I would hope that it wouldn't surprise any of our readership that I am not a Joey Barton fan. His mock-philosophical guff makes me feel like vomiting, and the assumption that his opinions have more validity than the rest of us just because he used to be violent and has now apparently reformed makes my [.

By Chris Wright

Ex-Premier League referee and Rangers supporter Jeff Winter has had his personal website suspended after several of his blogs (posted during a Christmas trip to Australia and New Zealand) containing incredibly offensive anti-Catholic jibes were circulated by journalists including Gab Marcotti on Twitter yesterday.

Luis Suárez and Liverpool have limited appeal options to FA and courts

Liverpool could seek arbitration, or go to the high court or even the European courts – but Luis Suárez may be better advised to try to put the racism furore behind him Luis Suárez has 14 days to consider whether to appeal against his eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra from the date that Liverpool receive the written reasons of the Football Association's regulatory commission, not from Tuesday, which was the date of the decision.

As a United fan, I must say life has been pretty dull of late. I don't remember the last time we scored more than one goal in a game (of course I remember the 8-2. Shameless Plug alert) or winning a game when we did go ahead and score 2 or 3. Not winning is definitely a bummer, especially when it closely follows home-ground hammerings at the hands of the rich, evil super-villain (also note lack of plug here).

The loss in Kazan last night has left Spurs needing to avoid defeat in their next two games against PAOK and Shamrock Rovers if they are to stand a chance of progressing to the next round of 32 and it raises an issue that has been burning since our Europa League qualification was assured.

The manager has never been shy in letting his feelings known about the validity of this competition and words such as annoyance and irritation are never far from his lips.

Arsenal finally put together a convincing display of football for the first time this season, beating Bolton Wanderers 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium yesterday.

Robin van Persie scored the first two goals, and in doing so joined an elite club of players to have scored 100 or more goals for the Gunners.

The club has released a statement in response to the remarks made by Owen Hargreaves this week:

Manchester United is disappointed with Owen Hargreaves' remarks after the game on Wednesday. The Club gave him the best possible care for three years and is as disappointed as anyone he was not able to play a part in the team's success at that time.

Someone questioned on the blog yesterday whether our new line-up would be able to score enough goals, so I thought it would be interesting to compare the goalscoring prowess of the new players against those who have departed based on past performances.

Now I realise that stats are generally just a way of manipulating figures so they masquerade as facts.

France's first choice holding midfielder, Yann M'Vila of Stade Rennais F.C. (Rennes), is reported to be a transfer target for Arsenal FC of England's Premier League. And "reported" is meant with its traditional connotation of assumed validity, coming from David Hytner in the Guardian. The Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, is [read more]

Today, Josh Mayers at the Seattle Times tweeted that the Sounders would not take advantage of the summer international transfer window. We all know that it's not for lack of trying. Adrian Hanauer has stated publicly that he was "working frantically" trying to bring in a top-talent target forward but that he wouldn't bring in a player that was too expensive or a poor fit for the team.

Today, Josh Mayers at the Seattle Times tweeted that the Sounders would not take advantage of the summer international transfer window. We all know that it's not for lack of trying. Adrian Hanauer has stated publicly that he was "working frantically" trying to bring in a top-talent target forward but that he wouldn't bring in a player that was too expensive or a poor fit for the team.

Today, Josh Mayers at the Seattle Times tweeted that the Sounders would not take advantage of the summer international transfer window. We all know that it's not for lack of trying. Adrian Hanauer has stated publicly that he was "working frantically" trying to bring in a top-talent target forward but that he wouldn't bring in a player that was too expensive or a poor fit for the team.

Untold Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal by Tony Attwood Wikio publish regular reports on the top football blogs, based on readership, comments, validity of comments (ie are they "Hey I'm first" or are they something slightly more serious?), Tweets, regularity of postings, and the like. Untold Arsenal is currently joggling around in 12th position, as you [.

Two things could've happened had Paraguay reigned victorious at the Copa America, making them something of a fan favorite:

i. Won the tournament without actually awinning a game to get there (5 games, 3 draws, 2 PK wins).
ii. Larissa Riquelme would streak in the nude, which seems redundant (not streaking in the nude, but Larissa Riquelme being nude).

Let me start by saying that I really rate David Villa and he has had a good first season at Barcelona hasn't he!. I was surprised to read yesterday that Pep Guardiola is "reportedly" looking at having to offload Villa in order to finance moves for players he wants to bring into Barcelona.
Now I think it's common knowledge that Barcelona have massive debt problems.

Reports have surfaced out of Mexico that Gaston Puerari has been transferred to Atlas. According to two spanish football media outlets, Atlas manager Ruben Omar Romano identified Puerari as a new reinforcement for this upcoming FMF season and the forward will report to the club this coming Sunday.

On Tuesday of this week the NFL Minnesota Vikings announced a new plan to try and build a stadium in suburban Arden Hills. As a part of that plan they talked about bringing a MLS team to the Twin Cities to play in that same new stadium.
We reached out to MLS to ask if there was any validity to the Vikings talk.

FC Barcelona 2011/2012 Away Kit

Images of FC Barcelona's 2011/2012 home kit were posted last week and this week we are getting confirmed reports that the away kit from Nike will be black!

The kit looks very similar to the keeper kits that Victor Valdes has worn in past seasons but this time the Qatar Foundation logo is featured on the front and will have the UNICEF logo on the back.

As so often with the club, there's an touch of pompous self-importance to the Arsenal Supporters' Trust's opinion of the team's recent results. But there's no doubting thier statement's validity. Most generously they will reserve final judgement until the end of the season. But for the moment they are jolly well upset.

Former Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks has been dealt a blow in his plans to sue the club after the High Court ruled that he would have to bring his case to the UK, where it is highly unlikely he will be successful in any pursuit to receive damages over the sale of the team.
Liverpool FC were sold last year after judge Mr.

LONDON, England Tom Hicks has won the right to launch a damages claim over the sale of Liverpool yet the Reds are delighted with the High Court's verdict. High Court judge Mr Justice Floyd ruled Hicks must bring any claims he has in the UK and is not able to pursue a lawsuit [...]

By Chris Wright

Liverpool have released a statement on behalf of their current owners Fenway Sports Group (formerly NESV), former creditors the Royal Bank of Scotland and former chairman Sir Martin Broughton in to express their collective delight at hearing that 'swindled' former owner (his words, not mine) Tom Hicks has been thwarted once again in his bid to sue the club for over £140 million's worth of damages i.

The High Court in London has today allowed Tom Hicks, former owner of Liverpool FC, to sue for damages against the club.
However, he can only pursue his claim within the EU.
It is believed that Hicks wants as much as £1 billion in damages as he previously claimed the sale to NESV was "an epic swindle".

On Saturday, Weymouth beat Salisbury City by two goals to nil in the Zamaretto League Premier Division. It was a significant moment for the Terras. Having started the season under a ten point deduction for entering into administration towards the end of last season, they had spent the whole of this season rooted to the bottom of the table but this win their third in the last four matches lifted them out of the relegation places for the first time this season.

Here is the email that started making the round this morning concerning the state of things at Everton. I'm not speaking to it's validity, but it's worth reading and discussing at the very least. We'll have to see how things play out.
The timing is convenient considering the horrible transfer window Everton had and you can probably makes arguments for and against each point, so don't take this is absolute fact.