By Chris Wright

The following is copy-and-pasted verbatim from a Chelsea forum, in which former former youth Chelsea player Sam Tillen who now plays his football in Iceland writes candidly about his experiences as having John Terry as his club captain during his formative years.

By Chris Wright

Presenting: The 'perfect fun gift for a Birmingham City supporting family member or friend who enjoys football banter with a Aston Villa fan'.

Now correct us if we're wrong here, but isn't 'banter' supposed to be, by it's very definition, a two-way thing?

By Chris Ackels
ESPNHS.com
It doesn't take much to realize the importance of this weekend's ECNL matches between Michigan Hawks and Eclipse Select.
At the U18 level, it's a battle between the first-place Hawks and the second-place Eclipse. For the U17s, it's last year's US Youth Soccer Region II Champion against last year's best ECNL record.

This must be welcome news to all Arsenal fans. Being one of the richest clubs in the world, many people cannot understand why they are never aggressive in the transfer market, especially when it comes to buying high profile players.

Over the past 5 years, the club has gained a reputation for being a good breeding ground for budding talent at the expense of creating a formidable side that can consistently challenge for trophies.

Arsenal to sign Porno Midget? Plus Mike Parry's latest football innovations

As an undersized midfielder who few in Britain have heard of, Udinese's Gabriel Torje is naturally a top transfer target for Arsenal's Arsene Wenger. Yet there's a hint that the Romanian might not be the kind of clean-cut youngster Wenger loves to sign.

Finally Spurs have addressed their goal scoring problems of last season, with the loan signing of controversial striker Emmanuel Adebayor. Attackers from all over the world have been linked with Spurs this summer, but the club have decided to put their faith in the strong Togolese forward.

Inter players are overwhelmed with emotion as they collect their latest piece of silverware. Ahem. Image: Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images Europe/Zimbio.

We're pretty sure we are the only website currently offering cup winners, English language lessons, transfer news and hair advice in the same post.

As the MLS world prepares for the 9th annual MLS-Allstar game against the champions of England, Manchester United, we thought we'd provide you with some brief bullet points on our New England Revolution representative and mighty captain, Shalrie Joseph:

• Shalrie is the fifth oldest player selected for Hans Backe's 23-man roster (3rd oldest if you exclude keepers Kasey Keller and Faryd Mondragon; He's right behind DP megastars David Beckham and Thierry Henry).

The future of Luca Modric at Tottenham Hotspurs remains a mystery as the White Hart Lane based outfit are still not keen on letting the Croatian go despite Modric has already filled in a transfer request after hearing out interest from Chelsea.

Despite already acknowledging the player's request, Spurs' manager, Harry Redknapp, insisted that the club won't let Modric leave as he is considered an important player and still have a long term contract with the Lilywhites.

I know I am no Arsenal fan, and actually like any true fan of bitter rival club, I do derive immense joy from watching the gunners suffer, especially that horror fortnight they had in Feb/March, to quote the effervescent Barney Stinson,

‘It was Legen.......wait for it........ dary!!

Blimey, looks like the sun is out again today. It feels almost ... continental.

And it's a big day at Arsenal as players will return for the start of pre-season training. I don't expect they'll all be there today, but over the next couple of days we should have everyone back. With a trip to Malaysia and China very much on the horizon (the first game is on Wednesday week) it'll be important to get them running around, burning off the pies and fish and chips and Mars bars they've been eating all summer.

Tottenham Hotspurs' failure in getting the Champions League spot for next summer has been causing the media buzzing around speculating that some of the club's important players, especially Croatian star, Luca Modric, who reportedly attracted interest from several big clubs including Manchester United.

Arsenal's position vis a vis Samir Nasri is weak. He's obviously after more wages and with a year left in his contract, the club gains nothing for him once he leaves on a Bosman. There are a couple of different options a.) Give him the money he seeks, extend his contract but build in some performance clauses b.

In the second part of Harry Redknapp's interview published in the press on Thursday, Redknapp responds to the rumours that are about Didier Drogba. Redknapp is keen to point out that they are only rumours but does reveal to a point, he is a fantastic player. He said:

"Of course I'm surprised that there's speculation about him, but it only takes one person to start a story and everybody jumps on it.

Arsene Wenger is no longer hiding his interest in the Southampton teenager Alex Chamberlain, which may be pushing Andrey Arshavin right out of the Emirates door. All signs point to the 17-year-old winger making a move to Arsenal for around £10m this week, as the U-18 international has apparently decided to snub the Manchester City jersey and Newcastle United for a move to the Gunners.

Calcio Thoughts is back with it's first edition of the New Year! It's been a long time since the last one, and the questions might be a little dated, but I'll provide the most current answer to the best of my abilities. If you have a calcio question, comment, thought, or anything you'd like to see in Calcio Thoughts 11, feel free to ask it in the comments section of this post, the comments section of the upcoming Weekend that Was post, or simply email it to calciothoughts@gmail.