SoccerBlogs

A team not from England in the English Premier League? Whats that I hear you say?

For those readers from around the world who may not be versed in UK geography, there will be a very special team playing in the English Premiership next season. A team that isn't actually from England.

This may surprise a few people but Swansea City is a team from Wales, a country famed for a sport where people throw around a ball shaped like an egg, famed for actors Catherine Zeta Jones and Anthony Hopkins, Tom Jones, cockles and laverbread and now finally, a Premiership football side.

Robbie Blake for Burnley take Manchester United down a peg Video Highlights originally appeared on ø Soccer & Football Blog - Premiership News ø on August 19, 2009.

I really have nothing against Bolton, but the day when they get relegated will be like a holiday to me. The Trotters have somehow managed to avoid the drop for the last two seasons but not thanks to their quality, that's for sure. With another Premiership season around the corner, I really hope that this will be the season when they finally go down.

"Bobby Robson became the heart that English football wore on its sleeve." The words are a touching epitaph from the beginning of David Lacey's tribute to Sir Bobby Robson in this morning's Guardian, after the footballing great passed away yesterday. But they only do him partial justice. Best known in England for successful spells as a player then manager at Fulham, West Bromich Albion, Ipswitch Town and Newcastle and for his eight years at the helm of the English national team his feats overseas often go undocumented, or at best overlooked.

A report by the Commission on the Future of Women's Sport which the BBC's Gordon Farquhar blogged about earlier this month points out that just 2% of media coverage on elite sport focuses on women. Now I first got into writing about football by following one of my best friend's journeys through the matches, tournaments and politics of women's football in Oxford.

Imagine on Monday morning you get a phone call. Your company's biggest competitor is on the line, offering you exactly the same job but on twice the salary. What's more, they'll give you a couple of million quid as a sweetener just for signing on. Now don't get me wrong, I love my job. But you'd have to be a pretty brave or, to be frank, a pretty stupid man to hang up the phone.

While� Florentino Pérez has been busy� attempting to� revenge his fantasy football frustrations� ("why won't� The Sun let me have Cristiano Ronaldo,� Kaká and Karim Benzema!?") on� Real Madrid, another of Europe's less glamorous elite clubs has been undoing a "sporting project" of their own.

He conquered European champions Spain with two delicate touches of his right foot, then came within a whisper of masterminding the downfall of world football's Goliath mighty, magnificent Brazil -� in the final of the Confederations Cup. So who is this footballing Adonis? Argentina's beloved Leo Messi?

Every year Premiership managers conspire to spend millions of pounds on exotic sounding foreign players whose names have never graced the screens of an English TV. Last year it was Marouane Fellaini, a £15 million signing for Everton. And what's more, his tough tackling, willingness to play ludicrously out of position, and even more ludicrous haircut have made the Premiership a better place over the last twelve months.

Back in 2006, I interviewed Steve Tew at the New Zealand Rugby Football Union. At the time, he was the second most important person in All Blacks rugby. Now he's the first. We were talking about the impact the Pacific Islands have on New Zealand rugby, and he made a pretty convincing case for players from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga looking to come and play for the All Blacks as a way of improving their lifestyles while giving something back to their adopted homes.

Any regular followers of this blog will know that updates have been few and far between since May. As the football season has reached its dramatic climax and the transfer window has reopened, the world of work has come under an enormous and ever increasing amount of pressure from the recession.

A few eyebrows will doubtless be raised by Chelsea's decision to appoint an exotic continental manager with a poor grasp of English just six months after sacking an exotic continental manager with a poor grasp of English. Accusations were certainly cast about Luiz Felipe Scolari's ability to control the dressing room given his alarming accurate impression of an overweight Andrew Sachs� in Fawlty Towers.

A few eyebrows will doubtless be raised by Chelsea's decision to appoint an exotic continental manager with a poor grasp of English just six months after sacking an exotic continental manager with a poor grasp of English. Accusations were certainly cast about Luiz Felipe Scolari's ability to control the dressing room given his alarming accurate impression of an overweight Andrew Sachs� in Fawlty Towers.

Chelsea v Blackburn Live Streaming & Match Preview
Watch Chelsea vs Blackburn Live Online - Click Here
Chelsea vs Blackburn : Live Premiership Football
Sunday, 17th May 2009
Kick Off : 16:00 GMT
Venue : Stamford Bridge

neither of these teams have anything left to play for in the Premiership, well not so true Blackburn could still get some more money by climbing up the table a bit more but Chelsea are stuck in 3rd no matter what happens.

Arsenal 1 (Diaby 71) Liverpool 0
(Premiership)

Football, eh? Yesterday, the club was engulfed in doom and gloom losses to United and Chelsea had made our title challenge seem forlorn, Liverpool had gone on a run of form that had brought them within touching distance, and even Spurs were bleating about the possibility of catching us up.

Sordid affairs, last minute goals, new heroes, old friends and the same old foes. This week's Premiership football stories have everything.

Read more

Every Monday during the season,� we've� brought you our conclusions from the weekend's Premiership football.� With the season now officially over and the� league's� players either gearing up for World Cup 2010 or booking their flights for a round of golf in Dubai, we present to you our season-ending� thoughts and conclusions.

It's been another cracking week in the world of Premiership football; Manchester United defeated Liverpool to claim top spot, Chelsea's season continued to implode at Blackburn, Sunderland's fortunes are on the rise and Hull dropped further into the relegation mire.

What a fantastic week in the world of Premiership football; Birmingham lost their 15-match unbeaten streak, Emmanuel Adebayor returned to the Man City line-up, John Terry was exposed as a cheat and Wayne Rooney continued his superhuman run of form.

Oooh.� � � Someone apply for this and let us know what's what!� � (Note to Fulham:� Colin and I would probably have a bash at this part-time)

Match Analysis Work Experience / Intern

The Fulham Match Analysis department provide innovative and pioneering analysis to all professional teams within the club.

If you were your country's top scorer with a healthy 35 goals in 73 appearances, chances are you'd be an established top league player in most countries in Europe. Add to that record a career that has seen you start out at Manchester United and take in spells at Leeds United, Sunderland and Fulham, you'd expect a pretty good record.

Celtic v Hearts Live Streaming & Match Preview
Watch Celtic vs Hearts Live Online - Click Here
Celtic vs Hearts : Live Premiership Football
Sunday, 24th May 2009
Kick Off : 13:00 GMT
Venue : Celtic Park

Another exciting end to the SPL season, with both Old Firm teams in action as they fight for the title.

Headline news, Wenger will not buy anyone in the summer, whilst another newspaper said Kroenke gives Wenger a £40 million war chest.

�

The truth is that no manager should reveal his hand in the transfer market in advance, especially when you require your existing players to deliver silverware.