SoccerBlogs

With many English and Scottish League titles already won or all-but-won, tight season-finishes have had to be sought elsewhere, such as the bottom of League Two. Wimbledon took only nine years to get back their Football League place but it might only take them two to lose it again. Barnet are attracting worldwide attention because of the bespectacled Dutchman who got them the snookers they needed to climb the table.

It looks as if the battle to avoid relegation from League Two is going to go to the wire. With eleven games of the season still to play, just six points separate Dagenham & Redbridge in sixteenth place in the table at Wimbledon, who sit at its foot, and in such a tense environment it could be argued that every single iota that could assist a club in avoiding the drop into the Blue Square Bet Premier a division which is, let us not forget, considerably more difficult to escape from in an upwardly direction than it is to fall into in the first place, as a succession of former Football League clubs have found over the years could be critical in preserving that all-important status amongst the "elite" for the want of a better word ninety-two clubs of English footbal.

It may have been one of the more curious winding up petitions that the High Court on The Strand will have dealt with today, at least. The petition against Notts County Football Club Ltd, which was brought, and there are no great surprises here, by HMRC, was reportedly dismissed in a matter of seconds this, but the fact that the club claims to have been unaware of any such proceedings even having been raised until they were tipped off by a supporter of Plymouth Argyle raises questions over the processes that are currently being used by the tax collectors in their apparently relentless pursuit of football clubs through the courts.

There was a certain inevitability about the departure of manager Carl Fletcher from League Two strugglers Plymouth Argyle. With only one win in the league since the twentieth of October and his team now just two points above the relegation places at the foot of the table, a defeat away to one of the few sides in the division still below them, Bristol Rovers, was always going to be likely to be the straw that broke the camel's back for the Argyle owner James Brent, but there is still a hint of sadness about the first managerial departure of 2013.

We continue our series of archive videos of the clubs of the Football League Championship with Leicester City, and six matches from the years between 1947 and 1992. Our first match is from the 1947 FA Cup, and sees Leicester travel to a snowbound St James Park for an FA Cup Fifth Round match against Newcastle United.

We could argue, perhaps, that there is one set of rules for the well-to-do and another for the rest of us. Peter Ridsale, latterly of Leeds United, Barnsley, Cardiff City, Plymouth Argyle and currently at Preston North End, has been disqualified from acting as a company director for seven and a half years following an investigation carried out by Insolvency Service into the collapse of into the collapse of his company WH Sports Group Limited (WHSG), which provided sports and leisure consultancy services to football clubs from 2003 on.

We continue our series of archive videos of the clubs of the Football League Championship this morning with a club that became the champions of England twice in four years during the 1970s, Derby County. Under the managership of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, the club was promoted to the First Division in 1969, and they gave a glimpse of what was to come with the first of our six matches, a mauling of Tottenham Hotspur at The Baseball Ground in September 1969.

We are delighted to announce today that 200% has received an unconditional bid for the Rangers opinion piece from Mr Mark Murphy which has been accepted and he is now the preferred author. Mr Murphy now proposes to complete his article by the end of this weekend. Mr Murphy's proposal involves the use of a specially-created article and the retention of the initial reaction piece.

The dizzying raft of exposes emanating from investigations into twenty-first century Rangers (and a few years before, if ex-director Hugh Adam's revelations are at all credible) is truly now doing my head in. Plymouth Argyle's pock-marked spell in administration last year produced enough material for almost daily updates on this site.

The Montreal Impact have already secured one Designated Player, and it appears that they might not be stopping there.

On the heels of signing Bologna striker Marco Di Vaio, the club confirmed that sporting director Nick de Santis has been in talks with the agent for Dutch great and former AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf.

In the six seasons of Toronto's existence, there haven't been many must-see games between the Reds and Revolution. Correction. There haven't been any must-see matches between the so-called conference rivals.

Sure, we've seen moments of brilliance unfold. Michael Parkhurst's 55-yard goal in 2007 comes to mind.

Former Revolution assistant coach Paul Mariner was appointed head coach of Toronto FC after the team relieved Aron Winter of his duties on Thursday.

Mariner spent six seasons (2004-2009)Â in New England as an assistant to longtime head coach Steve Nicol and heled guide the team to three straight MLS Cup finals.

By Tony Attwood

If you want to know something strange about football then all you have to do is study the life and times of Peter Ridsdale, a man who has been associated with Leeds United, Plymouth Argyle, Cardiff City, Barnsley and currently Preston North End. The latter is particularly interesting since he has [.