There were many puzzled faces up and down the country after hearing Joey Barton's lenient
punishment following his brutal attack of his then City team mate, Ousmane Dabo. Essentially, he's
been given a six match ban and a £25,000 fine. He will face a further six match ban if he's up
in front of the [.
After Dimitar Berbatov's strange menage-a-trois dalliance with Mark Hughes and Sir Alex Ferguson,
and Man City gazumping Chelsea, yesterday's third oddest deadline day transfer was that of John
Akinde from Ebbsfleet United to Bristol City for £150,000 plus add-ons. The transfer wasn't
bizarre because of the player - Akinde has long attracted interest from league clubs [.
As a child, the summer holidays brought about a family trip to a campsite in Europe. We'd get in
the car to travel down to Dover and I would always be wearing my United shirt. After hours and
hours of driving, we'd pull in at our designated tin can and the holiday had begun. It wouldn't
[...]
Do we have another match-fixing scandal on our hands? In an interview published by German news
magazine Der Spiegel on Monday, award-winning Canadian journalist Declan Hill gave accounts that
detail the manipulation of Ghanaian matches in the 2006 World Cup, most notably the second round
match between Ghana and Brazil, which was won 3-0 by [.
Every now and again a player appears on the horizon and you think ‘this could be the one'. A
few years ago me and my colleague were in Brazil watching Santos against Botafogo. The game was as
eventful as ever, but it was remarkable for the talents of Robinho and Diego, two players who shone
[...]
Wenger is frequently misquoted (once or twice by yours truly as well) but this is a royal cockup.
Arsene was asked about UEFA's plan to propose to the EU that football clubs that run on an
operating deficit or those who are unable to pay wages based on their current revenues and have to
finance [...
I've heard several people say that the transfer window is 'bad' for football in England, after
reading Paul Fletcher's article on it this morning I thought it's worth commenting on the matter.
For the record, as a football fan I'm all for the transfer window - it keeps the transfer madness
locked up to a few [.
Football has a pretty big role in terms of UK culture, and never more so since the birth of Sky
Sports and the Premier League, enhanced even further by Euro '96. We're now at a point where around
29 million people attend live games and that's not even taking into account the millions more who
[...]
The predictions are divided into 5 categories - the press, the players, the game, the teams and
everyone else (fans, agents, management). You're welcome to add your own predictions in the
comments, discuss the predictions I've made or come back later on in the season and check how many
I got right (I'm going for [.
Modern football guarantees that silly season is always on, 12 months out of 12. Former Chelsea
striker Adrian Mutu was sacked in 2004 after failing a drug test for cocaine. After a four delay
(in claims, counter-claims, appeals, etc), Fifa's Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) awarded Chelsea
a hefty compensation.
Even Thaksin Shinawatra's ego wouldn't go so much as to proclaim himself the Messiah, yet for a
brief period he was held in such regard at Eastlands. His takeover of the club last summer, coupled
with a supposedly huge cash injection and the installation of Sven-Goran Eriksson as coach led many
City fans to start [.
The English Premier League has never been known for a lack of discipline, even when Robbie Savage
was in it. While discussions rage about the ability of officials to control matters on the field,
fans should never doubt the impossibility of the situation facing them. You only have to look away
for an instant and [.
The ‘Big Kick-Off' has brought with it a big kick-off for the FA's new respect for referees
campaign. Branded ‘Respect', the campaign has been prominent during the opening weekend of
the Football League season, and equally so at the Premier League's curtain-raiser, the Community
Shield. The new initiative has been promoted heavily; Manchester United and [.
Soccerlens has launched a scathing attack on football fans around the world, branding them
irrational and childish. Soccerlens owner and Ahmed Bilal went so far as to call them a
"senseless, directionless mob who enjoy being manipulated by the media.". Speaking
exclusively to Soccerlens (go figure) on the Ronaldo saga, Bilal questioned the loyalty of
so-called Manchester [.
Joey Barton's story is tragic - a promising and talented footballer who has made bad decisions,
decisions that have now brought him to a crossroads in his life. Where he goes on from here and
what he does with his career will depend a lot on how he views the past (whether he perceives
himself [...]
When you're hot, you're hot... and doesn't the modern day footballer know it. A few months ago
Robbie Keane pledged his future to Tottenham Hotspur saying "I'm having a summer off without
people ringing saying 'Are you going here, are you going there?'... I am more than happy here (at
Tottenham) and I want to stay [.
When your hot, your hot... and doesn't the modern day footballer know it. A few months ago Robbie
Keane pledged his future to Tottenham Hotspur saying "I'm having a summer off without people
ringing saying 'Are you going here, are you going there?'... I am more than happy here (at
Tottenham) and I want to stay [.
Take a honest account of the sad state of affairs in Nigerian football - corruption, lack of money,
the lack of love from the locals, etc etc. Bring in a 'journalist' working under a deadline to
produce an catchy, quotable punchline to the story to make it instantly promotable. Add a healthy
helping of the [.
Arsenal staff recently held a 2-week coaching program in Calcutta and selected 16 schoolboys for a
training program at the Emirates dubbed 'The Arsenal Way'. The boys, aged between 10 and 15, are
flying out to begin their training at the club's stadium, The Emirates, from next month. How did
Arsenal, a club notorious for NOT [.
When David Gill was asked whether Manchester United planned to go to India for a pre-season tour in
the future, he told us what we already knew: That the market in India was huge, that they'd had
offers to come play there, that Manchester United needed to conquer that final frontier before any
other [.
West Hammered: MLS Learns from the Pros While English cynicism used to be a cherished import in the
all-too-earnest hinterland of soccer-loving North America, the bile has lost its caché in the
past few years. No more, Guardian. Cease and desist, 'When Saturday Comes'. Your glib asides on the
American game, which may have [.
For all those enraged by the hundreds of millions of pounds in inflated transfer fees flying
between the stadia of Europe this summer: there was once a bearded man from a long time ago who
proposed that the use-value of a commodity or service should determine its price, not market
forces. No, I'm not [.
Increasingly we're seeing pre-season preparations forced to accommodate "brand-expansion"
trips with Chelsea having traveled to the US and Liverpool to Asia in recent years (and United
having traveled to both continents in the last 3 years). This summer sees Chelsea spend time in
China and Malaysia as part of their push for global domination of [.
It's amusing how the term "slavery" gets thrown around these days. In November of 2003,
Rasheed Wallace compared the NBA's Zero-Tolerance policy concerning arguing with referees to
slavery. "That's retarded," the eloquent Wallace opined. "In my mind, it's kind of
like a slave and master or father and son.
He's not worth it. As a public-attention whore and someone whose main concern is to make FIFA look
good in the eyes of press and the national associations as well as to help make FIFA more money,
Blatter doesn't represent the true opinions of a 'guardian of football' (as FIFA claims itself to
be [..
The 2008 Olympics will end on Sunday 24th August (with the 08 Olympic football final on Saturday)
and there's been lots to talk about this time around, from the politics to the environment to the
questions about age to the outstanding performances and the odd funny moments. What will you
remember most about Beijing 2008?
Politics and sports seldom mix, especially when sport is seen as a tool to gain political leverage
(either by those using it or those protesting against it). And when the sport is as widespread and
as passionate as football, with the politics as acrimonious and divisive as those of Great Britain,
mixing the two is a [.
Last week, Ahmed wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece on why Americans suck at soccer. I believe he
enlisted seven points to back his claim some based on truth whilst others said in jest. Of course,
a lot of people thought he actually believed most of what he wrote and hence received a less than
complimentary [.
The world's greatest nation is surprisingly mediocre when it comes to playing the world's most
popular sport. It's not that they keep losing - far from it. Americans have a winning mentality
that automatically ensures that whatever team they put out will be competitive. However, when it
comes to genuine footballing talent, the US [.
Accountability and football in England go together like Michael Bolton's voice and opera: badly.
You can count on one finger the amount of people who are accountable to lovers of the beautiful
game and even then you'd struggle to work out who. There are those who should be accountable, but
they wriggle under so many [.
What's wrong with football? Ask any fan and you'd wish you'd never gotten them started. The
referees get it wrong, the players cheat (always the opposition, mind you), there's too much money
in the game, the players are greedy bastards who don't give two hoots about loyalty and honor,
international football is crap, there's no talent [.
If you have never coached or managed a football team you will believe, like I did, that the fans
feel the highs of victory and lows of defeat more than anyone else. You will believe that the
players and staff just don't care as much as you do. I have always felt this way about my [...]
For that rare breed of person who is a fan of both football along with finance law and practice,
the current goings-on with the League Two crisis clubs makes for interesting reading. For the rest
of us, it looks to lead towards the strange spectacle of three clubs - Luton, Bournemouth and
Rotherham - all [.
Last week in Scotland Gretna's short and ultimately sorry place in the Scottish league's history
finally came to an end when they were replaced by Annan Athletic. But south of the border, there
were shades of the ill-fated demise of Gretna when Conference North side Burscough announced
immediate financial restructuring in light of a [.
