Isn't this a case of two plus two equals six here?? Surely the press have something better to do than to carry on with the ridiculous articles about Roman turning up the heat on AVB by attending training every day this week!
The next ridiculous rumour is that AVB is to be replaced by Fabio Capello "sooner rather than later"!

Some areas of the press are suggesting that it hasn't been such a stellar year for Gareth Bale in comparison with last season. Those reports tend to just point to the winger's hat trick in the San Siro but they conveniently forget that this has been a much more consistent campaign for the Welshman.

...well that's according to our favourite newspaper the Daily Mail anyway!. Being a Chelsea fan, hardly a day goes by without reading a ridiculous headline from this lot as they look to fill their pages and websites with headlines to grab peoples attention with little basis for the story!.
In this instance, they claim the following:

Chelsea face a battle to keep Daniel Sturridge after Arsenal took significant steps towards a shock summer swoop.

The Spanish giants Barcelona have been continually linked with a move for the Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie, and the player himself has often stated that the only other club that he would like to play for is Cesc Fabregas' team. So if the Flying Dutchman decides that he wants to move on this summer [.

I am fond of February. It is the first month of the off-season when you can finally say 'TFC game next month". That, and the signs that days are getting just a little longer, are important to me.
Now since I blogged that TFC was using the pre-season stage to shed some players, they turned around and signed two defenders.

Can you still really play two sports at the elite level in Australia?
Ellyse Perry thinks so and with great support from Matildas Coach Tom Sermanni over the years she has done so.
But her recent decision to play cricket for Australia and miss the semi and final of the W-League season left me wondering where now for Ellyse?

So it seems that the rumours that Arsene Wenger was thinking about resting Robin Van Persie against Blackburn were true as the Arsenal boss revealed in his pre-match conference that he is intending to do a little tinkering. It could be that Arsenal's newest star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may also be given a break as Wenger [.

There are rumours that Arsene Wenger is considering giving Robin Van Persie a break this weekend against Blackburn to try and freshen him up for the three upcoming away games against Sunderland, AC Milan and (probably) Sunderland again. Van Persie has scored 21 goals in 23 games this season, but his shooting hasn't been quite [.

Perhaps that should be, 2012 HAS to be different. More than some recent poor results, last night's 0-0 with Bolton felt like it signalled the death knell for our season.

I say this because for once we can't hide behind conceding fluke goals or wonder goals. I say this because despite keeping a clean sheet for the first time in what feels like eternity, we could not score at a ground where the likes of United and Chelsea scored five.

Perhaps that should be, 2012 HAS to be different. More than some recent poor results, last night's 0-0 with Bolton felt like it signalled the death knell for our season.

I say this because for once we can't hide behind conceding fluke goals or wonder goals. I say this because despite keeping a clean sheet for the first time in what feels like eternity, we could not score at a ground where the likes of United and Chelsea scored five.

It was, as things turned out, a mercifully quiet transfer deadline day, but the most curious acquisition of the day ended up involving a young player with just a handful of first team substitute appearances under his belt but also, it would seem, the capacity for potential brilliance and and self-destruction in roughly equal measures.

By Chris Wright

The Sky Sports News 'Babelcopter' takes to the skies once again!

What with it being Transfer Deadline Day and all, we diligent folks at Pies are going to endeavour to keep you abreast of all the confirmed moves, rubber-stamped loans and the most goddamn ludicrous rumours that crop up until the window shuts tonight or at least until we can't be arsed any more.

It's the 31st January and at 2300 UK Time tonight, the transfer window closes for yet another season and I for one will be glued to Jim White on SkySports News waiting for news on any developments at Chelsea.
Remember this time last year? David Luiz and Fernando Torres were both signed in deals of around £75m but I can't see Chelsea spending that amount of money again can you?

It's the 31st January and at 2300 UK Time tonight, the transfer window closes for yet another season and I for one will be glued to Jim White on SkySports News waiting for news on any developments at Chelsea.
Remember this time last year? David Luiz and Fernando Torres were both signed in deals of around £75m but I can't see Chelsea spending that amount of money again can you?

After a few weeks of rumours it now looks like Muang Thong United coach Robbie Fowler will be playing in the new Indioan league thingy which is throwing plenty of cash at plenty of aging big names in the hope of boosting the game's profile.
Where does this leave Fowler's status as Muang Thong United player coach?

Jose Mourinho To Manchester City? The rumours linking the Real Madrid boss to Eastlands grow and In The Stands' Rolly Pelovangu warns that if Mourinho does become City coach then they will dominate the Premier League Sporting comebacks are usually special things. Who can forget the return of Thierry Henry to Arsenal after five years [.

Is Jack the lad preparing for his Arsenal comeback sooner than we thought? I am only asking as the wonder that is Wilshere seems to be in the mood to play again and we know this because he has a new pair of boots made by Nike especially for his return from injury.

Our very own wonderkid, 20, has had the boot stitched with the name of his new son on it and surely this can only mean he is ready to get back in action (Lord knows we desperately need him) any time soon?

If you had asked any Stevenage supporter a couple of weeks ago who Gary Smith is, the majority would have replied 'Who?' It would have been a justified reaction because until his name began to be linked with the vacant managerial position, Gary Smith's reputation within this country was, well, non-existent.

I don't know if you've noticed, but January has been pretty awful so far. We've lost all three of our league games, and we've gone back to our old habit of throwing away leads. United swept us aside with an ease that was almost saddening, given how massive the games between the two clubs used to be.

The name of West Ham keeper Rob Green has been mentioned once again in connection with a move to Spurs and there will be a large section of Tottenham fans who are hoping to pin this one down to lazy journalism.

Green, who is now 32, is out of contract at the end of the season and reports that the Hammers have postponed contract talks until the summer seem to have sparked off these rumours.

After the news that Kevin de Bruyne is set to sign for Chelsea before the transfer window closes and then immediately loaned back to Genk for the remainder of the season, today is about some Brazilian targets.
First up and as reported the other day, there is Willian the 23 year old Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder.

A couple of weeks ago, Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson claimed on BBC Radio 5 that the deal to bring Darren Bent to Anfield was 'done', and despite several strong denials from Aston Villa, the rumours about the prolific goalscorer just won't go away. Transfer speculation can sometimes unsettle players, Villa winger Gabriel Agbonlahor insists this is not the case with Bent.

Still nobody out and, therefore, nobody in and no new contracts. Steve Cotterill's reputation as a wheeler-dealer is under threat... Seat Pitch rounds up the five, desperate, last rumours [...] Read the original post on Seat Pitch

After weeks of rumours and hand-wringing negotiations, Martin Caceres finally returns to Juventus from Sevilla on loan for the rest of the season. Juventus will initially pay €1.5 million and an additional €8 million in the summer to make the move permanent. The Uruguayan defender was already once on the books for Juventus during the disastrous 2009-10 season on loan from Barcelona; however, due.

Let's not start any rumours (the UK rags are doing that well enough). Let us not even discuss possible options, real or imagined. For the moment, let's just focus on the hubbub that Clint Dempsey has become in the EPL - if not England altogether.After his hat trick against helpless Newcastle, Fulham boss Martin Jol issued a not-so-subtle "hands off warning" - as if anyone listened.

I guess everyone has seen the yearly rumours linking Arsene Wenger with a move to Real Madrid, after it has been revealed that Jose Mourinho is not getting on very well with his players, and he was even (like Wenger) abused by the Real Madrid fans despite his team being five points clear of Barcelona [.

Real dissension in the ranks?

The Real Madrid fans are in a barracking mood, just like the fans giving stick to Arsene Wenger. The Barca game blew up in their face because Mou decided to stick 11 men behind the ball and with the exception of an 11th minute of enterprise, played like he was afraid to lose which is exactly what happened.

Chelsea are expected (by the press and hopefully me) to announce the signing of Kevin De Bruyne for a fee of around £8.5m and immediately loan him back to Genk for the remainder of the season.
I have to say this is a fantastic deal for Chelsea as it seems that Genk have lowered the valuation of the exciting winger from £12m to £8.

If you believe the rampant transfer speculation, 90% of the world's players are moving to Liverpool in January. As usual, most of the rumours are nonsense, and Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has stated several times that the club is not planning to sign anyone. Hopefully, that will not turn out to be true, but here are nine transfer deals that definitely will not be happening.

Out of the blue this story came to light over the weekend. There are reports all over the place that Chelsea have made a bid that has been rejected, have been told that the player is not for sale at any price and that seems that.
In addition to all this, AVB has said at the weekend that "he is an interesting player" but wanted to sign players who are not cup-tied for European competition this season.

A high rating & daily late night SPANISH FOOTBALL programme dropped the bomb live on air. At around 02.00 ( very late night ) a regular - staff journalist in middle of a debate on JOSE MOURINHO & the supposed crisis within his dressing room with some players, received a call & was informed by an "unknown source" the news.

It's been a frustrating period for Jermain Defoe whereby he has spent most of his time on the bench in recent weeks. Despite scoring some valuable goals when he has been on the pitch, the striker is a firm third in the White Hart Lane pecking order behind Adebayor and VDV.

JD will surely get his chance this weekend however as Adebayor is forced to sit out the game against his parent club and in his newspaper column, manager Harry Redknapp almost went overboard in praising his ‘back up' striker.

It seems in recent days that speculation surrounding the future of Didier Drogba has intensified as the same club who have signed Nicolas Anelka this month, have Didier Drogba in their sights too!.
Shanghai Shenhua signed Anelka on a reported £200,000 per week and if reports are to be believed, Didier Drogba could follow the Frenchman on even more money!

It's how he'd want to be rememberedThe man who filled the coveted "Supervillain" role after Maxim Usanov left town has been unceremoniously dispatched himself. Without having to sabotage a giant laser, use a submarine Lotus or rake any moons, TFC waived Mikael Yourassowsky from the roster.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. There can be few other sets of football supporters that have had to bear up to the sort of agony and exhilaration that the supporters of Darlington FC have had to put up with yesterday but eventually, more than an hour after final confirmation one way or the other of the clubs fate was due to be announced, those concerned with saving the club emerged before the press to make the announcement that so many had hoped for: Darlington Football Club remains alive for now, at least.

By Chris Wright

After reportedly pulling up at a petrol station in Manchester last weekend and treating everyone on the forecourt to a full tank of car juice, it seems that Mario Balotelli has been sharing the wealth once again moseying into the The John Rylands University Library (JRUL) at the University of Manchester yesterday afternoon and offering to pay off any overdue book fines for the students therein.

By Chris Wright

After reportedly pulling up at a petrol station in Manchester last weekend and treating everyone on the forecourt to a full tank of car juice, it seems that Mario Balotelli has been sharing the wealth once again moseying into the The John Rylands University Library (JRUL) at the University of Manchester yesterday afternoon and offering to pay off any overdue book fines for the students therein.

Newcastle United pulled off a coup today in the signing of Senegalese striker Papisse Demba Cisse. The former Freiburg striker has nine goals from 15 appearances so far this season, and finished last season as one of the top goalscorers in the Bundesliga with 22 goals to his name.

The striker signs on a 5 and-a-half year deal, and the transfer fee is thought to be in the region of £7.

All because Liverpool hasn't made a move yet in the transfer market doesn't mean that people aren't saying they're about to. So join us for the latest fun-like substance as we run down the latest collection of names being linked into—and out of—the club as the end of the January window edges into sight.

Fernando Torres has certainly been putting in the hard work on the training pitch for Chelsea, with this hard graft appearing to pay dividends in recent games during which he has almost been able to capitalise upon the absence of Didier Drogba by displaying a few good performances up front, but Torres has still failed to win over the Chelsea fans by doing the one job that is expected of him: scoring goals.