David France, a football philanthropist and previous owner of the world's largest football memorabilia collection, is the guest on the latest episode of the EPL Talk Podcast.

France has an incredible story to tell about the 20 years he spent traveling the world and assembling the most amazing and comprehensive collection of memorabilia items for any English football club.

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The most eagerly waited fixture in the EPL so far took place on Sunday 8 November when champions Manchester United took on potential challengers Chelsea at fortress Stamford Bridge. So much talking about Chelsea form lately and the run they are on, Manchester United injury list was a major talking point with world's best centre back partnership in the shape of Vidic & Rio Ferdinand both sidelined, though Vidic was on the bench but unable to start to game.

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Our old friend Eva Roob/Samira Summer, the female footballer turned stripper, has returned to her footballing roots by pulling on the boots one more time to play with men's team SC Leichlingen. But first she pranced around in the dressing room in her lingerie, making her perhaps the best teammate in the history of football.

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In this video worksheet post we use a clip from the excellent The History Of Football [2002] [DVD]on the topic of Folk Football. There is also a worksheet, transcript and answer sheet below. The report lasts for 2 minutes 10 seconds.

Folk Football Worksheet | Worksheet Answers | Transcript

Transcript
The legend, whether true or not, is still enacted year in, year out by the people
of Kirkwall, Scotland, making it one of the last strongholds of the game, which for hundreds of years dominated Britain.

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February 2nd 2002 was a pretty non-descript day in the History of Football, or indeed the history of anything Prince Willem -Alexander of Orange, heir to the Dutch throne got married, Euro-Monarchy Fans will tell you (and, er... wikipedia) but that aside, Manchester United stayed atop of the Premier League with a 4-1 win against Sunderland, with Newcastle just behind after beating Bolton, and Arsenal dropped seemingly crucial points at home against Southampton, 1-1.

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"....buhahahahahahhahahha...wohooohahahahah"

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Carlton Palmer after tasting the Real wankfest

"4-0!

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After 14 months, Rogerio Ceni, the goalie with the more goals scored in the history of football, scored again. Goal number 84 (86- but FIFA does not count 2 scored in friendlies) was scored the winning goal in the derby against Santos. Sao Paulo won 4-3. It was the first goal after the serious injury the goalie earlier this year.

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The alarming drop-off in A-League crowds was surely the main impetus behind these comments by Frank Lowy this week.
The A-League on free-to-air TV? A worthwhile aim, but wishful thinking at the moment. It is hard to see any of the commercial networks being willing to fit even a single game into their crowded weekend schedules, and coverage on the ABC or SBS would not bring in anything like sufficient revenue. Click to continue reading...

I will sadly have to miss this game, which promises to be a counter to those who consider South American World Cup qualifying to be somewhat of an overly-long, almost ceremonial event. Normally, that's exactly what it is, but now we have Uruguay, the football historian's wet dream side, in a do or die River Plate encounter. Click to continue reading...

After yesterday's shocking discovery where it was revealed Bracelona ace Lionel Messi had Arsenal DNA flowing through his system, Barcelona's big guns are reported to be quite angry and have since hit back furiously at Arsenal. It is ‘understood' (via an ‘inside' source) that Laporta, in a fit of rage, smashed the trophy cabinets and cursed the ‘horrible' club that is Arsenal to hell.

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South American Zone of the World Cup qualifiers have never been very interesting as Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay would always qualify for the final tournament, while two or three other side used to fought for one remaining place. This is so not the case this term as no less than six teams are fighting for two plus one qualifying berths with just two rounds to go.

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This could be nothing serious, but the definition of blogging is making something out of nothing, so Fernando Torres' groin injury does seem to offer a bit of a silver lining for Liverpool attacker Dirk Kuyt - from a fantasy footie perspective.
Torres always seems to suffer some sort of niggling injury or another every season he's been at Liverpool - and when he does, it's usually the Dutchman Kuyt who steps in to fill the striker's role. Click to continue reading...

Today marks the 28th anniversary of the death of Bill Shankly. It's really hard to believe it has been that long. Unlike most of you, I never had the privilege of watching Shankly in person. My age made it impossible, so I've instead been watching tape of the man for the last 20+ years of my life.

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There is a scene in an otherwise exceptional documentary, The History of Football, that discusses the formation of Major League Soccer following the 1994 World Cup. A smug Clive Toye pops up to tell us how MLS "may never be as successful as the NASL, because they didn't have the money we had," but in the very next sentence bemoans MLS's "tremendous advantage" wrought from a generation of kids grew up watching the North American Soccer League. Click to continue reading...

Throughout the history of football, there has always been players that seem impervious to harm, hurling themselves at all sorts of challenges with no regard for personal safety (or the safety of the opposition for that matter). This years batch of players are no different. The premiership being the most physical league in the world (citation?

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Barney Ronay of The Guardian is the latest guest on the EPL Talk Podcast to discuss his newest book, The Manager: The Absurd Ascent Of The Most Important Man In Football.

Ronay is best known for his appearances on the The Guardian's Football Weekly Podcast as well as the top writers at the newspaper.

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Chelsea have just been hit with one of the harshest bans in the history of football and they won't be able to sign any new players before January 2011. This comes as a result of the breach of regulations following Gael Kakuta's transfer from Lens as the kid was practically stolen from the French club.

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A transfer window of frugality kicking off the international break makes this, officially, the most boring week in the history of football. My desire for interesting football news hit such embarrassing depths last night I even jumped into the Google machine to see what Steven Appiah is up to these days (not much, it seems). Click to continue reading...

I am sure that it is no surprise that Barcelona is winner's of the 2009 LLTO La Liga's Best Squad.� And why not? � Barca has already taken home every other significant trophy this season, so a fourth probably won't be too much for the squad to handle.� The only� question to ask now� is:� Is� Barca the best� squad ever?

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Remember Michel Platini? Here he is at his prime. EURO 1984 in France.
via Box Office Football
Platini scored 9 goals in 5 matches in this tournament. I guess counting him as one of the best players in the history of football should be pretty obvious. I really see something similar in the way Frank Ribery plays today and Michel Platini played back in the '80. Click to continue reading...

The most dramatic day in not just Real history but in the history of football as Cristiano Ronaldo is unveiled in a Merengue kit at 9 PM tomorrow. So goes the breathless Marca headline. It gets better.

Real fans will be there in the hundreds of thousands to greet their new prophet.

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Carrying on with the musical theme, I chose the heading for two reasons, one is that there has ‘truly' only ever been two managers to stick to their guns and what they believe in, the other is that one of the two bought the great player we all love, miss and fondly refer to him as Sir Bobby.

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My favorite football tactic writer Jonathan Wilson is at again for the Guardian in the UK.� I have linked to Wilson here before and he is author of Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics.

This past Wednesday Wilson posted again for the Guardian, this time asking how the Brazilan 4-2-3-1 is different from a European 4-2-3-1.

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My favorite football tactic writer Jonathan Wilson is at again for the Guardian in the UK.� I have linked to Wilson here before and he is author of Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics.

This past Wednesday, Wilson posted again for the Guardian, this time asking how the Brazilian 4-2-3-1 is different from a European 4-2-3-1.

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Newcastle United have really out-done themselves. First they get relegated from the Premier League which is bad enough by itself. Now the club has gone and allowed Adidas to create arguably one of the WORST football shirts in the history of football shirts. Get a load of this monstrosity!
"God damn Mike Ashley. Click to continue reading...

Thank You for the memories. A tribute video to the best Manchester United player, Cristiano Ronaldo.I am sure he will rewrite the history of football in whichever club he plays for. Click to continue reading...

Cristiano Ronaldo has spoken modestly about his aspirations for his future playing with Real Madrid. Whilst still not mentioning the name of the club who have agreed an £80m transfer for him, Ronaldo reckons he still has some way to go before reaching his peak.

I can't help but think that he is going to end up disappointed and I hope he is.

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Where would we all be without the UK Press? An even better question is what am I doing adding even more print to the already exhausted saga of the world record transfer of the greatest narcissist in the history of football?

Ronaldo must be positively unbearable, flouncing around in LA with the world media spotlight on him.

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One of the things that has happened season after season with due diligence is the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is linked with Spanish giants Real Madrid. But nothing concrete has ever come of it, until now.

The rumours have been confirmed, as Manchester United have officially released a statement saying that they have received an offer to sell Ronaldo to Real for a price of £80 million.

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The biggest transfer in the history of football is about to happen, since Manchester United accepted Real Madrid's offer for Cristiano Ronaldo. The deal is thought to be worth around £80 million and it will be completed in the next couple of days. Ronaldo has been a real cry baby in the last few weeks, not to say that he isn't normally that, ever since Manchester United lost the Champions League final and it was just a matter of time before he makes the move to Real Madrid.

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Real Madrid's attempt to initiate Project Galactico Part II with the £56m capture of Kaka may trigger the biggest summer spending spree in the history of football. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas was yet again full of praise for Spanish giants Barcelona, saying they are the best team in the history of football.

He told ONA FM:

Which player would not like to play for a team like that at the moment? They are probably the best team that I have seen play in history and I have a lot friends there who are always telling me great things.

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Look, even the geeks at Google prepared a special Champions League final logo, and one carefully designed to not feature any of the team colours of the two teams involved (Google is neutral, naturally). That's how damned enormous this match is.
Honestly, tonight's Champions League final feels like the biggest game since the 2006 World Cup final – bigger than that even. Click to continue reading...

Ronaldo will not leave United for Madrid in the summer, according to the Portuguese Winger.

With Florentino Perez most likely to win the Madrid presidential election, he has made it clear his number one priority would be to sign the current FIFA World Player of the Year.

But United have made it clear Ronaldo is not for sale, and now Ronaldo has expressed his current thoughts on the matter.

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Perhaps every bookish football supporter has heard of/read the writings of Uruguayan journalist and poet, Eduardo Galeano. Judging how often his name is dropped among left-wing academic armchair football "fans" (see SWPL on the subject), he's also becoming the face of football for the growing body of mostly North American academes who deem football the one acceptable spectacle sport, in contrast with those "brute expressions of masculine oppression," American gridiron and hockey. Click to continue reading...