QPR boss Harry Redknapp celebrated his side's FA Cup third round replay victory over West Brom by humming the tune to BBC Radio Five Live's Sports Report. That's Radio Five reporter Pat Murphy on whatever the humming equivalent of backing vocals might be. Via 101GG
Ex-Everton flop Andy Van Der Meyde has lifted the lid on how his life spiralled out of control during his time on Merseyside. In a candid interview with BBC Radio Five Live, the Dutchman speaks openly about a number of problems in his personal life. Perhaps the most bizarre example of this is the story [.
England winger Theo Walcott is a doubt for Tuesday's Euro 2012 clash with Ukraine after he
pulled out of training following a tightness in his hamstring.
Manager Roy Hodgson confirmed the news on Sunday afternoon and while it is not thought the
damage is too serious, it may mean Walcott is not available to face the co-hosts.
After parting ways with Tottenham Hotspur this morning, a defiant Harry Redknapp has informed
potential suitors that he is keen to remain a football manager and that he is ready to accept any
challenge.
The Spurs relieved Redknapp of his duties earlier today and speculation was rife that the
veteran manager was let go due to a turbulent finish to the club's 2011-12 season.
There's little doubt that Alan Pardew has concerns about losing Demba Ba this summer. Papiss
Cisse - in action yesterday What's that ball doing there it should be in the back of the net
And in last Friday's BBC Radio Five call-in he said there was some truth to the rumors about Ba
having a release clause in his contract, and that Newcastle were trying to fix that by
offering the Senegal striker [.
"Dzeko's been purr tonight, very purr. Which reminds me, I hate kittens..."
Anyone who happened to listen to BBC Radio Five Live's coverage of Man City's clash against
Villarreal will have probably turned off (as I did) around about the point that their insufferable,
jowly curmudgeon-in-chief Alan Green added 'orchestrated fan displays' to the long, long list of
piffling things he 'really hates' about football which came about five minutes before
kick-off (a couple of minutes after he'd already taken the time to add the City fans themselves for
having the temerity not to fill the completely fill the stadium on a Tuesday night).
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has insisted he didn't deserve his reputation as a
bad tackler, insisting he was simply ‘getting people back' after they had previously fouled
him.
36-year-old enjoyed an illustrious career where he was thought to be the perfect midfielder by
many, but fans and pundits alike were very critical of his tackling or lack of ability to tackle,
especially towards the end of his playing days.
Former Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry expects that Liverpool's U.S. owners, New England
Sports Ventures, will conclude that building a new ground, rather than redeveloping Anfield, is the
way forward.
"The new owners have been very smart in not making any false promises or predictions," Parry
told Sportsweek on BBC Radio Five Live.
Arsenal's former vice-chairman David Dein insists Arsene Wenger remains the best man to lead the
Gunners, despite six seasons without a trophy at the Emirates Stadium.
Dein has remained in close contact with Wenger since leaving Arsenal after the pair spent 11
largely successful years working together.
Huge news from the Championship, where Doncaster Rovers have sacked their mascot of three years
after she got her wabs out for a fairly timid lingerie shoot, posing alongside the head from her
'Donny The Dog' costume.
Doncaster have announced that 40-year old, mother-0f-three Tracy Chandler has been relieved of
her voluntary duties after she 'disgraced the club' by appearing in a charity photo shoot for a
newspaper.
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown believes manager Arsene Wenger will sign new players in the
summer transfer window if the Gunners end yet another season without any trophies to show for.
Speaking to BBC Radio Five ...
Alan Shearer was the last local lad to be the Newcastle and England number 9, and this morning Alan
seems to have been pleased with the performance of Andy Carroll last night for England, in their
2-1 loss to France. Shearer talked to BBC Radio Five Live this morning: "I thought he battled well,
his [.
According to The Independent, United States soccer coach Bob
Bradley admitted that he is interested in the Aston Villa coaching
position. When asked if he was interested in the position while on BBC Radio Five Live's
Sportsweek, Bradley said,
"Of course, I think Aston Villa is a massive club with great history and a great following and
those type of opportunities would of course be of interest .
Bob Bradley shows interesting in the coaching job at Aston VIlla.
Its a back and forth thing with Bob Bradley right now. Either there is interest in him or he
shows interest in something, whether it be the US National team or the current opening at EPL side
Aston Villa.
This morning reports suggest the US boss is indeed interested in the Villa job.
Former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is confident the capture of Joe Cole and retention of
captain Steven Gerrard will show Fernando Torres just how serious Roy Hodgson is about moving the
Reds forwards.
Hodgson, who took charge at Anfield following the departure of Rafael Benitez, is hoping Torres
will follow Gerrard's example and publicly commit himself to the club, but concedes the Spain
striker has misgivings.
Stoke City chairman Peter Coates believes that Liverpool will find it "enormously difficult" to
reclaim a place in the Champions League due to the new financial rules that UEFA are
introducing.
The new rules will mean that clubs will only be able to spend money that they earn, and the Stoke
chairman believes that this will just benefit those clubs already in the Champions League,
increasing their financial power.
Time then to look ahead to the game. Dundee United or Ross County. Ninety minutes from destiny.
County will have a lot of support, including what seems to be an extraordinary exodus from the
Highlands, as the underdogs. Others will just be delighted that a different name will be on the cup
by the end of the day.
Radio Five's interview with Fergie is full of great nuggets of information, from the contents of
his wine collection to his penchant for JLS (that second one is a lie). However, his honest musings
on Man City 'keeper Joe Hart are sure to put a smile on the face of the blue half of
Manchester.
Guardian: Fare chief slams Liverpool 'tribal fervour' after Luis Suárez
affair
• Piara Powar criticises club for attitude to FA • Supporter arrested after Oldham FA Cup
tie The head of European football's anti-racism group believes Liverpool's reaction to the Luis
Suárez affair has whipped up "a tribal fervour" at Anfield.
Yesterday afternoon, or if back home in England, yesterday evening, a strange thing happened in
the crazy world of soccer journalism and social networking that illustrated, to me at least, the
huge power that has now developed across Twitter, Facebook and other popular network sites.
Disaster for Keys and Gray as theatre tour cancelled
Dave Whelan's ill-advised comments on Premier League racism, in which he advised black players
to "just get on with it" if abused, weren't his only bizarre utterance of the weekend. How did the
former JJB Sports boss and Conservative Party backer respond to his side's eighth consecutive
defeat, which leaves them bottom of the Premier League?
I spent a couple of hours in the car on Sunday afternoon driving home after a weekend away. I was
feeling a little bit jaded, so to keep myself entertained, I had the radio tuned into BBC Radio
Five Live to while away the time and to keep my brain engaged.
I like Five Live. There's a good mix of news and sport, and I vastly prefer their more informal
style of broadcasting to that to be found on Radio 4.
While I was ‘away' at the Asian Cup, English football ‘personalities' maintained their
capacity to infuriate – through stinking hypocrisy as much as the usual pig ignorance.
Brady
Everybody on the planet bar a couple of Buddhist monks in Bhutan (only a couple, mind) has had
their say on Andy Gray's and Richard Keys' departures from SKY.
Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has backed the appointment of Kenny Dalglish as boss for
the remainder of the season.
This is Dalglish's second stint as boss, having managed the club between 1985 and 1991. He is also
the last Reds manager to have guided the Merseysiders to the league title, something he achieved
three times, most recently 20 years ago in 1989-90.
Thierry Henry refuses to speak for former teammate Cesc Fabregas and regardless of the decision
that the Spanish midfielder ends up making, the Frenchman will respect it. As for as Henry himself
is concerned, though, he is certainly looking forward to return to the Gunners in some capacity
once he ends his playing career at his new club, the New York Red Bulls.
Nearly ten fallow years have passed since the Football Association (FA) purchased 300-odd acres
of rural Staffordshire in 2001 with the 'express' intent of developing a footballing 'centre of
excellence' in the heart of England, akin to the elite Clairefontaine academy that has
proved to be such a valuable asset to the French national team in recent history.
The FA have finally announced that building work on their long-awaited National Football Centre
in Burton will begin in January, after the organisation's board unanimously approved the plans
(which were originally submitted nearly nine years ago) yesterday evening.
Previously, I've written about how English soccer matches sound better on radio than television,
as well as how the FA Cup third round is made for radio not TV. Richard Whittall from the A More
Splendid Life blog agreed. However, I was wrong.
What I should have said is that BBC radio commentaries are often better than watching
matches on television.
Despite a confirmation from the Football Association of Wales that manager John Toshack has not
officially resigned as of early Monday morning, media reports suggest that the former Real Madrid
boss will be doing so within the next two days.
Although Toshack's men lost only by a slender 1-0 margin in Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier against
Montenegro, the failure to collect any points from their opening fixture has cast doubt over the
manager's ability to get the most out of his youthful squad.
Qualification matches for European Championships used to be a rare delicacy in the United
States. Often times it would be impossible to watch or listen to the games. The next best thing was
reading the scores on the Internet and trying to imagine how the game must have played out in your
head by reading the match report.
