Rumours of Jose Mourinho wanting to leave Real Madrid for the Premiership would mean only one thing: he is heading for Manchester. Since his famous Champions League win with Porto in 2004, Mourinho has had no desire to manage any side lacking truly world-class pedigree. For this very reason, a return to a depleted Chelsea side is not on the cards.

Portsmouth Football Club have been hit with yet another punch as the threat of administration looms – with manager Michael Appleton stating he is ‘ready for a points deduction.'

But is a points deduction really fair on Portsmouth Football Club?
Pompey's recent dogged luck has been created by individuals who were inadequate to run the football club and a controversial system in which they were appointed: the so called Fit and Proper Person's Test.

We're a small city in a region of 700,000 people. Not a professional mens football team worthy of a mention, not now, not in living memory.
And yet we still produce quality - quality footballers and in the case of Joe Simunic, Carl Valeri who are both still playing, star Internationals.
Throw in excellent A-League stalwarts, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Matty Kemp and Brisbane Roars Kofi Danning and we've almost got a half a team.

It seems like it's almost a given that Harry Redknapp is on his way out of Tottenham – whether it be immediately or the end of the season – but what really is there for him in the England job?

Looking at the history of the job it's notorious for tainting the careers of what were otherwise top managers.

With all the build up revolving around Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, this afternoon's early kick-off between Manchester United and Liverpool lived up to the pre-match hype. Arguably the spiciest fixture in the Premier League calendar, it was given even more zest before a ball had even been kicked, when Liverpool's Luis Suarez refused to shake Patrice Evra's extended hand.

At the Heysel Stadium in Brussels on the eighteenth of June 1972, West Germany lifted their first major tournament trophy since the 1954 World Cup. Two years later, at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, they lifted the World Cup. Yet it is sometimes said that the team of 1972 is more fondly remembered than the team of two years later, and it is certainly fair to say that the road to these twin victories was not without its problems.

Former Liverpool winger John Barnes has agreed to manage one of the 'franchise' teams in India's first professional football tournament. The tournament - scheduled to begin on th 24th March — will contain six 'franchises', and will be organised by Celebrity Management Group and the Indian Football Association.

After I wrote a while ago that Manchester City were the clear favourites for the Premier League title this year, my opinion seems to have changed over the past few weeks. Their recent form has seen them playing decent enough but Manchester United have gone that extra mile. Manchester City has lost on far too many occasions this season.

Signing of the season?

So one of the most exciting days of the season is over, and Jim White's excitable gossip-hungry clone can go back into suspended animation until next year. Yet spending is down nearly 70% versus last year's January deadline, where Torres and Carroll dominated the headlines.

Tragic news is coming out of Egypt following today's match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in Port Said, Egypt. After Al-Masry won the match, 3-1, its fans invaded the pitch, forcing Al-Ahly players to flee to the locker room, where they became trapped. Apparently, Al-Ahly Ultras took to the pitch too, and the long, violent history between the two clubs was extended.

I'll always remember the first game of football I ever went to: I was aged six; the location was Aggborough in Kidderminster as the Harriers took on Aston Villa in Graham Allner's testimonial. It was a few years before I was ever introduced to top flight football at Villa Park or First Division football at Molineux.

After having been reducing to a flapping and floundering wreck in the Anfield penalty area, David De Gea is likely to have spent much of Sunday in a darkened room shaking at the prospect of being confronted with any of the further tall, muscle bound players the Premier League has to offer. But a twisted ankle suffered by Anders Lindegaard means that Sir Alex Ferguson is likely to be left with no option but to force the young Spaniard to confront his demons in his sides clash with Stoke the evening.

Arsenal supporters are becoming increasingly frustrated at the club's recent failure to compete for major honours in the past 7 years.

The ‘so near yet so far' statement could not ring more true than it does for the Gunners and the fans are starting to lose patience.

The poisonous atmosphere that has swept across the Emirates Stadium in back-to-back games against Manchester United and Aston Villa must be a worry to both the manager and the board.

The tripartite nature of footballing rivalry in the north-east of England means that this afternoons FA Cup Fourth Round match between Sunderland and Middlesbrough has a hint of being a local derby about it without fully appearing to be the real thing.

Still, supporters of both of these clubs have cause to give a wry smile this afternoon.

Deloitte report assessing the financial impact of The FA Cup reveals: £650m earned by clubs in the past 10 years Crawley Town receive £1m pay day from single FA Cup tie

As excitement builds ahead of The FA Cup with Budweiser Fourth Round Proper, the financial impact of the competition has been revealed in a new report by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has written an open letter to the club's fans, asking them to behave well when they meet Liverpool in Saturday's 4th round FA Cup at Anfield.

Even those looking at Real Money Casino Games at Mansion will tell you that tensions between the rival clubs have increased in recent times, following the race row between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra in October's league draw at Anfield.

With both Euro 2012 and the Olympics getting underway this summer, it is perhaps no surprise that speculation has been rife over who will make it into Fabio Capello's final squad for Poland and Ukraine, and who is in line for a call up for Stuart Pearce's Olympic Team GB squad and the Euro 2012 betting odds for one youngster in particular have just dramatically shortened.

25 January 2012: FA Cup winner and Hollywood hardman Vinnie Jones has returned to Wembley for the first time in nearly 25 years, to star in an interactive film in which he presents fans with their personalised Wembley Way stone.

In the film, Vinnie plays tribute to the national stadium and the position that Wembley holds in the hearts of football, sport and music fans and jokes: "it's a lot like Hollywood only closer to the North Circular.

Benjamin Franklin once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. With this definition in mind events at the Emirates stadium on Sunday could lead some Arsenal supporters to question the mental health of their manager.

Sunday 28th August 2011 will be a date forever etched on the minds of Arsenal and Manchester United supporters alike, remembered with very differing degrees of fondness.

Norwich City have completed the signing of Jonny Howson from Leeds United. A fee was agreed last week, but the Canaries have now confirmed the transfer after the midfielder completed his medical at Carrow Road.

Those who assess in play betting strategy note how the signing is one of many Norwich have made from outside of the Premier League as they build a strong squad to continue the success Paul Lambert has already brought to the club.

Images: ONTD_Football.

Victoria Beckham, sole provider of Harper Seven's ridiculous wardrobe, covers the March 2012 edition of Numero Tokyo in a to-die-for turquoise leather trench.

To put things into perspective, this was the "highlight" of our weekends.

Saturday

- Former Paraguay striker, Salvador Cabanas, made his triumphant return to professional football, two years after nearly dying from a gun shot to the head that's fragments are still partially lodged in his skull.

Harry Redknapp, who spent most of last week aiming poisonous verbal darts in the direction of Manchester City manager, Roberto Mancini, last night went on live television to try to get the FA to take retrospective action against Mario Balotelli for an alleged stamp on Scott Parker during City's dramatic win against Spurs.

Coventry City's Alex Nimely celebrates scoring their second goal of their terrific win against Middlesborough

Every week, my brother places an accumulator on various Football League results, only a few quid, but enough to make it fairly interesting. To this date, he has never won.

Many are labelling this weekend's game as a grudge match with Spurs seeking revenge for the beating they received at White Hart Lane earlier in the season. According to a recent poll by Sky Sports, Spurs are also the favourites to win the league, no doubt partly due to the new-found hatred that City has acquired.

As Tony Fernandes appears the only Premier League chairman willing to put the golden nib of his fountain pen to his cheque book, newspapers and sports channels alike struggle to satisfy the footballing publics insatiable appetite for transfer talk. This has resulted in the arrival of silly season appearing to be unavoidably upon us with rumours of Andy Carroll returning to Newcastle and Didier Drogba moving to China.

Fresh from the news, Chelsea's manager Andre Villas-Boas proposed that the English League adopts the system which uses Premier League Reserve Teams in lower divisions.
It is widely known, that this system is widely used in Spain and Germany, and has benefited the young talents of Spain to progress faster and more efficiently to professional football.

Carlo Ancelotti joined PSG in December after being sacked by Chelsea. The Italian won the double in his first season but failed to inspire The Blues as they finished without a trophy the following season.

The 52-year-old admitted he was hoping to replace Arsene Wenger in north London.

Manchester city headed 3 points clear as they recorded a win over Wigan although the match certainly won't go down as one of the greatest City performances of all time. I got a rather uneasy feeling just before kick-off and it proved to be quite a nervy game all round as, I think it's fair to say, City scrapped away to get a 1-0 victory in a half empty DW Stadium.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain

Alex made his big move to Arsenal in the summer for a massive £15million. The England U21 international has been outstanding when he has featured this season and will have a big part to play in the second half of the season. At the start of December Wenger tipped Chamberlain to make the England 2012 squad for the summer tournament which could him play more and more in the second half of the season.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain

Alex made his big move to Arsenal in the summer for a massive £15million. The England U21 international has been outstanding when he has featured this season and will have a big part to play in the second half of the season. At the start of December Wenger tipped Chamberlain to make the England 2012 squad for the summer tournament which could him play more and more in the second half of the season.

Puebla FC is a professional football club. It is based in Mexico. USMNT player Herculez Gomez played for them. Currently, DeMarcus Beasley plays for them. In the US, teams go belly up and enter bankruptcy. In the UK, they enter administration. In Mexico, things are a bit more gun ho due to a recent tax dispute between the state and federal government, the Mexican Federal Government seized Puebla's stadium, equipment, and even their coach bus.

After a very disappointing first half against Liverpool and a distinct lack of cutting edge in the 2nd half, Wigan away is probably one of the best places to go right now for a game to build up your confidence again. I mean that with respect of course, but there is no denying that Wigan aren't having a great season.

I appealed because I obviously completely disagreed with the interpretation of the officials on the day but that happens in football and we move on. I wonder though if we are now going to see an unprecedented wave of red cards on match days because we sanction "if's" and "maybe's"? Are we going to look back at video evidence for every single challenge that goes unnoticed by the officials, look at different scenarios and potential outcomes of what could have been considered a good tackle and then sanction it?

Steven Gerrard gives Liverpool the edge at 13mins

Liverpool will go to the second leg of the Carling Cup Semi Final with a 1 goal advantage. A penalty given away by Stefan Savic's foul on Daniel Agger, appearing to be slight accidental contact, however there was no questioning the decision.

The inaugural UK Football Academy (UKFA) symposium at Emirates Stadium on February 8th has been renamed The Gary Speed Football Congress by UKFA founder, Raymond Verheijen as a tribute to the manager alongside whom he worked last year to elevate the Wales football team to new heights.

As a player and a manager, Gary Speed was a model professional who embraced a forward-thinking approach and modern methods.

Stay cool, it may feel like deja vu but you're not in the Matrix. It's just this French invention of adding to the venerable Coupe de France a modern nemesis called Coupe de la Ligue, and programming them at the same period.

This cup is the least respected of the two and many presidents already said it should be abandoned, but it has at least two advantages : First, it is the shortest route to a title, meaning it's an opportunity to salvage your season when you've missed the top spot of the championship (thinking of anyone?

Or, what if Tim Tebow was a Buddhist or Jew? Would he be getting the support and love he is receiving now from the sports world?
As a devout Christian, Tebow has raised many eyebrows inside and outside the sports world.
People are rooting for him because they like his style of play and because he stands for Conservative principles.

Let's face it, yesterday's Manchester derby was awful. Yes, there were goals and a spirited second-half fightback from City after an understandably poor first-half display.

But the game was ruined as a fair contest by Chris Foy and Wayne Rooney in the eleventh minute. Anyone who knows the rules of football intimately will understand that Foy's decision to send off City captain Vincent Kompany for his tackle on Nani was plainly wrong.

Neil Warnock's sacking by QPR after a run of just two points from their last eight league matches was not as much of a surprise as one would expect. Warnock had not only saved the club from relegation after joining from Crystal Palace during the 2009-10 season but led Rangers to the Championship title in his full season.

What would premier league teams look like if they became sovereign nations, with their size dictated by their net worth?

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