TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Premier League Boxing Day fixtures The best of the action from the Boxing Day fixtures in the Premier League guardian.co.uk |
Fear of losing will drive Manchester United to title, says Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alex Ferguson claims fear factor can help propel Man United to unprecedented fourth successive league title this season. telegraph.co.uk |
2 arrested in attack on Togo soccer team Authorities have arrested two separatists in Angola's restive Cabinda region following a shooting attack on the Togolese national football team that killed three people, a prosecutor announced Monday. cbc.ca |
The Fiver | Poisoned Chalice; and Cheering Up Liverpool's Fanbase Subscribe here for your own daily copy delivered to your inboxHART BEATThe Fiver has for some time been an advocate of the reverse-visualisation gambit, whereby openly tempting fate by saying out loud the worst possible thing that might happen means it somehow won't. For the Fiver, this means a daily routine of wandering around saying things like "no way could there ever be a beetle in my pocket", or "it would be probably be really awful to be routinely jeered and jostled by disdainful lesiure-suited youths outside Londis". Or "how unpleasant hypothetically speaking to find yourself jaded, frayed, smelling faintly of fish paste, all youthful vitality spent and increasingly prone to ranting in a way that seems angry and frightening rather than funny or in any way charming". Without which, the Fiver suspects all these things would have happened at least a bit more.It seems that Paul Hart takes a similar approach, judging by his comments on taking the QPR job only last month. "I am here until the end of the season at the moment and I am happy with that," Hart said at his unveiling in December. "As far as a poisoned chalice is concerned, it has not been deep in my thoughts," he declared, lowering a chalice from his lips and coughing violently. "Some people have said that it is like going out of the frying pan into the fire," he added, struggling to free himself from a giant flaming wicker replica of a sad-looking, long-faced manager. "This is a great club and it is privilege to be working here."And so it was until this morning when Hart left Loftus Road after just five games in charge, his second abrupt departure from a flailingly hopeless English league club in the last eight weeks, following his sacking by penniless Portsmouth. "The club would like to wish both [insert name of recently fired manager here] and [insert name of recently fired assistant manager here] good luck in the future and thank them for their hard work," droned the increasingly overworked template QPR use for announcing their managerial departures. Or at least something along those lines, the Fiver having nodded off counting up the recently departed bosses at a club which, since it got mixed up with swaggering blue-spectacled, disco-dancing, yacht-loiterer Flavio Briatore in November 2007, has been managed by John Gregory, Luigi De Canio, Iain Dowie, Paulo Sousa, Jim Magilton, Gareth Ainsworth, Steve Gallen, Marc Bircham, Hart and, now, his assistant Mick Harford.Semi-retired miserabilist Alan Curbishley is already being bandied about as next in line. And has no doubt spent most of his afternoon pacing up and down talking about how awful it would be to have a blue-spectacled yacht-swaggerer rattling the letter box and peering through the keyhole and how maybe it's time to turn off the lights and close the curtains and keep very, very quiet.QUOTE OF THE DAY"For the love of God, get your head out of your backside and have some respect for your yourself and stop acting the fool. And, just as importantly, have some respect for the club and the people that are working their nuts off to undo the damage of the prior 15 years ... we really don't need those Wednesdayites with a brain who should really know better than carrying on with the same garbage to make things even more difficult" - Sheffield Wednesday chairman Lee Strafford pulls back from the full Tom Hicks Jr just in time in this post on the Owlstalk.net forum.RAFA FACTS: PART IIThis afternoon Rafael BenÃtez read a pre-prepared statement to the media. As he nervously unfolded his piece of paper, the watching hacks awaited a momentous announcement, something serious enough to require advance planning and therefore likely to include one or, indeed, both of the phrases "I resign" and "the facts". Sweating mildly, the words started tumbling out of BenÃtez's mouth: "Before we start, some facts," he said.Facts! Facts, already, and we haven't even started yet! "The fact is we are not playing well and everyone here feels sorry for our fans." And he proceeded to announce detailed plans to make them feel better. So, quiz fans, which of the following methods does Rafa plan to use to cheer up Liverpool's fanbase?a) Giving every one of them free cake, a paper hat and 100 Tesco Clubcard points after each home defeat for the remainder of the season.b) Committing the entire first-team squad and the coaching staff to donating 50% of their wages to supporters' groups until either they win the league, or the supporters' groups are wealthy enough to buy the club, sack the lot of them and employ someone better instead, whichever is sooner.c) Publishing highlights of Manchester United's annual accounts on advertising hoardings across Merseyside.d) Producing a few frankly meaningless soundbites about how, even though the team is rubbish, has been rubbish for months and has shown no recent evidence of imminent non-rubbishness, Liverpool are suddenly about to not be rubbish any more.Go on, our puzzle-loving chums, which one was it? Well? OK, we'll tell you. Unbelievably, it was b! Not really, it was d."We know we have to improve and we have the belief we can do it," he mumbled. "How can we improve? Winning on the pitch. How can we be sure we win on the pitch? By training well," he stammered. "Everyone has to take responsibility, starting with us," he stuttered. "It is true I like to do my best every time," he grumbled. "Stoke is the most important game now and we have to prepare properly, I cannot be worried about the other things," he burbled.And so, for the Liverpool fans, there remains no good news. Their team is still rubbish. Their good players are still injured. Their manager still talks nonsense. Ryan Babel has been reduced to tweeting: "Hey people, I got some disappointing news, I m not travelling 2 Stoke.. The Boss left me out the squad. No explanation.." And they still don't have any cake.FIVER LETTERS"To every Liverpool fan I grew up with, even though I grew up in the East ruddy Midlands; to every Liverpool fan I met at university, even though you'd just come from Lowestoft, or somesuch place; to every Liverpool fan commuting in from some hole like Hatfield to your job in London: this is what it's like to support a team. Rubbish players, rubbish manager, stupid board, no cups. It's not novel, it's not interesting, the rest of us know all about it. Get over it or, alternatively, find out who's winning everything, and go and support them. That's how you chose your current team in 1980 after all, isn't it?" - Jon Millard."Re: Liverpool jumping the gun with their FA Cup fourth-round tie v Burnley message to season-ticket holders (yesterday's Fiver). My particular favourite has to be when Bradford City played Blackpool at Bloomfield Road in the second leg of the League Two play-off semi-finals. Blackpool (managed by Big Sam) were 2-0 up from the first leg at Valley Parade and were so confident of winning that they printed coach and travel arrangements for Wembley in the programme. Bradford won 3-0 on the night and, legend has it, our chairman Geoffrey Richmond rang the coach company to see if they had any cancellations for a certain Sunday in May" - Phil Hobbs."My hand slipped while reading yesterday's Fiver and I accidentally clicked on the unsubscribe option. This innocent mistake directed me to a page which declared 'Sorry, we haven't been able to serve the page you asked for', while the sidebar ran an advert for the Guardian's dating services. Is this a subtle hint for Fiver readers that if you feel ready to unsubscribe, you might also be ready to enter the world of male-female relations?" - Neil C0cker."Re: Plymouth boss Paul Mariner looking more like a scatter-brained academic than a football manager (yesterday's bits and bobs). Really? More like Mel B in Bo Selecta! surely?" - Stephen Worthy.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 BOBSSpurs boss 'Arry Redknapp has denied any wrongdoing after being charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue. "It is farcical," he said.Portsmouth's inability to sign on the dotted line means David James's proposed move to Stoke City has been cancelled.Pope's O'Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor has denied the allegation that he $exually assaulted a young woman after Strathclyde police confirmed they were investigating the claim. "I'm devoting myself to clearing my name," said McGregor.Things must be bad at Blackeye Rovers dept: Sam Allardyce says he can't afford to sign Middlesbrough's Gary O'Neil.And Real Madrid midfielder Guti is desperate to leave Spain for Inter. "I would go there with open arms," he cheered, pointedly not answering speculation he could instead be off to Bolton or Tottenham.A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORSHave a bet on the men's Australian Open market and if Andy Murray wins the tournament we'll refund all losing bets. Let's hope we get a full card of Premier League action this weekend so our red card refund offer can be in full flight. Place a bet on any Premier League market and if there is a sending-off in that match we'll refund ALL losing bets.Good to see Richard Pigden and 1,056 others (yesterday's Fiver letters) picking up on our Pompey players being paid late odds. Indeed, we had a swathe of new accounts being opened in the name of Al Faraj yesterday but unfortunately it's a £100 maximum stake on this market. Check us out at https://twitter.com/Sportingbet_com for more free bet offers!STILL WANT MORE?Tom Lutz has sacrificed his Friday night to bring you live coverage of Ivory Coast v Ghana in the Africa Cup of Nations from 6.30pm. Not that he was going to do anything interesting anyway.Rob Smyth recalls half a dozen of the most memorable League Cup semi-finals in this week's Joy of Six.Ever wanted to tell Darren Fletcher to man up? Wanted to roar 'Not on my watch' in Phillip Degen's face? You are the Ref doesn't quite go that far, but still, we can all dream, eh?As the Bundesliga resumes this weekend, Raphael Honigstein is on hand with his predictions for the second half of the season.Big Sam's losing the battle at Blackeye Rovers, reports Tim Rich.And Paul Hayward reckons Kenny Dalglish could be the man to cool the mounting fury among Liverpool fans.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.BUSY AND SHOCKED. IN EQUAL MEASURESBarney RonaySimon Burntonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Mourinho to be questioned over comments Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho and club chief executive Ernesto Paolillo are to face Italy's football association (FIGC) following remarks they made after Sunday's Milan derby. cbc.ca |