The members of Manchester City not busy with international duty finally met the man who pays their massive wages for the first time yesterday in Abu Dhabi, ahead of today's friendly against the United Arab Emirates (which City lost 1-0). The awkwardness of the occasion is evident especially the shot at 10 second into the video where it appears they just finished talking about the weather and now have absolutely nothing left to say to each other.

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Chelsea beat Man Utd 1-0 at Stamford Bridge today.A late John Terry header beat Ferguson's team to stay top of the League on 30 points, 5 ahead of Arsenal and Utd and a whopping 12 points ahead of us in seventh.While I don't like Chelsea much, I despise Man Utd, so I am delighted they were beaten. Click to continue reading...

Afternoon all.

Is it me or is it a bit quiet out there? Perhaps after all the excitement from the weekend anything is going to seem quiet. Speaking of quiet, that's not something Eboue can be accused of as he issues the most unsubtle ‘come and get me' plea to PSG. It's all very strange.

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South America is a million miles away from contemporary, cosmopolitan western Europe. Distances are vast, mass salaries are low, air travel is expensive. There has been little significant mass immigration to the continent in decades. Click to continue reading...

This week's Video Of The Week is "Heading For Glory", the official film of the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany. There was no English presence (although with the benefit of hindsight there was no disgrace in being knocked out by a Polish side that didn't get a million miles from reaching the final of the competition), but Scotland began their four-yearly routine of almost getting to the Second Round of the competition, the Dutch fielded possibly the best ever international team to not win a World Cup, East Germany met West Germany for the only time (and beat them) and Gerd Muller eventually won the tournament fof the host nation.

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It is a little known fact that Charles n Eddie, that legendary duo who were widely regarded as the Lennon and McCartney of the 90s, were Crewe Alexandra fans. Now c'mon, would I lie to you baby?
Which is probably what the spokesman from the Football Association was nervously humming to himself, even as he was dialling the number for Anfield to inform Rafael Benitez that his skipper Steven Gerrard was, in fact, injured after all, and would be allowed to return to Merseyside. Click to continue reading...

It's patently obvious Man Utd are not the side they were. No-one can lose Tevez and Ronaldo and be as effective - especially if you replace them with Valencia (3 goals and 3 assists last season) and Owen (perennially injured, super-sub). We maintain they will struggle this season - a slip out of the top four has even been mooted.

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There is alot of bravado spoken when the subject of my football team's home is mentioned. The title 'Theatre of Dreams' (dubbed by Bobby Charlton) was once embarrassingly mentioned by fans in the late 1980's. The two words 'theatre' and 'dreams' were a million miles away from hooligan England in those days, where the reality was [. Click to continue reading...

Believe it or not, this man used to play football?!

As expected Rio Ferdinand and Edwin van der Sar miss Arsenal's OT visit on Saturday, but United are boosted by news that Owen Hargreaves returns to the club on 23 September.

The midfielder hasn't played for a year, during which time he's had operations on both knees to solve his tendonitis problems, so that return date is not his playing comeback.

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As Rafael Benitez flounders in a mire of his own making, it's easy to picture a happier scene being played out not a million miles away from Anfield.
A middle-aged man with grey, curly hair allowing himself a satisfied smile as he sits in front of the television at home or enjoys a leisurely round of golf. Click to continue reading...

As Rafael Benitez flounders in a mire of his own making, it's easy to picture a happier scene being played out not a million miles away from Anfield. Click to continue reading...

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If you're Scottish, you are watching your football nation die. Once, a thriving field of imaginative players lived in this football worshiping country; now a dead zone, populated by footballing zombies. Scotland's 4-0 defeat against Norway in the World Cup qualifier ranks as the worst effort by a Scottish team, probably, ever.

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And around we go once more!

Real Madrid are threatening to walk away from negotiations to sign Xabi Alonso if Liverpool do not drop their £30million asking price today.

The Reds' managing director Christian Purslow entered talks in Barcelona on Sunday demanding £30m up front for their 27-year-old with a further £4m in performance-related add-ons.

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A week since my last post. Not a lot's happened, that's why, apart from the now default 'Fabregas to leave' rumour (swiftly followed by his denial). Are we going to have more of this? Seems likely unless he retreats to a monastery and takes a vow of silence.

Some of the more fanciful links see us linked to Benzema (deeply unlikely) and Ribery (source: The Daily Star so don't go out and get Ribery printed on your new away shirt just yet).

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UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, Chelsea have matched Liverpool's £17.5million bid for Portsmouth defender Glen Johnson. The decision now will come down to Johnson. Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie said,

"The matter will come to a conclusion at the beginning of next week.

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Latest transfer stories from the English Premier League - Liverpool odds-on to sign Glenn Johnson. Click to continue reading...

I'm surprisingly a lot calmer than I thought I would have been. I came to terms with relegation several weeks ago and when the final whistle blew at Villa Park I was in a sombre mood. But, consigning myself to relegation, I was preparing for the worst. It's not easy to take, and to think we won't be playing Premier League football again (at the earliest) until 2010 just adds to the misery.

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