Chasing The Big Leagues Southampton and the challengers (English Championship) is a post from: Just Football

Tales from Tier Two is a series on Just Football in partnership with @tiertwofooty, in which we assess the promotion chances of the clubs in tier two of Europe's major leagues at the midway point of 2011/12.

If the draw for the Fifth Round of this year's FA Cup was notable for anything in particular, what really stood out was the presence of two clubs for whom an appearance at this stage of the competition would been inconceivable just a couple of decades ago. Last weekend, both Crawley Town and Stevenage chalked up notable wins in the Fourth Round of the competition both by a single goal, with Crawley's coming at Hull City and Stevenage's against Notts County - and the reward for each is a home match against Premier League in the next round, in the form of Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.

Players disrespecting referees is a big problem in many European leagues. Not so much in the Bundesliga, though. Image: THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP/Getty Images.

While everyone in England was caught up in the now traditional FA Cup bicker-fest, the rest of the European Leagues had a peculiar stillness about them this weekend.

P TIMES PG 1 West Ham United 54 2 Southampton 50 3 Cardiff City 50 4 Middlesbrough 45 5 Hull City 43 6 Blackpool 42 7 Reading 42 8 Leeds United 42 9 Brighton & Hove Albion 41 10 Derby County 41 11 Birmingham City 40 12 Burnley 40 13 Crystal Palace 37 14 Barnsley 36 15 Leicester City 35 16 Portsmouth 32 17 Peterborough United 31 18 Watford 30 19 Bristol City 30 20 Millwall 29 21 Ipswich Town 26 22 Nottingham Forest 24 23 Doncaster Rovers 23 24 Coventry City 22

Group B: African Cup of Nations 2012 Preview (Angola, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Sudan) is a post from: Just Football

Just Football's team-by-team African Cup of Nations 2012 group previews continues now with a look at Group B. Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to Just Football to get all the latest news from Just Football at the African Cup of Nations and beyond.

photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

A day after unveiling Quaker Oats as its jersey sponsor, the Chicago Fire made another big announcement.

The Fire re-signed midfielder Pavel Pardo on Wednesday, the club announced on its website.

Hull legend Dean Windass has attempted suicide twice in recent days, he has revealed. The Tigers' Wembley hero confessed he had tried to end his life as booze and depression took their grip after a series of problems in his personal life. The Soccer Saturday reporter said: "People have this image of me as this [.

P TIMES PG 1 West Ham United 51 2 Southampton 50 3 Cardiff City 47 4 Middlesbrough 45 5 Hull City 40 6 Derby County 40 7 Blackpool 39 8 Burnley 39 9 Reading 40 10 Leeds United 39 11 Brighton & Hove Albion 38 12 Birmingham City 37 13 Crystal Palace 37 14 Barnsley 36 15 Leicester City 35 16 Watford 31 17 Portsmouth 32 18 Peterborough United 31 19 Bristol City 27 20 Millwall 26 21 Ipswich Town 26 22 Nottingham Forest 24 23 Doncaster Rovers 23 24 Coventry City 19

Chasing the Big Leagues Stade de Reims is a post from: Just Football

Tales from Tier Two is a new series on Just Football in partnership with @tiertwofooty, in which we assess the promotion chances of the clubs in tier two of Europe's major leagues. First up in Ligue 2 were Clermont Foot.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

Headlines in England following the draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup will be centered on the Liverpool vs. Manchester United battle and a possible QPR vs. Chelsea meeting, as rematches of racism-marred Premier League games take center stage. For American fans, though, there's a much more tasty fixture to be found.

1. Poor old Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy probably had another busy Sunday explaining that he's not a referee to irate Manchester City fans. 2. Great to see Paolo Di Canio at the centre of the biggest shock of the weekend as Swindon saw off Wigan. He might be left disappointed by his hopes to [.

A largely average performance resulted in a 4-0 win over Portsmouth at Stamford Bridge and a place in the draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup. Hey, I'm not complaining.

Who's up next then? The Dons of MK or that lot from down the road.

Rubbish

Chelsea will travel to either MK Dons or Queens Park Rangers in the next round of the competition.

Manchester United and Ireland U21 international winger Robbie Brady will stay at Hull City until the end of the season.
The 19-year-old Dublin born player has scored one goal from 22 appearances since joining Hull on loan at the start of the season.
Tigers caretaker boss Nick Barmby said: "We've got a great platform for him to really kick on now.

Gary Ablett, Liverpool and Everton FA Cup hero, dies at the age of 46

• Ablett lifted FA Cup with Liverpool in 1989 and Everton in 1995 • 'Our thoughts are with Gary's wife Jacqueline and children' Gary Ablett, the only man to win the FA Cup with Liverpool and Everton, has died after a 16-month battle against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of blood cancer.

When Aston Villa starting goalkeeper Shay Given went down with an injury in an early December match against Manchester United, Alex McLeish was forced to turn to American backup Brad Guzan, who has been patiently waiting for a starting role in the Premier League ever since joining Villa from Chivas USA in 2008.

Got, Not Got: Mark Hateley magnetic marble refuses to play the game

Not only was Mark Hateley's dad the subject of the finest ever punk-rock football song "Where Have You Been Lately, Tony Hateley", by the Disco Zombies the towering, bemulleted centre-fireworks also carved quite a career in his own right.

Got, Not Got: Bring back Hull City's Boothferry Park Fer Ark's sake...

It's been labelled ‘football porn' for ‘nostalgia junkies', and ‘the best book about our national game since Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch'. 'Got, Not Got' is this year's must-have football nostalgia book.

Jonathan Spector went the distance in Birmingham City's tough loss to Hull City in a midweek clash with surging Hull City.

Jonathan Spector and Birmingham City look to avenge their loss to Cardiff City over the weekend in their game against Hull City on Wednesday.

P TIMES PG 1 Southampton 42 2 West Ham United 41 3 Cardiff City 35 4 Middlesbrough 32 5 Leeds United 31 6 Leicester City 29 7 Brighton & Hove Albion 29 8 Blackpool 27 9 Reading 27 10 Crystal Palace 27 11 Birmingham City 26 12 Hull City 25 13 Derby County 25 14 Burnley 24 15 Barnsley 24 16 Peterborough United 22 17 Millwall 22 18 Portsmouth 21 19 Watford 21 20 Bristol City 20 21 Nottingham Forest 20 22 Ipswich Town 18 23 Coventry City 13 24 Doncaster Rovers 13

Southampton equal Liverpool's winning home run

Southampton matched a 40-year English record when they beat Hull City 2-1 on Tuesday to record their 21st consecutive home league win.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-11-30 09:03:01 from: The Mail

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

Sadly I missed seeing the first goal from Dean Windass in a Boro league game, but no doubt now that he has broke his duck many more goals will follow from the ex Hull City star.
I was in London for the weekend seeing the fantastic stage play "Warhorse", and I want to say if you get the chance then go and see this show at the New London Theatre, it is fantastic.

1 Southampton 36 2 West Ham United 32 3 Middlesbrough 30 4 Cardiff City 28 5 Leeds United 26 6 Blackpool 25 7 Crystal Palace 25 8 Derby County 24 9 Brighton & Hove Albion 23 10 Leicester City 22 11 Hull City 22 12 Birmingham City 21 13 Reading 21 14 Peterborough United 20 15 Portsmouth 20 16 Burnley 19 17 Millwall 18 18 Barnsley 18 19 Ipswich Town 18 20 Nottingham Forest 17 21 Watford 16 22 Bristol City 13 23 Coventry City 12 24 Doncaster Rovers 12

With the most recent international break behind us and none scheduled this spring, Fulham's season can now fully set sail until season's end.

That is, until those obnoxious FA Cup weekends where we're not playing due to an earlier exit from the competition.

Anywho, Saturday will mark just the third time in the past three seasons that Fulham have to travel following an international break.

That Bantam's a Tiger Here's the Bradford City 2012 calendar: the perfect Christmas present for Bantams supporters. And Hull fans too, it would seem. A lazy designer has created a cover for the calendar that features an array of Bradford player, plus Hull City's Dele Adebola. The mix-up happened because the photo of Adebola [.

That Bantam's a Tiger Here's the Bradford City 2012 calendar: the perfect Christmas present for Bantams supporters. And Hull fans too, it would seem. A lazy designer has created a cover for the calendar that features an array of Bradford player, plus Hull City's Dele Adebola. The mix-up happened because the photo of Adebola [.

By Chris Wright

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. Bradford City have requested that their 2012 calendar be removed from stockists after being alerted to the fact that it featured Dele Adebola on the cover Adebola being a Hull City player.

By Alan Duffy

Following in the footsteps of Molde's title-winning boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Paul Scholes looks set to take over the Manchester United reserve team outright as current boss, Warren Joyce, moves back to his former club Hull City.

Phil Ascough has contributed a number of excellent pieces to The Two Unfortunates over recent months. Here, the author of Kissing the Badge attempts to get his head round the worst kept secret in this week's football league: I guess we'll find out some time today - possibly by the time you read this - whether Hull City need a new manager.

By FRANCO PANIZO

Jozy Altidore has reason to celebrate, and not just because it's his birthday.

Altidore found the back of the net for the first time since Sept. 29 by capping the scoring in AZ Alkmaar's 3-0 victory over ADO Den Haag on the day he turned 22 years old.

Back in the Boro fold is midfielder Nick McNamara.
Former Hull City 1st year pro, Nick also played at football league level with Rushden & Diamonds, he joined us last season from our rivals and landlords Bridlington Town, but after suffering a broken bone playing against Parkgate, he left the club.

The good, the bad, and the really, they're still technically Liverpool players? Not to mention the I really wish they were still at Liverpool players. Plus Joe Cole. It's time to get up to speed on how Liverpool's loanees are doing as the club moves into the meat of the season...

Alberto Aquilani

Remember when everybody was cool with Alberto Aquilani leaving because he really didn't want to be at Liverpool and he was soft in the tackle and the club had Raul Meireles anyhow, who at least was already proven in the Premier League, and as long as the club kept one of them around they'd be deeper in midfield then they had been the year before so it'd be cool?

Football fashion - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Fashion matters more to football than the average supporter might care to acknowledge. Most spectators aren't overly concerned about their personal aesthetic at 3pm on a Saturday. In fact, for that matter, many neglect to engage in even the most rudimentary of personal grooming practices full stop.

Video- Darren Fletcher goal vs Man City Man Utd October 23 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Video- Darren Fletcher goal vs Man City Man Utd October 23 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter This fabulous Darren Fletcher goal vs Man City was Man Utd's only bright lining in their derby clash on October 23, 2011.

Bury manager Richie Barker has extended the loan deal of Liverpool striker David Amoo until the New Year.
Amoo joined the Shakers on an initial month-long deal in September and it was due to expire after Saturday's game against Bournemouth.
However, the 20-year-old has agreed to prolong his time at Gigg Lane and will stick with the League One club until 2nd January.

Gems of the Lower Leagues: Robbie Brady is a post from: Just Football

Just Football's ‘Gems of the Lower Leagues' series continues with a look at Hull City's on-loan winger Robbie Brady. James McMath explains more about the Manchester United man who is fast-becoming a fans' favourite at the KC Stadium.

Gems of the Lower Leagues: Robbie Brady is a post from: Just Football

Just Football's ‘Gems of the Lower Leagues' series continues with a look at Hull City's on-loan winger Robbie Brady. James McMath explains more about the Manchester United man who is fast-becoming a fans' favourite at the KC Stadium.

Premier League needs more than just its top teams to be a global hit| Paul Wilson

Liverpool's plan to sell foreign TV rights individually would dilute the competitive character of the Premier League Anyone involved in English football these past 20 years or so knows two things.

In my state of drunk-with-happiness-following-our-amazing-3:1-win-over-Brighton I made a very bold statement to the researchers at BBC 5 Live's 606:
'Ipswich Town are now the best team in the League'

Clearly I was a little overexcited. But, you know, the more I think about it the more I'm convinced I'm right.

P TIMES PG J V E D GM GS SG 1 Southampton 19 8 6 1 1 20 10 10 2 Derby County 19 9 6 1 2 14 6 8 3 West Ham United 18 9 5 3 1 16 7 9 4 Middlesbrough 18 8 5 3 0 13 5 8 5 Brighton & Hove Albion 17 9 5 2 2 15 11 4 6 Hull City 14 9 4 2 3 7 8 -1 7 Cardiff City 13 8 3 4 1 10 7 3 8 Crystal Palace 13 9 4 1 4 12 10 2 9 Blackpool 13 9 3 4 2 11 9 2 10 Leicester City 12 8 3 3 2 9 9 0 11 Peterborough United 11 9 3 2 4 16 13 3 12 Leeds United 11 8 3 2 3 16 15 1 13 Reading 11 9 3 2 4 11 11 0 14 Ipswich Town 11 9 3 2 4 11 16 -5 15 Portsmouth 10 9 2 4 3 10 11 -1 16 Watford 10 9 2 4 3 9 12 -3 17 Burnley 9 8 2 3 3 12 12 0 18 Barnsley 9 9 1 6 2 7 9 -2 19 Birmingham City 8 7 2 2 3 10 12 -2 20 Nottingham Forest 8 9 2 2 5 9 18 -9 21 Coventry City 7 9 1 4 4 6 11 -5 22 Millwall 7 9 1 4 4 7 13 -6 23 Bristol City 6 9 1 3 5 8 15 -7 24 Doncaster Rovers 5 9 1 2 6 4 13 -9