| The Fiver | Contempt of court; and a jaunty Podgorican steeplejack | Barry Glendenning and Tom Lutz Click here to have the Fiver sent to your inbox every weekday at 5pm(ish), or if your usual copy has stopped arrivingLIVERPOOL COURT DISASTERWhen the Fiver heard that 27 journalists had wedged into the high court to report on RBS's case against Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, we feared the worst. After all, if we've learned one thing from our 25 years before the bench, it's that pompous, wig-wearing beaks don't take kindly to tabloid johnnies slapping each other on the back, bigging up England's Euro 2012 chances and stuffing their faces with sausages rolls, before spitting pastry across the room as they bray about the greatness of 'Arry Redknapp.At the time of writing, however, Fleet Street's finest had all managed to avoid being escorted to the cells for contempt of court, possibly because they were so fascinated by proceedings that the only sounds which could be heard from the press box were occasional snores and the rustle of pages from assorted copies of High Court Actions For Dummies. Of course, the more plausible alternative is that they were all so bored senseless by the interminable drone of lawyers blathering on about the finer points of contract versus company law, that they hot-tailed it en masse down the nearest drinker, asking one of the three Liverpool fans present to let them know how things panned out later this afternoon.The objective of today's case is of course to determine the legality of RBS's agreement to sell Kop Holdings (which effectively runs Liverpool FC) to New England Sports Ventures for £300m. And if the Fiver had to bet on the outcome, we'd put the farm on a unanimous "guilty" verdict, followed by lengthy spells in the jug for all present, which would almost certainly be more preferable to sitting through the actual case, which particularly masochistic readers can follow in this here rolling blog.Posing for photographers outside the Royal Courts of Justice, ticketless Liverpool devotees who'd journeyed down to London put their time to good use by ratcheting their usual protests up a notch. Abandoning their usual policy of marching from pubs they were going to be in anyway to a public gallery they were going to anyway, some held up sheets of A4 paper with words printed on them. "Sell up and go now!!!" exclaimed several. "Come on feel the noise," read another, although that might have been one of Noddy Holder's discarded crib-sheets.The Kop faithful will be hoping for a better result this week than on recent visits to London, where they've lost four of their last five fixtures. Unlike this story and the Fiver's will to live, the case continues.QUOTE OF THE DAY"Someone like Zidane is never out of place. He is a world reference and a myth for Real Madrid fans" - Real Madrid's sporting director Miguel Pardez backs Zizou for a coaching role at the Bernabéu while confusing him with an encyclopedia. Or possibly a unicorn.THE FULL MONTEThe Fiver's always been fond of the Great Gatsby, because unlike most of them dead clever books it's really short so you can claim to have read it without drowning in the tough stuff like intertextuality, sentences and chapters. One of the highlights comes when the main character, Great, claims to have received a medal from the king of Montenegro. These days though it's a bit harder to squeeze a bit of kindness out of the Montenegrins.With three wins out of three, they sit atop England's qualifying group like a particularly jaunty Podgorican steeplejack, having brushed aside some of Europe's top international sides and Wales. Their manager, Zlatko Kranjcar, reckons Montenegro can pull off an upset tonight, an eminently sensible notion seeing as his team are playing England. "We have played in big stadiums before – myself, my players – so it will not be intimidating," he said, although any stadium that boasts an oyster bar, three luxury restaurants and gold and silver membership is never going to be The Den circa 1985. "After our three wins from the beginning I think we can be quite confident."Another reason for England to worry is that their centre-halves have been through more ill-matched partnerships than aesthetically challenged bongo star Ron Jeremy. When Joleon Lescott and Rio Ferdinand take the field tonight it will be Fabio Capello's eighth different central-defensive partnership since May. Ferdinand's return will signal the end of $tevie Mbe's captaincy and the Liverpool captain sounded a tad downbeat about the whole thing today. "I am disappointed I am not going to be leading the boys out," Mbe sobbed. "It has been a terrific experience. I have loved every minute. But I totally understood the situation from day one the reason why I became stand-in captain. Now Rio is back fit he gets the job."Never mind, $tevie. Lose tonight and you could be in for a medal from the king of Macedonia.Join Barry Glendenning from 8pm for live coverage of England 1-3 Montenegro, and Scott Murray at the same time for Scotland 0-957 Spain. As for now, follow Faroe Islands 0-1 Norn Ireland 1-0 with Scott Murray.GET 66 POUNDS' WORTH OF FREE BETS WITH BLUE SQUAREClick here to find out more.FIVER LETTERS"Re: Sir Bobby Charlton inviting the 33 trapped Chilean miners to Old Trafford (yesterday's bits and bobs). I heard that Man Utd still had season tickets for sale, but isn't this getting a little desperate? What next? Lord Ferg offering tickets to Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo on his release from captivity?" - Kristian Boyce."Craig Levein's tactics and the Maginot Line (yesterday's Fiver). Both utterly useless defensive lines constructed by inept commanders seemingly oblivious to the challenge at hand. 'Here's how it works,' is precisely what Andre Maginot didn't say to a seething French media as Panzer tanks and incendiary bombs crashed in around them. 'Things were going well until the line was broken, I'm disappointed the Germans breached us at a set piece,' Maginot is also reported not to have said. 4-6-0? Idiot, idiot, idiot" - David McIntosh (and 1,056 others)."Re: Abdoulaye Faye wanting to end his career at the Britannia Stadium (yesterday's bits and bobs). According to their website, Stoke City play at home to Nigel de Jong's Man City on 27 November. Be careful what you wish for" - Richard Prangle.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 BOBSBirmingham are considering expanding the capacity of St Andrew's to 46,000 because, erm, presumably they want 20,000 empty seats on show each matchday instead of 5,000.Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand faces arrest after he failed to turn up for a court appearance for allegedly driving while using a mobile phone. "There has been no arrest at this stage. A warrant has been issued and we are aware," barked a police spokesperson, failing to clarify what it is they're aware of.England Under-21s booked their place at next year's European Championship finals with a 0-0 draw in Romania sealing a 2-1 aggregate win.Downing Street is on the lookout for a plate of sandwiches posh enough to sate the needs of Sepp Blatter after it announced that the Fifa president will discuss England's World Cup 2018 bid with such sporting luminaries as Boris Johnson in No10 tomorrow.And modest Lord Ferg has praised himself for Dimitar Berbatov's improved form for Manchester United this season. "I just had a word with him at the start of the campaign," beamed Ferg. "I told him: 'Look, only you can solve this conundrum' ... and he's started the season in terrific form for us."STILL WANT MORE?Dean Holdsworth used to be in the Crazy Gang but now he's in the Eminently Sensible Newport County Revival Gang, writes Simon Burnton.Eastern European football? Check! Tactics? Check! A modifield 4-3-2-1? You betcha! So it can only be Jonathan Wilson on England's opponents Montenegro.And is Chris Maguire's goal from the halfway line for the Under-21s the way forward for strikerless Scotland against Spain, wonders Gregg Roughley.SIGN UP TO THE FIVERWant your very own copy of our free tea-timely(ish) email sent direct to your inbox? Has your regular copy stopped arriving? Click here to sign up.IS THIS THE FIRST TIME THEY'VE BEEN WITHIN 50 YARDS OF TWO BIGGER CLOWNS THAN THEM?Barry GlendenningTom Lutzguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
England v Montenegro: Zlatko Kranjcar piles pressure upon misfiring Wayne Rooney Zlatko Kranjcar, the Montenegro manager, has said Wayne Rooney has 'major difficulties' to overcome if he is to regain his form. telegraph.co.uk |
Paul Wilson: West Brom no longer look like yoyos After the up-and-down years West Brom have a platform to progress and do not look like relegation fodderSven-Goran Eriksson's Leicester City have discovered in the Carling Cup what the Premier League worked out weeks ago: West Bromwich Albion are no mugs and this time they could be sticking around in the top flight rather than just looking around.Of course it is far too early in the season to make firm predictions, although by the time the weekend fixtures have been completed a quarter of the league campaign will have passed, but it can be said with a degree of certainty that no one expected the Baggies to be in a Champions League position in mid-October, which they were, briefly, after their victory over Fulham on Saturday. Roberto Di Matteo admitted afterwards he had never factored that into his calculations, so it is reasonably safe to assume no one else did.After their ups and downs of the past decade – in three previous promotions in the new millennium the Baggies have only once stayed up longer than a single season, something of a miraculous survival under Bryan Robson in 2005 when 34 points was enough to keep them above Crystal Palace, Norwich and Southampton – it also comes as a pleasant surprise to see Di Matteo's team making the best start of the three promoted clubs. That honour appeared to be going to Blackpool – West Brom's opponents on Monday in what should be a revealing game at Bloomfield Road – though there have been signs of late that opponents have begun to work Ian Holloway's team out. Actually that may be overstating the case. It may be more true to say that after sensational away results at Wigan, Newcastle and Liverpool alerted the nation to the fact that Blackpool could play a bit and were not in a frame of mind to roll over and think of the parachute payments, teams have been taking them a bit more seriously and the essential element of surprise has gone.The reason for saying Monday's fixture could be revealing is that some of Blackpool's early-season bravado may have gone, too. Those three notable victories away from home remain the Seasiders' only wins so far, an initial points rush concealing the fact they have yet to beat anyone at their own ground. While 10 points from nine games is a better yield than most would have predicted for Holloway's apparent ingenues, Blackpool are just a single point off the relegation positions and should they fail to beat fellow newcomers at home it could be the official start – like the switching off of the illuminations – of a long, dark winter to come. Blackpool have played a disproportionate number of away games due to ongoing ground redevelopment at the start of the season. Yet the three home games they have played, against Fulham and Blackburn and Manchester City, could be described as winnable, with the arguable exception of City. If points cannot be picked up against another promoted side at home the Tangerine dreamers will begin to fear the worst.Yet describing West Brom as fellow newcomers undersells them considerably. They are sixth in the table and will arrive at Bloomfield Road on the back of a hugely improbable win at Arsenal and an even more impressive recovery from a two-goal deficit to claim a point at Old Trafford. Startling as Blackpool's away form has been, beating an inept Wigan, a disorganised Newcastle and the shambles that used to be Liverpool does not quite match up. West Brom also beat Holloway's Blackpool home and away in the Championship last season, by the same 3-2 scoreline. Games involving Blackpool and other footballing sides often seem to contain a few goals and Monday's encounter may be no different, but the Baggies can only be encouraged by the resilience they have shown in the Premier League this season. Including the Carling Cup victory over Manchester City, Saturday's victory over Fulham was the sixth time they have come back from a goal or more down to claim a result."There is no secret," Di Matteo said. "It is just down to hard work and the players enjoying what they do." He could also have added that the West Brom players all seem to know exactly what they are supposed to do. They were more impressive against Fulham than the 2-1 scoreline suggests. Three or four goals to one would not have been an unfair reflection of the play, and West Brom certainly had the chances. Then, towards the end of the game when Fulham threw everything forward in search of an equaliser, a well-drilled defence calmly shut them out.Under Tony Mowbray the Baggies were somewhat patronisingly, though not totally inaccurately, characterised as a positive passing side with not quite enough steel to stay up. Di Matteo seems to have worked on that, and with an organised defence and a decent goalkeeper has at least a platform for progress. Youssouf Mulumbu does a passable impression of Claude Makelele, James Morrison, Chris Brunt and Jerome Thomas can all spring surprises going forward, and even Paul Scharner is being effectively deployed. West Brom possibly lack an out and out goalscorer capable of regularly troubling top defences, but they still have Peter Odemwingie to come back. What can be said at this early stage is that they do not look automatic relegation fodder, in fact if they can post just a few more performances of the quality produced so far they may be able to stay out of trouble in the way that Wigan did in their first Premier League season, not just surprising opponents but matching them for belief and competitiveness.For every person you meet who believes that, however, you will meet two or three more who will tell you the Baggies will do a Hull. That is the official new parlance for looking like world-beaters before Christmas and then being unable to buy a victory in the New Year, culminating in either relegation or an uncomfortably narrow escape. Yet if anyone is going to do a Hull this season it seems likely to be Blackpool. If any under-pressure manager is about to do anything as photogenically daft as Phil Brown's al fresco half-time team talk, your money would be on Holloway rather than Di Matteo.There is no reason to assume history will repeat itself anyway. All three promoted clubs have made encouraging starts, that is all that needs to be said at this stage, apart from the fact that several other teams beginning with W are probably more worried about relegation right now than West Brom.The trick, if there is one, is probably not playing like world-beaters in the first place, so as not to give yourselves too much to live up to in the second half of the season. Just playing like a team that belongs in the division ought to be enough, and this time around the Baggies seem right on course. Just keep an eye on the big match at Blackpool.West BromBlackpoolRoberto di MatteoPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Manchester United's young devils - a lot of promise but far from polished Javier Hernandez not the only player of promise in the Old Trafford ranks. telegraph.co.uk |
Ronaldo targeted by laser again Cristiano Ronaldo targeted by a laser during the King's Cup draw at Murcia, in the latest in a string of similar incidents. foxsports.com.au |