Wesley Sneijder has been linked with Manchester United in the past few days, and not for the first time. The Dutchman has continuously been linked with Manchester United for the best part of two seasons but each time the move was apparently close to completion something cropped up an prevented it from being finalized.

The transfer window report from business advisory firm Deloitte calculates that Premier League clubs spent around £60m, a decline of 70 per cent on the record level of £225m in January 2011 (admittedly something of an aberration).

Dan Jones, a partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, saw Uefa's financial fair play rules as a factor in the comparative restraint of clubs and a more sober level of spending among Premier League clubs.

When Atletico Madrid sold Sergio Aguero to England's Manchester City during the summer, there was all sorts of rumors that Aguero really wanted to move to city rivals Real, but that Atletico refused to sell him to their bitter rivals.

There were also rumors at the time that Aguero was only heading to Manchester for a season and that in 2012 he would be heading back to the Madrid, this time to play for the the white side of the capital.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that lukewarm nature of the recently concluded winter transfer window is a clear sign that European clubs are now unable to match their previously sky-high spending levels.

The veteran Gunners boss compared the business conducted in January 2012 to the spending frenzy that took place same time last year, when more than £100 million were splashed by Chelsea and Liverpool on the purchase of just a handful of players.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that lukewarm nature of the recently concluded winter transfer window is a clear sign that European clubs are now unable to match their previously sky-high spending levels.

The veteran Gunners boss compared the business conducted in January 2012 to the spending frenzy that took place same time last year, when more than £100 million were splashed by Chelsea and Liverpool on the purchase of just a handful of players.

So another transfer window comes to a close. This unlike many others was surprisingly quiet, mainly due to clubs now having to take into account UEFA's Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. Another reason for the quiet was our gaffer's appearances in court seriously restricting his ability to go on Sky Sports News every five minutes and tell the world which 'top top players' he was looking at.

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis was interviewed by Fox on Sunday and he said that Arsenal will never be able to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City in the transfer market but believes Arsene Wenger's focus on developing young players is the correct way to run a football club.

Chelsea continue to hemorrhage money after announcing a loss of £67.7million for the financial year ending June 30, 2011.

That is only a slight drop decrease from the loss of £70.9million in 2010, as Chelsea struggles to fall in line with UEFA's new financial fair play rules.

Since Roman Abramovich bought the club, Chelsea have now lost a combined £620million.

Chelsea continue to hemorrhage money after announcing a loss of £67.7million for the financial year ending June 30, 2011.

That is only a slight drop decrease from the loss of £70.9million in 2010, as Chelsea struggles to fall in line with UEFA's new financial fair play rules.

Since Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea, the blues have now lost a combined £620million.

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has criticised the performance levels of Spanish referees this season.

Rosell's club felt aggrieved by the decision of the Spanish federation's competitions committee not to punish Real Madrid utility man Pepe for appearing to stamp on Barca forward Lionel Messi's hand earlier this month.

Bright Eis

Did anyone really expect Wenger to burn holes in Arsenal's chequebook this month? The general climate in football hinted at no, the fact that Arsene is our boss said no, and the apparent need for backup up front or at the back said – haha – no. No no no.

Alan Pardew has talked about the Financial Fair Play Rules which are coming into operation for European clubs gradually over the next few seasons. Michel Platini has introduced Financial Fair Play Rules In a nutshell, clubs will only be allowed to pay out money that they earn from their revenues as a football club.

By Eric Beard

Doesn't vehement hatred get kind of boring after a while? I mean, sure, if you want to let a little schadenfreude and anger out a couple of times a year, that's fine. Everyone's entitled to their fair share of irrational fandom. Maybe I'm not as creative as the Spanish press and [insert name of your Superclub]'s fans, but hatred gets kind of circular after a while.

Looks like the the effect of those UEFA financial fair play rules are having at best a marginal effect as losses rose to €1.6bn for the 2010-11 FY, up from the previous year's €1.2bn loss racked up by Europe's soccer leagues.

The only exception is the Bundesliga which managed to turn around losses into a healthy profit of €52.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Former Colorado Rapids head coach Gary Smith is headed back to England.

The man who took charge of the Rapids' surprising 2010 MLS Cup run has been hired as manager of League One side Stevenage FC. Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace said Smith's ability to produce success despite a low budget with the Rapids was a major reason for the hire.

Remember Yuri Zhirkov? The man with a big reputation as one of the upcoming stars of European football joined Chelsea for a fee of around £18m in 2009 and being honest, did little really to cement his place in the team or force his way in. I think we could realistically, count on one hand the amount of games he played well in for Chelsea.

That's how we all feel mate...If i walked into a club, thinking and acting like i was better than everybody else, i'd most probably, within an hour and a half or so, get battered. Which is exactly what happened to Liverpool on Saturday. They walked into Bolton's club, acting like they were better than them, like the three points were theirs before they'd kicked a ball and then, they were battered.

I don't think they come lower than Pepe. Even animals have a sense of fair play. This man if you can call him that should be banned from the sport for life. Leo Messi goes down after colliding with Callejon and while he's down, Pepe strolls casually over and deliberately plants his studs on Messi's hand.

"I may look like Herbert Lom but I'm not mad - Torres could be at PSG. Why not?"

When you have been offered millions of euros to play in the transfer market what is not there to like in your job? PSG driven by bottomless money (well, until the world turns completely to green sources of energy which won't happen for the next 25 years) is now the black hole of football's existence.

Equipo Fair Play
Tigres Equipo Superlider
Chivas Mejor Portero Enrique Palos Tigres Defensa Central Hugo Ayala Tigres Defensa Lateral Jorge Torres Nilo Tigres Medio Defensivo Juan Pablo Rdz Santos Medio Ofensivo Lucas Lobos Tigres Delantero Oribe Peralta Santos Goleador Iván Alonso Toluca Director Técnico Ricardo Ferretti Tigres Preparador Físico Guillermo Orta Tigres Novato Joe Corona Xolos Mejor Jugador Lucas Lobos Tigres Arbitro Asistente Juan Joel Rangel
Arbitro Central Roberto García Orozco
Campeón del Apertura 2011 Tigres de la UANL Gracias por tu visita Estadísticas de Fútbol

Barcelona Lite vs. Barcelona Shite

Sadly, that's what it was. Yesterday's performance by the Arsenal was hardly Barcelona-esque. We were all over the place defensively. Szczesny had one of his poorer games in an Arsenal shirt (notwithstanding the aforementioned defensive hilarity).Honestly, had it been the doughnut stealer in goal, there'd have been a lot of Shabby Singh ‘punditry' about angles and positioning.

Montpellier Hérault SC vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Week 20 – Ligue 1, Stade de la Mosson.

Alive in four out of four competitions! Bravo Les Gones!

A potential rearranging of top league table spots is on the cards this weekend. Six of the top seven teams go head-to-head against each other PSG vs.

I wish I could furnish you today with news of multiple transfers, but alas I live in the real world. There is very little out there to report.
Looking through this list on Football 365, you realise that we're not alone. There is very little movement happening anywhere in the prem, even at Man City.

Let's be honest here, and I have said it before, the whole situation with the transfer saga of Gary Cahill has us all wondering what the hold up could be. I cannot remember Chelsea agreeing a fee with a club and then literally taking weeks to conclude the terms with the player. It's a sign that times are a changing at Chelsea, or have they already?

I generally have a very low opinion of the pampered, overpaid ladyboys of modern top-flight football, but if there is one player I despise more than any other, it is Manchester United's disloyal cheating thug, Wayne Rooney. Rooney has proved time and time again that he has no concept of sportsmanship, class, humility or fair play, and he showed this again on Sunday in the FA Cup third round

Getting close in securing Gary Cahill from Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea apparently will still continue their surge in the winter transfer market and capture at least another quality player.

This confirmation was revealed by the club's tactician, Andre Villas-Boas, who unfortunately still can't confirm, whose the other player they're trying to grab this January aside from Cahill.

News has broken this morning as the now the transfer window is open, that Alex will speak to QPR about a possible move to Loftus Road as early as today.
Some people have questioned with all our injury problems lately, as to why Alex has been frozen out and not called back into the squad but you have to give credit to AVB for sticking to his guns.

You could see it coming a mile off couldn't you!. Once again we struggled to break a side down that comes here and lines up with ten men behind the ball. It's all well and good having the majority of the possession of the ball but you HAVE TO do something with it.
How many fucking times am I saying the same thing over and over again?

Don't look now, but Fulham are tied with Wolves for the most yellow cards in the league (37). We had 52 yellow cards all of last season, 46 in 2009-10, and 40 in 2008-09.

Brede Hangeland, Chris Baird, Danny Murphy, Moussa Dembele, and Steve Sidwell all have 4 yellow cards. Mark Schwarzer has one.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 29, 2011) US Soccer Players -- European soccer has spent another year living through interesting times. On the field, Barcelona continued their run as the dominant club against whom all others are judged. Off the field, Financial Fair Play looms on the horizon. Midway through the 2011-12 seasons in Europe, we've already seen indicators of trends that could become issues next year.

1. How do you make hard work out of beating Wigan? Change your team around and play everyone out of position. I was looking forward to a late Christmas present in the form of United blowing Wigan out of the water, like usual, then the manager had to go and spoil it all. Carrick, our best player of recent weeks, shifted in to defence.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 21, 2011) US Soccer Players -- As we rush toward the UEFA vision of Financial Fair Play along with various European leagues trying to figure out what might make their leagues more competitive, one doubt continues to nag. Well, at least one doubt. How does any of this change the marketing and sponsorship power of the elite European clubs?

Doctor Johnson wrote something along the lines of: "A man who tires of London, tires of life." It holds up. But had he replaced London withVilla Park it would be Grade A bunkum. Because, I have to say, after almost 30 years of watching the Arsenal at the home of Aston Villa, I have tired of life.

Doctor Johnson wrote something along the lines of: "A man who tires of London, tires of life." It holds up. But had he replaced London withVilla Park it would be Grade A bunkum. Because, I have to say, after almost 30 years of watching the Arsenal at the home of Aston Villa, I have tired of life.

Doctor Johnson wrote something along the lines of: "A man who tires of London, tires of life." It holds up. But had he replaced London withVilla Park it would be Grade A bunkum. Because, I have to say, after almost 30 years of watching the Arsenal at the home of Aston Villa, I have tired of life.

By Chris Wright

Manchester United staged their 'Big United Quiz' for MUTV t'other day which, at one point in the proceedings, saw Wayne Rooney charged with leading Ryan Giggs and Jonny Evans in an innocent game of charades.

Rooney was tasked with acting out 'Bend It Like Beckham' to his teammates and, considering his audience, our Wayne's choice of mime for the fourth word of that particular film title has to be seen to be believed.

It's common knowledge that Chelsea offered ridiculous money to try and sign Luka Modric back in the summer and Spurs stood firm and resisted our advances. You have to hold your hands up to them and say fair play to them really. Levy backed his manager, stood by him and look how well they are doing this season so far.

Picture this. Its 18th Century London and crime is rife in the capital. Muggers and looters stalk the wealthy Streets and Avenues of the City Centre. The biggest killer? Not the small pointy blades of the outer city Hoodies. No. It was the Gentlemen who still sported the longer reaching swords, and could thus pick off their chosen Hoody from a safe distance.

Picture this. Its 18th Century London and crime is rife in the capital. Muggers and looters stalk the wealthy Streets and Avenues of the City Centre. The biggest killer? Not the small pointy blades of the outer city Hoodies. No. It was the Gentlemen who still sported the longer reaching swords, and could thus pick off their chosen Hoody from a safe distance.

Oliver Sparrow and Eric Beard had the pleasure of spending an hour with esteemed author and journalist Jonathan Wilson on the AFR Podcast. Jonathan writes for The Guardian, The Independent, Sports Illustrated, World Soccer, and FourFourTwo. He is also the editor of a quarterly publication called The Blizzard, which is filled with content from some of the biggest names in football journalism.