TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Roberto Mancini says Manchester City can fight for title Carlos Tevez scored twice and Javier Garrido struck free-kick as City beat Wolves 3-0 to continue perfect start under Italian. telegraph.co.uk |
Portsmouth 1 Coventry City 1: match report Little respite for troubled Portsmouth in the FA Cup as Championship Coventry force a replay at the Ricoh Arena. telegraph.co.uk |
Portsmouth suffer Premier League TV money blow The Premier League board have confirmed they will distribute broadcast fee payments to Portsmouth's football creditors. telegraph.co.uk |
The Fiver | A Cunning-But-Inevitably-Doomed Plan To Drive Out The Glazers Subscribe here for your own daily copy delivered to your inboxPOWER TO THE PEOPLEA knight of the realm and multi-millionaire who drives around in a sponsored Audi, occasionally falling out with friends over the terms and conditions attached to their generous gifts of race horses, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is your stereotypical fist-clenching, beret-wearing, rabble-rousing shipyard socialist. So it came as no surprise that, in the wake of a specially convened meeting of fans' groups to determine a cunning-but-inevitably-doomed plan to drive out the Glazers last Saturday, militant Man Utd supporter Johnny Flacks proposed that a letter should be written to Ferguson asking him to examine his conscience and fall on his sword."This is not intended as an Alex Ferguson rant," said Flacks, managing to convey the impression that it was intended as an Alex Ferguson rant. "But he claims to be a socialist, a former shop steward and a man of the people, so he must be horrified by what is going on. It would work only if thousands of people sent a copy of this letter to Ferguson letting him know that our fear, if the Glazers stay in control, is that his legacy is going to be destroyed."Quite why Flacks might think Sir Alex would pay any more attention to what folk like him have to say than he would to the rantings of a drunken tramp shouting obscenities in the street is anyone's guess, not least as his previous dealing with more prescient United fans disillusioned with the Glazer regime includes dismissing the Red Rebels of FC United as "self-publicists".Once Flacks's comments began generating headlines, the Manchester United Supporters' Trust made the most of the priceless publicity by … er, distancing themselves from his remarks as quickly and emphatically as they could. "We believe Johnny Flacks and indeed every Manchester United supporter is absolutely entitled to express their views but it is important to distinguish individual views from those of organisations or those present at a meeting," it said, through teeth that would almost certainly have been gritted if it weren't for that unexpected run on the UK's reserves in recent weeks.In the meantime, Must are plotting one of those completely pointless Liverpool-style Big Group Of Fans Marches From A Pub They Were Going To Be In Anyway To A Match They Were Going To Anyway protests prior to Manchester United's Big Cup home game against Milan ... except theirs has an even more pointless twist. They don't plan to arrive at the ground until 10 minutes into the first half, so that there'll be large expanses of already paid-for empty seats on view at Old Trafford come kick-off.While Citizen Fiver wishes all the luck in the world to anyone trying to stick it to The Man, until these protesters feel strongly enough to leave large expanses of not-paid-for empty seats on view at Old Trafford for entire matches, the Glazers and their money-grabbing ilk won't give a flying Flacks.QUOTE OF THE DAY5 January: "It wasn't long ago and it was an unofficial inquiry from one of the biggest clubs [in Europe]. I am happy where I am, but if an offer does come, it will be hard to refuse" - amid reported interest from Bayern Munich, Thomas Sorensen admits he could be tempted to leave Stoke City during the transfer window.18 January: "The Danish press has stitched me up big time. And all the rumours they're still spreading, it's just shocking, so I think I've finished speaking to them" - Thomas Sorensen confirms he has no intention of leaving the Britannia Stadium.In unrelated PA Sport wire headline news, 12.54pm 15 January: "Stoke have ended their interest in Portsmouth goalkeeper David James, the club have confirmed."FIVER LETTERS"Re: Rafa saying 'everyone has to take responsibility, starting with us' (Friday's Fiver). Just because I owned a 'Crown Paints' Liverpool home shirt when I was eight doesn't mean I'm taking a share of the responsibility for his plunge into mediocrity. However, I will happily take 100% of the blame in exchange for £100k per week and the captain's armband. Deal?" - Phil South."Cheers to Jon Millard for assisting me in working out how to deal with the problems facing Liverpool fans (Friday's Fiver letters). I started supporting them in 1977 and I've been dealing with rubbishness on and off now for nigh on 20 years. That said, if he'd like to perfect his powers of condescension any further, can I suggest he enrols in the classes provided by Garth Crooks? In my experience, most 'glory seekers' from 1980-81 actually picked Tottenham to support, which fits nicely with his peerless smarminess" - Peter McKnight.Send your letters to the.boss@guardian.co.uk. And if you've nothing better to do you can also Tweet the Fiver now.BITS AND BOBSZinedine Zidane and Kaka are among the players that will take part in the 2010 "Match Against Poverty" in Lisbon on 25 January, all proceeds of which will be donated to support relief efforts in Haiti.Fifa will take no disciplinary action against Thierry Henry over that handball for France against the Republic O'Ireland.Gold Coast United chairman Clive Palmer has labelled the flamin' Australian government's immigration policy as 'r@cist' after a Ghanaian triallist was refused an entry visa into the country. "One would have thought that the 'white Australia policy' was dead and buried, but it seems that the Ghanaian high commissioner and his office in Nairobi are seeking to resurrect it in conjunction with the Australian immigration minister," fumed Palmer. Sunday Times and Spectator columnist Rod Liddle claims his username login on the Vital Millwall Forum: North Stand Banter site was hacked after a series of r@cist and $exist comments appeared under it. Liddle, who admits writing some of the posts, has since changed his password from 'millwall'.Hull City have sealed a six-month deal for Egypt striker Amr Zaki [Don't start - Fiver Ed].Not content with selling replica shirts, baby grows and over-sized non-absorbant bath towels, Newcastle United have found a new way to get their hands on the public's money by signing a new four-year sponsorship deal with government-owned Northern Rock plc.And Chelsea's Michael Essien could be out for a month with knee-knack picked up at the Africa Cup of Nations.A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORSThe weekend was a sweet one for Chelsea as they demolished Sunderland 7-2 on Saturday and we now make Carlo Ancelotti's side 13-20 to lift the Premier League crown. Man Utd are 11-4 to make it four titles in a row, while you can back Arsenal at 4-1. We refunded ALL bets on the Wolves v Wigan game as part of our red card refund offer after Richard Stearman and Hendry Thomas saw red.Join our Twitter site and you can pick up some free bets for predicting what happens in tomorrow's Man City v Man Utd game. Open an account with Sportingbet and we'll match your first deposit up to £50.STILL WANT MORE?Join Barney Ronay NOW for minute-by-minute coverage of Angola v Algeria in the Africa Cup of Nations, admittedly unlikely to be as exciting as the simultaneous Mali v Malawi game, in which the former lead 2-0 inside two minutes.Is the Premier League now a three-way battle royal for the title? Football Weekly decides.Sid Lowe explains how goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz emulated the Squid and repelled Real Madrid.Luca Toni: back in the goals and back celebrating in his abject trademark fashion at Roma, reports Paolo Bandini.Eintracht Frankfurt continue to punch above their weight, writes Raphael Honigstein, who also points out this goal that never should have been allowed last weekend.And Richard Williams wonders how much longer the Rafael BenÃtez pantomine can run.SIGN UP TO THE FIVERWant your very own copy of our tea-timely(ish) email sent direct to your inbox for free every weekday? Click here to sign up for the Fiver today. And also, heaven forfend, if you want to unsubscribe.R.I.P CASPERBarry Glendenningguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Preston 0-2 Chelsea Darren Ferguson is still waiting for his first win as Preston manager though in theory at least, all his matches should now get easier. While the Championship side were powerless to prevent the FA Cup holders easing into the fifth round, Preston can take some credit for holding their own defensively and avoiding the sort of drubbing handed out to Sunderland in the league last week.Chelsea had a perfectly good goal disallowed before they took the lead after 37 minutes, Florent Malouda stabbing home Yuri Zhirkov's cross just as Mike Dean was blowing his whistle for a foul on Frank Lampard in the build up. Michael Ballack was unable to profit from the free-kick, so perhaps feeling sheepish about failing to play advantage the referee awarded Chelsea another one five minutes later for a slight obstruction, from which a crashing shot by Alex brought a save from Andy Lonergan.Preston could not make the most of these let-offs, failing to put the ever nervous Henrique Hilário under any real pressure until they had gone a goal behind. Ironically, after doing most of the probing and attacking in the first half, Chelsea broke through when the home side gave them a rare opportunity to break on the counter. After Chris Sedgwick had the ball pinched off his toes on the edge of the Chelsea area by Zhirkov, Ballack brought it through the middle and played in Nicolas Anelka, who beat Lonergan with a low shot that Sean St Ledger could only help into the net.Briefly the home side threatened an equaliser, and might have had one had Darren Carter made a better contact in front of goal when Hilário could only palm away Chris Brown's header, but once Chelsea scored again at the beginning of the second half their chance had gone. Malouda swung over a corner, John Terry saw his header stopped on the line, and Daniel Sturridge was first to pounce on the rebound for his third FA Cup goal of the season.FA CupPreston North EndChelseaPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |