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Football's march into the modern era continues apace – whether the game's purists like it or not. Consider a new aerosol spray that is being promoted to help referees mark out the correct distance for a defensive wall to set up during a free-kick. The spray, which was invented by a company with the very catchy name of 9.

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It's starting to get interesting in the Bundesliga. With the weekend being eclipsed by a thrilling 3-3 draw. Schalke needed a last gasp goal from Kevin Kuranyi to make the game even stevens after Hamburg had led, 2-0, 2-1 then 3-2. Markus Berg and Kevin Kuranyi scored two goals each with Lucas Schmitz and Piotr Trochowski both on target in a 3-3 draw which had everything, including a red card for Hamburg's David Rozehnal.

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OMG I am part of the 60,943,912 block of humanity that owns 43.5% of Glasgow Rangers and nobody told me.
Disinvest me.
I don't wish to own any part of a stock that I would rather make a strategic short selling position upon.
This is a distressed stock.
All the playing staff are on the transfer list and it is rumoured that failed property developer, Sir Murray, was ousted from his eyrie by bankers. Click to continue reading...

No, not Liverpool; everything's coming up roses for Rafa since his Sunday Revival. No... we're talking about the OTHER club along the banks of the Mersey. The Blue one. The home of Alan Ball, Neville Southall, and Dixie Deane. The club that was supposed to be challenging for that fourth place this season.

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For life.

Wenger said: "I'd never want to go anywhere else. Touch wood, as long as I have my health, I would want to work as long as I live but adapted to my potential."

I have to tip my hat to the man. He is committed. He is focused. He breathes the club and the game. You simply cannot ask more from a manager.

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Rangers vs Unirea Urziceni

The two bottom feeders of group G are set to face off on Tuesday although I think it is unlikely either of them will go through to the next round. So, in essence, it is a fight for the Europa Cup spot.

Rangers have been in absolutely horrendous form of late and need a win to boost their confidence.

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I'm happy to be starting the "Weekend Recap" section again. I apologize for missing the first few weeks but now that all the leagues are off and running I will be recapping the top leagues in Europe after every weekend.

This weekend we saw goals, in twos.

La Liga:

After this weekend there are still three unbeaten sides in Spain.

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Anish references the six referee rule that Michel Platini has implemented for the Europa Cup and already David Moyes is irate because he believes that the goal line assistants missed a deliberate foul on Louis Saha by AEK's Juanfran which got the Everton striker sent off as he retaliated.

So why is it not going to work:

The Parallax error.

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"I think that, all things considered, that second half was the worst Celtic performance I've ever seen. I'd say that match was a clear cut case of selling the jerseys" - Gerry Coogan (ManAtTheWindow).
Well, yet again we have to remind you that we warned of the consequences of allowing not-so-super agent John Colquhoun to oversee the selection process for the new Glasgow Celtic manager. Click to continue reading...

Walking into my room on a chilly Sunday morning, I sighed heavily, yet I was happy. I had correctly tipped Burnley to beat United. Who knew. I didn't get it all right; I had a few problems especially my A-League tipping. Mariners and Jets drew, so I only had 2 points from this round. Forgetting about that, I walked over to my desk, before clomping down on to my seat.

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via AP

Benjie's dad scored a double yesterday to sink Gilberto Silva's Panathinaikos... and with that, Atletico have won the right to compete in the Champions League! Sadly for the Greeks, they will play in the "Europa Cup", formerly known as the UEFA Cup. Yeah.

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With J Hutcherson -- Let's talk a bit about what failure in the Europa Cup Qualifying round would mean to the American-enhanced teams in the English Premier League. For those of you not following last season's UEFA Cup swan song, Aston Villa made quite the point in sending their reserves to the knockout stage of the tournament and predictably losing. Click to continue reading...

Clint Dempsey's 51st minute goal in Fulham's 3-1 win over Amkar Perm was the highlight of American involvement in the Europa Cup on Thursday. Andrew Johnson had the opener in the 4th minute and Bobby Zamora got the thid in the 77th before Vitali Grishnin ruined the shutout in the 77th. Fulham lost Johnson to injury for what turned out to be a dislocated collar bone. Click to continue reading...

Ding Ding! In the red corner, current Champs Manchester Utd on 18 league titles, in the other red corner Liverpool FC on 18 too. To right, if things go as I predict, the title will again go down to the wire as the country prepares for the World Cup. These two will be fighting it out while Chelsea will be heading to the Champs league final.

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"Whatever could have gone wrong tonight went wrong" - Craig Burley, the Scotland manager.
What?
Like having Burley as a manager?
Appointing Butcher as his assistant?
Being the representative of the entirely dysfunctional Scottish FA?
Leaving out players when the squad is wafer-thin anyway? Click to continue reading...

Given a couple extra days rest after their Europa Cup encounter, St. Patrick's welcomed fellow Dubliners Bohemians to Richmond Park and the Bohs came out on top beating their hosts 2-0, thanks to Ken Oman's head. Click to continue reading...

Steve Goff of the Washington Post is reporting that sources close to Adu and Danish team Odense say that a one-year loan deal is close to completion. Odense finished second in the Danish Superliga last season and are current participants in the Europa Cup (their next tie is against Genoa).

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It seems that interest in Fulham defender Brede Hangeland could be cooling now that the Norwegian has appeared in a Europa Cup match. The tall Norway international has been linked with Arsenal and others for some time right now, but...

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L'Equipe are reporting this evening that Arsenal Football club have made an offer to Bordeaux for their striker Chamakh, they say that Jean-Louis Triaud laughed about the concrete offer, and suggested that it was quite insufficient from a club of the stature of Arsenal. In any case the fact that he said that it was insufficient and not rejected out of hand opens the door to negotiation.

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I think most Reds fans hoped/expected (delete as appropriate) Harry Kewell's Turkish adventure to be a big expensive failure, but he's done pretty well and started this season with a bang scoring in this Europa Cup Qualifier. Milan Baros also put away a very Baros type goal. Proof that there is life after Anfield, just not a very enjoyable one!

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The Champions League Qualifiers together with the Europa Cup early round events are a primary focus for the various 'betting intelligence' units within UEFA.
Apparently, the narrative reads that teams from the lower tier countries are more likely to bolster their balance sheets with the aid of a little under- or over-performance. Click to continue reading...

Date: Thursday 09th July 2009 7.00pm Ground: The Venue (Park Hall) Match: TNS 1 FRAM Reykjavik 2 HT: 1-1 Agg: 2-4 ATT: 933 [Evans 12; Almar Ormarsson 17, Sam Tillen 66(pen)]
Comp: UEFA Europa League 1st Qualifying Round 2nd Leg
Additional: Entrance £8, Programme £3 Cornish Pastie £2 Coffee/Tea £1. Click to continue reading...

After securing passage on the Mediterranean island of Malta midweek to advance to the next round of the the Europa Cup, St Patrick's returned to their unimpressive league form by dropping a 2-0 decision in Sligo on Sunday night. Click to continue reading...

Brazilian international Jo has just signed for Everton on a years loan from Manchester City. This has been made official on the club's website.

Sky Sports claim that a fee has been agreed if Everton take up an option to buy, although what this fee is remains unknown for the present,but at least we can expect more goals and moments of skill that we saw last season.

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You might not have noticed, but the UEFA Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) started play this week. Despite the rebranding, you probably still don't care too much who wins it oddly enough, the tournament is back where it started in that sense. In the 1950s and 1960s, then known as the Fairs Cup, its purpose and meaning were unclear, and complaints rained down that it was just another pointless competition cluttering up the schedule.

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Various websites are reporting that whilst Wenger fiddles, his transfer targets could be escaping his clutches or are they really his targets?

It is being reported that Sakho is there for the taking if only we increased our offer and Bayern Munich are lurking in the background ready to pounce.

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I hate that I do!

When I were a lad, the only person best placed to see if the ball was over the goaline was the local mongrel. That were a long time ago but now the powers that be have finally got their act together with some changes. FIFA have laid down a new rule for the new all singing all dancing EUROPA cup.

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A full year has passed since Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez first started chasing midfielder Gareth Barry for his signature and the chance to put on the red shirt of Liverpool and play in the Champions League. The now former Villa star was quoted on numerous occasions last summer as saying that European football mean more to him than anything else.

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Small club syndrome thrives – but Fulham break free

As the final whistle blew at Villa Park on Sunday, consigning Newcastle to the Championship, a familiar epidemic swept across the terraces at the Stadium of Light Sunderland's supporters, having just witnessed another pitiful defeat against a Chelsea team playing on autopilot, sung with glee and waved their home-made banners for the television cameras, as the news of their foes' demise filtered through.

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Well this incredible season fizzled out very tamely in the end. We played as if we didn't really want European football and gave Liverpool too much space to play in and played at too slow a tempo to stretch them. For the first 20 minutes we were completely outplayed. However Liverpool are a very good team and we should have had two goals from the ball over the top as they played a very high line. Click to continue reading...

We had a match at Sampdoria sandwiched between the first and second legs of the Europa Cup semi. Milan had put some pressure on us by beating Catania 4-0 the day before so our lead in the table, which had been seven points so recently, was down to just three. Fortunately, our players steeled themselves and sent a message back to Milan by equaling their 4-0 win.

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Quentin Westberg and Freddy Adu will hope for their first action in months, while Carlos Bocanegra and Rennes chase a spot in the Europa Cup next season. Click to continue reading...