Over the years in the world of sport, there have been stories abound concerning the ways in which players and coaches have found themselves embroiled in controversy surrounding tax payments, with certain individuals keen to pay as little tax as possible, but one strange factor about all of these stories is the reason behind the tax evasion; for people who earn so much money, why would they risk getting into serious trouble with the tax authorities?

Photo: Nicolae Stoian from 2011

The offseason can be crazy in the business that is soccer and sometimes it can be all too easy to forget that in the end, it's really about the game. If you are looking for some inspiration to help you get your soccer head back on straight, go to the Ritz East tonight to see the Philadelphia premier of Laduma.

The New England Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl. Before making the trip to Indianapolis, the Patriots said goodbye to their faithful fans at a pep rally held in Gillette Stadium. About 25,000 fans showed up to cheer on their heroes.

Said Tom Brady: "We have the greatest fans in America.

The fallout from last week's El Clasico loss was astounding. The fallout from the coming El Clasico – should we lose (which is a likely event) will perhaps be equally astounding. . The players are shit – we need to buy 6 new players. We need a new defense We need a new midfield, We need better strikers.

I don't know if you've noticed, but January has been pretty awful so far. We've lost all three of our league games, and we've gone back to our old habit of throwing away leads. United swept us aside with an ease that was almost saddening, given how massive the games between the two clubs used to be.

Despite the nonsense about some other matchup in the Copa del Rey right now can't quite remember the names of those rather insignificant teams at the moment the real story is not east, not west, but down. Way down in the third division. Mirandes, a humble little club in the north of Spain, knocked off their third yes, third La Liga opponent to get to the Copa del Rey.

The most frustrating thing is that, after a disastrous start to the season, we had done the hard bit.

Written off by everyone, we somehow battled back up the table, all the way to the top four.

A team that seemed to have been cobbled together off the back of Steptoe and Son's wagon on the last day of the transfer window was starting to look like it could really do the business.

First of all. I'm happy to have been wrong about todays result and will never again sell Wolves short. We are fighters and I consider all ten out there the last 21 minutes of the game as nothing less than heroes. Most of the praise must of course go to our Welsh wonder-warrior Wayne Hennessey. [...]

The Kop aren't singing as their 'Sweet Carroll-nine' stays out of tune

The Kop wastes little time composing songs for new heroes. The moment a player starts to quicken the pulse with thrilling performances, or a new signing arrives amid a blaze of publicity, the wordsmiths get to work.

So this post is not about rumours from the transfer mill, or injury news about our heroes, or even about some controversial statements made by people with authority.. No No No! It's all about sharing the love and spreading the cheer ! From myself AB, and from all of us here at the blog. This [...]

I've received an early Christmas present.
Much to my wife's delight, our kitchen calendar next year will be the Official Wolverhampton Wanderers FC Calendar for 2012.
I don't know what it's like in your house, but in ours, the kitchen calendar is the source of all knowledge: if it's not in the calendar, then it's not happening.

Como pasa con muchos jugadores de futbol actual, pasan desapercibidos por poner atención a los que las marcas deportivas nos quieren hacer ver como los unicos, los iluminados, Andres Iniesta pasaria como uno mas,pero no es así. Recordemos que el futbol es un deporte de conjunto, donde las individualidades brillaran siempre y cuando su equipo lo desee asi,por meritos y por grandes momentos y hazañas.

It was an emotional day at Arsenal yesterday, as the club unveiled three statues to celebrate the heroes of the club's 125th birthday. Former manager Herbert Chapman, club cuptain Tony Adams and record goalscorer Thierry Henry were honoured, and Henry made an emotional speech to mark the occasion, tears in his eyes as he described [.

Ashley Cole and his glamorous assistant Carlton make a few notes prior to kick-off. Images via EnglandFootballersFoundation.com.

Ashley Cole, Jermain Defoe, Carlton Cole, Dion Dublin and Ian Walker were among players who appeared at the London Soccer Dome last night in support of the England Footballers Foundation's inaugral 'EFF Charity Cup'.

Why Arsenal should unveil a statue of Tony Adams and Bendtner sums up size of challenge for O'Neill

Arsenal are set to unveil three statues of club heroes outside the Emirates on Friday. I hope one of them is of Tony Adams. Not because he was once an alcoholic, a braggart and a drink driver but because he had the courage and the will to conquer his problems.

Another sad Sunday For the second Sunday in a row, football is mourning the sad loss of one of its heroes at an age at which they should still be in the prime of their life. Legendary Brazilian midfielder Socrates has passed away after being on a life support machine due to an intestinal infection. [.

Guest blog: Deputy PM Nick Clegg backs the Mirror's Open Goal campaign for racial equality in football

When it comes to racial equality, football's progress is very similar to Britain's. Like the country, the game has come a long way in ­tackling racism in the last 30 years.

We may have lost the game, but, we still had our heroes and Kevin Prince Boateng was one of the them. Not only because of his fantastic goal, but, also for the way he fought, his spirit and his determination to drag his team onwards to a possible victory. In the end, however, it was [...]

We may have lost the game, but, we still had our heroes and Kevin Prince Boateng was one of the them. Not only because of his fantastic goal, but, also for the way he fought, his spirit and his determination to drag his team onwards to a possible victory. In the end, however, it was [...]

Anyone else reached the slightly absurd conclusion that we should really win all but two of our remaining 27 fixtures? The bubble will presumably burst at some point, but if the earth continues its merry rotation around the sun in the time-honoured fashion of a few thousand years there is little reason to expect anything other than the standard, slightly tortuous three-point haul.

Victory, at last Just 10 years ago American Samoa were a footballing joke after being mauled 31-0 by Australia in a World Cup qualifier, a result that still stands as the most one-sided full international in history. And frankly their entire international record hasn't been much of a party either with the Pacific side managing [.

Where to begin?
There are times when perhaps we should just hold our hands up and say well done to both teams, neither deserve to lose. Go on, share the bloody thing. Won't happen though. We demand winners and where there is a winner there must be a loser. The crying shame of sport.
On 18' with Indonesia leading 1-0 through Dwi Cahyo Gunawan I turned to the wife and said Malaysia would win.

Silverwareballs In what appears to signal the natural end to his American adventure, David Beckham has won his first title in the States as LA Galaxy won the MLS Cup. Beckham's flicked header to Robbie Keane and the Irishman's deft assist allowed Landon Donovan to score the only goal of the game as Galaxy defeated [.

By Alan Duffy

Fabio Capello, with poppies at his feet, is disgusted by James Milner's poppy-less arms.

Just when we thought we'd heard the last of the bizarre poppy furore (at least until next year), The Sun are kind enough to give us one more poppy-based new story.

Having yet to play a part for Arsenal this season, Jack Wilshere, looks set to make things up for his club, although not anytime soon but the England international midfielder promised the fans they will see much of him in the future as Wilshere pledged his loyalty to the club.

Answering a question from the media about his future with the London outfit, Wilshere convincingly stated that he has no plan to play for any other clubs aside from his current one.

Ahead of Saturday's friendly between England and Spain, In The Stands looks back to the pair's last match where goals by David Villa and Fernando Llorente sealed an easy 2-0 win for the hosts. David Villa and Fernando Llorente were the heroes for Spain as they brushed aside a feeble English threat in a resounding [.

More dedicated followers of AANP will be well aware that when I do eventually conclude fighting the good fight and prepare to meet my doom, ‘twill not be in a hail of bullets or blaze of glory, but coronary failure sustained while watching our heroes. While cheering the news that the various pokes and prods to ‘Arry ‘s cardiac area proved successful, I rather fear for him if he observed on the telly-box the inept tomfoolery of Monsieur Bassong in contributing to our downfall.

Got Not Got Extract 6: When the Kangaroo Kid was king of the Scorcher comic underdogs

New book Got Not Got: The A-Z Of Lost Football Cultures, Treasures and Pleasures, by MirrorFootball contributors Derek Hammond and Gary Silke, is brilliant and it's available to buy now.

Earlier this year, we analysed then Championship Queen's Park Rangers in order to guess which of their stars might successfully negotiate the jump in standard once promotion was secured. Of course much of that thinking has been rendered moot by a squad overhaul that has left many of last year's heroes either elsewhere or out of the team, although there is an argument that Alejandro Faurlin has

I'm no hero, says Hernandez after equaliser at Liverpool

"It doesn't matter who scored the goals. There are no heroes here," says Mexican striker

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-10-16 13:14:16 from: The Mirror

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

There are probably better ways to write this tale. Maybe just that one picture is enough. Or maybe this line from Goalkeeping Coach Tom Dutra says it better.

There's nobody like Kasey.

One of the greatest blessings I've had as a Seattle Sounders fan, and that's really the only way I can write about Kasey Keller, is that one of my heroes in sport plays in front of me almost every day.

'I leapt like a salmon and hung like a hawk'

It's regarded as one of the Premier League's greatest ever matches and as the two old rivals prepare to lock horns once more, LFC TV chats to one of the heroes of our famous 3-3 draw with Manchester in January 1994.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-10-14 13:28:40 from: Liverpool FC

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

A year after becoming the heroes who saved Liverpool from financial armageddon, Fenway Sports Group opted to to become the villains of the day. Not necessarily in the eyes of Liverpool fans but certainly in those of the rest of the football world.
Sooner or later, one of the big clubs was going to start making noises about the splitting of television rights.

It was when Steven Taylor was captaining the England U21 side back in 2007, that it looked like he would become an England regular in the full side. Great shot of two Newcastle heroes at final whistle Saturday And while Steven played for the England B side in that same year, and amassed 29 caps [...]

Thommo's treble heroes

A little over 10 years on from the unprecedented cup treble of 2001, Liverpool are set to mark the occasion with a night not to be missed at Anfield on October 7 and this is your last chance to be a part of it.

View the full story here: Liverpool FC

A news article on 2011-10-03 10:19:02 from: Liverpool FC

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

By Dru Boyer Welcome back to your (nearly) weekly update on America's footy heroes abroad. This week saw Timmy Howard get paired with an American sidekick, Friedel chase out the competition, and the AmeriGers on fire. POTW honors go to the two-headed goal scoring monster of Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu for their performance this [.

Sometimes it's easy to forget heroes still exist. It's so easy to look at Arsenal's struggles this season and dwell on the mistakes and missed opportunities. Easy to put idols from the past on pedestals, ...

Exciting times, what? Having gone at it hammer, tongs and any other household implement you can think of last week, the prospect of another rip-roaring performance certainly gets the juices flowing.

As well as more attacking nous than you can shake a large stick at, our heroes now come fortified with an added dose of Scott Parker, a particularly handy ingredient on away days such as these.

By Alan Duffy

In a move which will no doubt have taunted the Elland Road faithful, Sir Alex Ferguson moved striker Dimitar Berabtov back into a central defensive role (alongside Michael Carrick, no less) for the final stages of United's comfortable victory over Leeds United on Tuesday evening.

Every week In The Stands will single out the pick of the week's UEFA Champions League fixtures commencing with Matchday 1. Amongst the highlights of matches on the first day of the 2011/2012 UEFA Champions League clashes, there is a match pitting two European giants against eachother, a return of former club heroes and an intriguing [.