On this busy day of international soccer, check out this interesting piece from Soccer America magazine on Real Salt Lake owner, Dave Checketts. I don't know anything about the man and maybe he is not Mr. Nice Guy but, according to goalkeeper Nick Rimando, at least he seems to care about his team. Can anyone imagine Mr. Click to continue reading...

There are plenty of stories being knocked out this week from Abu Dhabi - no doubt in attempt by journos to justify the expense of jetting them out for the best part of the week, and The Guardian carries one that, whilst not a new subject, is always interesting in how it lifts the lid on the disharmony during the 2008/09 season. Click to continue reading...

Since Lippi has taken over the national team for a second time, the big question has always been, "Why aren't you calling up Antonio Cassano?" Cassano has widely been recognized as the best Italian player at the moment and there is no other talent in Italy that can even reach his level at the moment (maybe an in-form Totti).

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Episode 49: "Only Snorlax Can Hold 10! Look at Him, He's F***ing Huge!"
Host: Scott
Panel: Sandra, Kevin McCauley, Jason Longshore
Listen on the CSRN Media Player
DOWNLOAD Episode 49
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Available on iTunes, just search Winning Ugly

This week on the show we welcome another newbie, while the lovely Sandra checks in from her quarantine bubble and the goodiest do-gooder of all time, Jason returns to infect the show with his nice guy nonsense. Click to continue reading...

‘Mr. Nice Guy', ‘Pinocchio', ‘a lovely man but a terrible manager' these are all the ways former Middlesbrough boss, Gareth Southgate was described. "The Rookie" on Boro bench got sacked even though he was only one point behind the leading teams. In spite of the 2:0 win over Derby, president Steve Gibson made the decision that must be respected.

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You see that great big ditch down there? The one big enough to swallow St. James's Park? That's how far my heart sank when I heard the news that Chris Hughton was offered the manager's job on a permanent basis.

Firstly, this is a huge backwards step and reeks of the lack of ambition wafting out from the Gallowgate.

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via AP

Poor Luis Fabulouso! The Brazilian striker is depressed that the Milan move never materialized. He's also pessimistic about Sevilla's chances against Barca and Real in Spain.

"I expected the deal to go through, but it was a sad ending. Milan's leaders came to my manager's house, called me and spoke to me about an 'easy life' and that it would be all right.

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The Chelsea Blog interviews me ahead of the Community Shield.

Soccerlens will be doing a live blog for Sunday's game.

The Daily Mail interviews Roy 'Mr Nice Guy' Keane.

The Guardian reckons Nicky Butt could be joining Liverpool.

"RoM Reads" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

UPDATE: Donation has been made to Dynamo Charities!
Well I wasn't able to get to $500 but we did get $200! Not too bad.
Fundable.com has taken their 10% usage fee (part of the deal) but because I'm such a nice guy, I'm kicking in the difference to get the final donation back to $200. Click to continue reading...

Figure it out.
On the way to yesterday's first leg of Toronto FC's CONCACAF Champions League qualifier against the Puerto Rico Islanders, I overheard one of the many scumbags* who scalp in and around BMO Field told a potential seller, "I'll buy your tickets if the price is free. No way I'd pay a cent for these tickets. Click to continue reading...

What´s better than reading the Sports papers? Hearing it from thesource, the "horses mouth", LIVERPOOL FC Manager/Coach RafaelBenitez:Is this a strategic tactic to "educate" the Liverpool FC fans thatRafa is the nice guy & Xabi the bad guy? Or is it sincere? The fact is XABI ALONSO is´nt talking with his Coach, there is zero relation. Click to continue reading...

OK, yesterday's StB was way too obvious. No more Mr Nice Guy... Think you know who this is? Leave a comment with your guess. Yesterday's answer: Lionel Messi I thought the No.19 on the shorts might put some of you...

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Jerzy Dudek is hopeful that his former team-mate Xabi Alonso can join him at Real Madrid this summer.
Real president Florentino Perez has made the Liverpool midfielder his next big transfer target but talks seem to have broken down.
The Reds are thought to value the Spaniard at around £30million while Real are said to only be prepared to part with £20million. Click to continue reading...

I really wasn't going to touch this topic... mainly cause I don't really know much about Yuri Zhirkov. I mean I'm sure he's a nice guy'n all and I'm sure he loves cold winter's just as much as the next guy... so then why has he moved to a club notorious for plunging talented midfielders (other than Lampard) into the depths of obscurity? Click to continue reading...

It looks like we've managed to get around £8m out of Sevilla for Didier Zokora. As much as I liked the guy, this has to be one of the best pieces of business I've seen Spurs pull off.

He's been with us 3 years and was supposedly going to fill the void left by Michael Carrick but that just never happened.

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