The new tournament in India had its auction today. A quick refresher for those who allow quirky short-term tournament formats to slip from the back of their minds (shame): five teams, each team bids for a leading "icon", along with two foreigners and a manager, with a wage budget of $2.5m. (How much is being ballparked for the icons 30-40%?

Taye Taiwo has finally been officially unveiled as Queens Park Rangers' new signing this January and the player express his gratitude towards the club's manager, Mark Hughes, who reportedly was then one asking for the Nigerian international.

The six months loan deal with possible buy out clause at the end of season was actually done few days ago, but it's just got active after Taiwo received his working permit, a basic conditions for foreigners to play in the premier league.

Despite a poor start to the season, a defeat and a draw, LionsX11 are still attracting plenty of interest among those who recall the 'good old days' of Malaysia Cup. Over 7,000 filled a newly expanded Jalan Besar Stadium for the opening game with Kelantan while this report suggests ticket sales are going well ahead of the next game against KL.

Name: Michel Vonk In his 1990s prime for: Manchester City and Sheffield United Lowdown: Michel Vonk, a Dutch centre back, joined Manchester City during the summer before the inaugural Premier League season for a fee of £500,000 from AZ Alkmaar, becoming one of only eleven foreigners to appear on the first day off the new [.

Kelantan are building for an exciting season including AFC Cup action, will they be able to play their home games in Kota Bahru, and are taking advantage of new rules that allow them to sign foreigners.
In has come Lebanese striker Mohamed Ghaddar for example. He has proved a regular scorer for his national team, 26 goals in 46 games according to Wiki.

So you;re at a football match somewhere in Indonesia. You buy your ticket and you kind a place in the stand or on the terraces and you mind your own business. You don't bother reading a programme cos there ain't one. You don't bother going to the toilets 'cos they're disgusting. You don't do much in fact 'cos there ain't much to do.

Fabio could be last non-English Three Lions coach... but foreigners will have to teach home-grown successors

David Sheepshanks outlines plans for the future of England

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-11-08 21:00:54 from: The Mirror

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

Capello 'has poisoned the England job'

Foreigners have no chance of leading Three Lions now says Van Gaal

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-11-02 22:30:35 from: The Mirror

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

Hello and welcome to your favorite new television program EMEYAE (Extreme Makeover English Youth Academy Edition)! We are so excited to see you! Basically, after the new EPPP guidelines were passed, a lot of people got angry. Local communities felt threatened that the free movement of individual youth labor would leave them devastated.

By Chris Wright

Are these two guilty of fowl play?

As you've no doubt heard, according to the head of the League Managers Association, a few of the Premier League's foreign owners have been agitating for the concept of relegation from the top flight to be scrapped in favour of an uber-conservative system that keeps all 20 clubs (though which 20 that would be is anybody's guess) and their respective bank accounts safe and sound snug as a bug in a proverbial rug.

Apparently Brek Shea has a mess of foreign suitors; they go by the names Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City.* I once had foreign suitors, English women with names like Lucy and Karen. Now? It's just the Pakistani woman from the credit card call center who calls to tell me my payment is late.

Why we need to bring in a Ramsey Rule before English coaches become extinct

In the week that the Wally With The Brolly walked again, it's only right we focus on the imminent exit of his England successor. And ask what we'll do when the Wally With The Lolly, Fabio Capello, returns home with enough dosh to restore Italy's AAA credit rating.

The Liverpool vice-captain, Jamie Carragher, has admitted his playing career could be over in one or two year's time.
The 33-year-old has made 676 appearances for the Reds and is highly regarded at Anfield following 14 years of loyal service.
However, Carragher could soon find himself no longer a first-team regular in defence and claims his future is in the hands of his manager.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher reveals he may retire in less than two years' time

Reds stalwart thinks England national team need an English manager and believes academies need to start producing better players in greater quantity and shouldn't allow foreigners

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-10-06 19:50:00 from: Goal

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

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher reveals he may retire in two years' time

Reds stalwart thinks England national team need an English manager and believes academies need to start producing better players in greater quantity and shouldn't allow foreigners

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-10-06 18:50:00 from: Goal

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

Another Scotland game, more howls of anguish.
"We were robbed/cheated/denied natural footballing justice."
Scotland v Czech Republic followed that old familiar pattern and we all felt rank rotten at the end.
Football's an emotional game and Scotland can tease emotions like few other teams.

There had been talk that this would finally be the year that iconic Indonesian striker Bambang Pamungkas would leave Persija. Instead a new club leader has convinced the international to stay another year and along with fellow long serving Ismed Sofyan will wear the orange of Persija in the upcoming season.

With the World Cup Qualifiers a month ahead Indonesia are facing the usual old problem. They can't find opponents! It doesn't matter who runs the game in this country while the rest of the world is busy arranging its international calender 12 months in advance the FA here struggle to book hotels for their players and officials.

Dimitar Berbatov was last season's Premier League top scorer, although the 20 league goals he scored weren't enough to even get him a place on the bench for the Champions League final.

Berbatov watched the game from the dressing room, to keep his emotions hidden, something he claims has lead fans to misjudge him over the years.

Sam Allardyce Is Right To Denounce Margaret Thatcher For The Wrong Reason - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Football managers have a knack for esoteric statements. Often, the profundity of these comments is completely unintentional; nevertheless, if we're willing to trawl through hours upon hours of press conference banality, often we'll end up with a hidden gem.

The Malaysia Super League has been closed to foreigners these last few seasons and while there are rumours doors will open again next year nothing has yet been confirmed.
In the past Malaysia was seen as an attractive destination for Australians, Singaporeans and Indonesians. Whether it will still be seen as attractive next year remains to be seen considering the rumours of match fixing and unpaid salaries that surround the game there.

Roberto Abbondanzieri doesn't like children.

• In a split. (WSC)
• The foreigners of CA2011. (The Best Eleven)
• The power of tweets. (IBWM)
• Of great hair. (Left Back In The Changing Room)
• A bikini-clad club. (KCKRS)
• Quiz time. (Avoiding The Drop)
• Stand up for standing up.

Tourists to Colombia FIFA U-20 World Cup can pay with foreign currency Colombia Reports Payments made for goods and services within the country by foreigners pertain to the free market and therefore are not compulsory to the exchange market, meaning that sellers do not need to involve the bank or exchange agencies with their private .

A funeral atmosphere last night at the Woodlands Stadium in the north of the island. A couple of years back Woodlands were known for a relatively raucous home support but judging by last night they all seem to have found new hobbies. Perhaps they go to night clubs to listen to loud music, hooked by their times on the terraces.

By Gareth McKnight, Australia

With the much publicised transfers of Phil Jones and Jordan Henderson being completed by Manchester United and Liverpool respectively in the last week for a combined total of £36.5 million, most Premier League managers will be looking to the continent and beyond for their summer signings.

My fellow American soccer fans....
There comes a time in every soccer fan's life when they must ask him or herself, "Have I done enough to further the sport in my country?" For millions if not billions of people around the world the answer is a resounding "yes" and the task is done. Soccer has established itself as a cultural bulwark and the passion of a people in dozens of countries.

SLeague new boys Tanjong Pagar United have only scored six goals in their opening 14 games and one of them came in their only win so far, away to Woodlands Wellington. Doesn't look too good, does it?
Until you look at who they scored against;
v SAFFC 1-2v Tampines Rovers 1-4v SAFFC 2-2v Home United 1-3
Their next two games?

The Wilshere Ultimatum: What Jack Wilshere's exclusion from Under-21 duty says about English football is a post from: Just Football

"All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes."
- Winston Churchill

"What we really need is everyone working together for the benefit of the game in this country and the development of young players.

As I'm sure everyone is well aware the Premier League is jam packed with foreigners from all corners of the globe. This practice has filtered down to the lower leagues, so I thought I'd begin a series on foreign XIs in the Football League with this one on "Scandanavian" players in the Championship.

Way back in September I wrote an article that said Manchester City were on the verge of ruining the English game. This was because of the foreign imports Mancini brought in. The statistic upset me. From a squad of 35 on the clubs website, 24 were not English in origin. As a young English up and coming manager it was upsetting me that £25 million would be spent on unproven Bundesliga footballers and hungry and skillful English talent was being overlooked.

Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool might only be a couple of players away from being contenders for the top trophies next season.
The ultra-consistent Reds defender, who went second in the all-time list of Anfield appearance makers against Fulham, thinks its imperative the club gets back in the Champions League as soon as possible, but believes the right signings could help them get there sooner rather than later.

Marcello Lippi, despite a disastrous second spell in charge of the Italian National team, will always be held in high esteem by Italian worldwide. After all, this is the man that nearly immediately redeemed calcio in the face of a match-fixing scandal in the best way possible: by winning the World Cup.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Apr 12, 2011) US Soccer Players -- A day after Stan Kroenke's move to become the majority shareholder at Arsenal, sections of the English media have opted for exactly what you would expect. There's no love for foreigners taking over English clubs, well, except when they're willing to absorb debt for the sake of trophies.

Let's not get carried away by the shock of the match-fixing scandal. A cap on foreign players in Veikkausliiga isn't the answer.

When Timo Soini coined his ever more popular catch phrase "Missä EU, siellä ongelma" (Where there is the EU, there are problems), he created a brilliant out on any tough question regarding his European politics.

Nigel de Jong salutes you.

• Lone men abroad. (The Best Eleven)
• Not quite the money start. (Never Mind The Bolsheviks)
• An SPL foreigners XI. (Left Back In The Changing Room)
• No dopes here. (La Liga Loca)
• A gamer's delight. (IBWM)
• Jens being Jens.

Who imports soccer players? Turns out, the leagues most dependent on foreign labor aren't necessarily the obvious ones. Here's a nifty graph from The Economist, showing the percentages and absolute numbers of foreign players in each league. These data come from a report released by the Professional Football Players Observatory, an academic research group.

The rumours linking Nemanja Vidic with a move to Spain were so frequent last season, with his agent umming and aahing over whether his client wanted a move to Real Madrid or not, left most United fans assuming it was a done deal. Whilst Vida repeatedly claimed he had no intention of leaving and that he wanted to see out his contract, with just a couple of years left of his current deal it appeared as though the club would accept an offer rather than wait for him to run out his deal.

Thailand has many attractions. For example there are many, many temple. Oh and don't forget the Thai people. They are very friendly and they always smile alot to help foreigners to their country.
This first paragraph is (C) Thailand Lonely Planet and I take no responsibility for any errors in the paragraph or any misunderstandings that may arise.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know by now that I'm a "Soccer Dad" - I coach my son's team of 10 and 11 year olds - as well as a huge fan of trying to generate genuine insights into the beautiful game by systematically exploiting evidence and fact. So, here are two book recommendations that deal with each of these passions of mine.

Wildly fun, virally successful, and some great indie editors straight out....BALLIN'.

Fire this guy....up!

For those veterans of TSG, the Don't Tread Challenge for World Cup 2010 was sweet. Of course, the videos were so excellent that they threatened those that spend too much money producing lesser ones.