Violence at West Ham v Millwall match

Following this on Sky Sports news like everyone else. Apparently there's been lots of trouble outside the stadium resulting in at least one stabbing. West Ham currently leading 3-1 but the fans invaded the pitch after their second goal postponing play for a while. This is a disgrace and a kick in the teeth for all us genuine fans who do our best not to live up to the reputation of English fans and try to enjoy our game in a fun but not intimidating way. Regardless of the result, boot both clubs out of the competition and dock them some points. The football league can't dock little clubs like Chester huge numbers of points for financial problems and leave appalling behaviour like this from the bigger clubs unpunished.

Sol Campbell joins Notts County

Imagine the reaction of the bookie if you'd placed a bet a few months ago that Sven would end up at Notts County. Imagine his laughter if you'd gone on to do an accumulator with Sol Campbell. Well, if you have the gift of second sight you'll be counting your piles of money right now, as it has been confirmed today that the former England, Spurs, Arsenal and Pompey defender has gone on a free to the second division club.

Although big Sol hasn't been part of the England set-up since Capello took the helm, and although at 35 he is in the twilight of his career, Campbell is far from a desperate ageing star. Harry Redknapp has stated that he would have signed him for Spurs, if the fans their did not still harbour such a hatred for him after his move to Arsenal in 2001 (get over it Lilywhites ... footballers are allowed to change jobs just like the rest of us). Campbell confirmed that he'd had offers from Premiership clubs but chose the Notts County gig as it would keep him playing first team football for hopefully another 3 years and was a very interesting challenge for him to help take Notts County to the Premiership in this period.

Another of Campbell's former bosses, Arsene Wenger, has also sung the big defender's praises, but in typical Wenger style also added a note of caution; namely that Campbell would find the conditions in League 2 very different and might struggle mentally. Campbell has of course had problems in the past in this area, but hopefully it will be challenges of a more physical nature that will be the hardest to overcome, for example the pitches!!

Since Sven arrived at Notts County, rumours have been rife. Beckham has even been linked with the club!! It is however fascinating to see how what must be a fairytale for Notts County fans is unravelling - two weeks ago Schmeichel Junior arrived at the club and almost certainly Sven will have other surprises up his sleeve. It makes for great 5 live debates and blogging, so you have to wish the club (and Sol) luck.

Is Liverpool's title challenge over?

Liverpool's run of 31 unbeaten matches at home was abruptly ended last night, with an impressive defensive display from Aston Villa and a lacklustre performance from Liverpool resulting in a 1:3 defeat. Although the Scousers beat Stoke mid-week, their defeat to Spurs in the opening match of the season means they have lost the same amount of matches in 2 weeks as they did in the whole of last season. Liverpool are therefore six points behind early leaders Tottenham and Chelsea, who have won all three of their matches, while Arsenal and Manchester City hold 100% winning records with a game in hand on the leaders. It will be of small comfort to Liverpool fans that Manchester United have six points from three games, having lost to newly promoted Burnley last week.

Liverpool fans must be worried that the gap left by Alonso is proving significant, particularly as the intended replacement Alberto Aquilani is injured. Benitez has not been given the money to be anything like as active in the transfer market as 2 of the clubs currently ahead of Liverpool in the table (Man City and Spurs). The only remaining members of the victorious champions league squad are Gerrard, whose talisman status has taken a battering after giving away a penalty last night, and Carragher. Whether the rest of the sqaud have the quality to hold their own against the likes of Man U and Arsenal os yet to be seen, but the evidence so far this season is not promising. It would definitely be a great boost to the Anfield as well as the squad if Benitez could complete a big name signing before the end of the transfer window.

Clearly however anyone sensible will know that it is entirely possible to lose 2 matches and win the title race. The current holders, Man United, lost 4 matches in the 2008-9 season and 5 matches in the 2007-8 season. Suggesting that Benitez' men have no chance of winning their first league title in over 20 years is definitely premature, even if it does lessen the pain for Everton fans of being at the bottom of the table after some shocking performances.

So in answer to whether Liverpool's title challenge is over, I'd say not, but you'll get good odds right now! Plus if you know any reds, then it's a great line to wind them up!

Mark Hughes signs Sylvinho for Manchester City

Brazilian left-back Sylvinho has signed for Man City after a spell of 4 years at Barcelona. Sylvinho is no stranger to English football as a former gooner and at 35 will be looking to cash in on the Eastlands billions in his last shot at the big time.

Sylvinho and Lescott have been brought in 1 week before the transfer window ends in an attempt to answer any questions about the strength of this new set up at Manchester City.

"Sylvinho has a wealth of experience at the very top level, having represented Brazil and played for some of the very top clubs in Europe. When the chance presented itself to bring him to Manchester City as a free agent I saw it as representing excellent business for us. Sylvinho won the European Cup last season at Barcelona and he will strengthen our defensive options."

Good signing - they will be pushing top 5 now perhaps . . .

Moyes hold out for £22m as Lescott moves to Man City

Everton have parted company with central defender Joleon Lescott, with Moyes holding out to get a £22m payment from Manchester City subject to personal terms and a medical test.

After criticism from the Toffees fans, Lescott was left out of Everton's defeat against Burnley and Mark Hughes has got his man. After the first 2 games, Manchester City have looked great going forward but many Premier League teams would fancy their chances against the current back four. However, when Lescott is added to the first 11 it could propel them on to being top 5 material.

Good signing, premium price for Man City. If you've got it, then spend it - and any jealous fans looking to bitch about Mark Hughes' boys just remember that if it was your club you would be in seventh heaven.

Premier League fixtures 22nd August 2009

Premier League matches 22/08/2009

Isn't it great to have Premier League football back?! This season is going to be a corker. The league has been blown wide open after a tricky transfer window for Sir Alex, losing the super talent of Tevez and Ronaldo. Their team will still be good but their squad has undoubtedly been weakened. Looking forward to this weekend, all of Manchester United's rivals will be looking to gain an early advantage after their shock defeat on 19th August against Burnley. Chelsea have a tricky away tie at Craven Cottage against South London neighbours Fulham, however I predict a win for them. Arsenal have looked awesome and I think they'll convincingly beat Pompey. The Red Devils will be looking to restore some pride against Wigan, with a return to his old stomping ground for Valencia.

Here are the fixtures - I reckon some potential for some great football accumulators here:
22/08/2009 Premiership fixtures
Arsenal v Portsmouth 3pm
Birmingham v Stoke 3pm
Hull v Bolton 3pm
Man City v Wolverhampton 3pm
Sunderland v Blackburn 3pm
Wigan v Man Utd 3pm

23/08/2009 Premiership fixtures
Burnley v Everton 3pm
West Ham v Tottenham 1.30pm
Fulham v Chelsea 4pm

Premier League 2009/2010 results 19th August

Premiership results Wednesday 19/08/2009
Hull 1 Tottenham 5
Burnley 1 Man Utd 0
Birmingham 1 Portsmouth 0
Liverpool 4 Stoke 0


Fantastic result for Burnley tonight at Turf Moor, 3 points they never would have expected when preusing the 2009/2010 Premier League fixture list. Big result also for promoted Birmingham City, winning at home against Porstmouth who by many are tipped for the drop this season.

Jermaine Defoe is hoping to make one of the striker positions in the England squad his own, by scoring a hat trick at the KC stadium tonight he is demonstrating that he is potentially the best talisman out there for Capello to select.

So far there have been no draws in the opening 16 matches of the top English division - the last time that this happened was 1891!

Spurs 2 Liverpool 1 Premier League result

Liverpool faced Tottenham this afternoon for a tricky away Premier League 2009/2010 opener at White Hart Lane.

The Reds started tentatively inviting the home team to attack and pressurise Liverpool, who will definitely miss the talented Xabi Alonso. Sebastien Bassong made his Spurs debut because Harry Redknapp has been forced into buying a central defender to cover for Woodgate and Dawson who are both injured.

Towards the end of the first half, Tom Huddlestone’s free kick was charged down and Benoît Assou-Ekotto hit a 20 yard power drive into the top corner – check this goal out on Match of the Day...it’s an absolute beauty.

In the second half the home team continued to dominate the game, with a great attempt from Palacios going tipped over the bar by Reina. Aaron Lennon also got himself into a great position but failed to feed the ball successfully to Defoe. Shortly after that, Gomes conceded a penalty which was a clean cut decision – Gerard then confidently netted his spot kick. Within minutes of the goal, Bassong scored on his debut giving the White Hart Lane something to shout about.

Peter Crouch came on for Spurs favourite Robbie Keane, making his debut after moving from Portsmouth for £10m. Liverpool looked more alert in the second half and caused a little bit of panic in the Spurs back four that overall did well to contain the pressure from Kuyt, Gerard and Torres.

Great start for Harry’s boys, after that result Rafa undoubtedly will be looking in the transfer market for a midfield-striker link player to replace Alonso.

Premiership results and round up 15th August 2009

So what will the table look like tomorrow night? The third team promoted from the Championship, Birmingham City, start their campaign tomorrow against the Champions. Based on today's results, it seems unlikely that Arsenal will be knocked off the top or Everton lifted from the bottom, but with this beautiful game, who can tell? Birmingham City fans will probably not be expecting to win but will be fervently hoping not to concede 6 or more.

The other game kicking off tomorrow sees Spurs take on Liverpool. Liverpool and Spurs fans both had an ultimately disappointing season last year and will be hoping to start brightly. Robbie Keane would no doubt love to put a fair few past the Scousers!!

Full list of results:

Aston Villa 0-2 Wigan
Blackburn 0-2 Man City
Bolton 0-1 Sunderland
Chelsea 2-1 Hull
Everton 1-6 Arsenal
Portsmouth 0-1 Fulham
Stoke 2-0 Burnley
Wolverhampton 0-2 West Ham

Wolves vs West Ham 15th August 2009 - Match Report

Wolves 0: West Ham 2

Despite starting well and being cheered on by a great home crowd, Wolves went down to West Ham at Molineux. Mark Noble scored in the first half and a Matthew Upson header ended the contest in the second half, although prior to this header Mick McCarthy's men did threaten to equalise through a couple of fine long range efforts from Nenad Milijas.

Stoke vs Burnley 15th August 2009 Match Report

Stoke 2: Burnley 0

Premiership new boys Wolves and Burnley both experienced a baptism of fire and went down 2:0 today. Stoke City scored from 2 set pieces, with Ryan Shawcross nodding in Liam Lawrence's free-kick and the unfortunate Stephen Jordan glancing a trademark Rory Delap throw-in into his own net to put Stoke 2-0 up. Burnley fans can however take some comfort that their team, who were playing their first top flight footie for 33 years, significantly improved after half time and Wade Elliott came close to scoring.

Portsmouth vs Fulham 15th August 2009 Match Report

Portsmouth 0: Fulham 1

Fulham, who last season finished in their highest ever place, continued this run of form as Clint Dempsey's shot deflected in off Bobby Zamora to earn them a 1:0 victory over Portsmouth. To be fair to Pompey, despite a difficult summer with key players leaving and a proposed takeover yet to be finalised, the team started brightly and did challenge Fulham throughout. The fans will however be anxious for the takeover to be completed and for funds to be made available to Paul Hart asap.

Aston Villa vs Wigan 15th August 2009 Match Report

Aston Villa 0: Wigan 2

Aston Villa, who started so full of promise last season, were so poor today against Wigan that they were booed by their own fans. Hugo Rodallega scored a stunning first goal and Jason Koumas the second to give Roberto Martinez a victorious first game as manager of the Latics.

Chelsea vs Hull 15th August 2009

Chelsea 2: Hull 1

As the bookies would have predicted Chelsea also ended the day victorious with a 2:1 win over Hull; however Phil Brown's men pushed the Blues hard and would have gone in with at least a share of the spoils if Didier Drogba hadn't spoilt the party. Hull's new signing Stephen Hunt overcame the jeers from the Chelsea fans (as a Reading player his clash with Cech resulted in a fractured skull for the keeper) and put the Tigers ahead after 28 minutes. Drogba then levelled and the Ivory Coast international went on to score the winner in injury time after a controversial 6 minutes had been added.

Bolton vs Sunderland 15th August 2009 Match Report

Bolton 0: Sunderland 1

Sunderland finished the day victorious under new manager Steve Bruce. The club's record signing Darren Bent repaid Bruce's belief in him and scored after 5 minutes at the Reebok. This is a happy start for Bent, who never really settled at Spurs, and a good start for the Mackems who only finished 2 places above the drop zone last season. Bolton did put up a spirited display in the second half, but unfortunately this was too little, too late.

Blackburn vs Man City 15th August 2009 Match Report

Blackburn 0: Man City 2

Man City also started the season with a bang after putting 2 past Blackburn. Adebayor, one of City's summer signings, opened the scoring after just 3 minutes and Tevez, one of the other debutants, almost joined him on the scoresheet but in the end it was Ireland who consolidated the win with a second goal. City have therefore passed the first test and come away with 3 points, which was vital after spending £100M in the summer. However the game was not entirely one way and Sam Allardyce's team did threaten at times, demanding an excellent save from Given to prevent Blackburn scoring an equaliser at 1:0. Based on this display, if City are going to break into the top 4, they will need to dig even deeper into their new owners' pockets and bolster their defence further.

Everton vs Arsenal 15th August 2009 - Match report

Everton 1 - Arsenal 6

Arsenal have ended the first day of the season as they started it - top of the premiership table. However although their starting position was purely alphabetical, their current lead is well deserved after putting 6 goals past a dire Everton. Arsenal fans will be happy that new boy Thomas Vermaelen scored on his debut, doubling a lead set up by Denilson. Gallas scored the third goal,Fabregas scrored a brace and Eduardo also hit the back of the net. Everton's only reply came from Saha in injury time, when the Gooners had effectively already started packing up for their triumphant return back to London. It is difficult to see how Moyes can take any positives from the Toffee's woeful display and impossible to see how this result could persuade Joleon Lescott to withdraw his transfer request.

Lescott to write to Everton board

Joleon Lescott will be writing to Bill Kenwright putting in a transfer request to join Manchester City.

You've got to admire David Moyes' determination to protect what he has built at Everton. Joleon Lescott has improved so much at Goodison Park and selling him would almost definitely reduce their chances of pushing for top 4/5 Premier League status.

Lescott wants to move. Many football fans always say 'If he wants to leave then let him'. My view is that the manager needs to balance that with the player's personality. If Moyes thinks that Lescott will be a professional and give his all, then force him to stay. After all, from a club's perspective isn't this precisely why we have contracts?

RIP Bobby Robson 1933-2009

Bobby Robson was a true gentleman and man of football. His defiance and spirited fight against cancer typified his attitude in life that he applied so well to professional football. What better an example of this than the World Cup 1990. With our wonderful media truly on Robson's back, our troops went out to Italy with a manager who would always back his players. When a player had a bad spell or couldn't find the net, he was the one always on their side and had a superb way of bringing the right players in and out at the right time to get results. He also liked his sides to play attacking football with flare. Always favouring attacking wing play giving his teams width, Bobby Robson's managerial career was incredible and everywhere he went he was liked and respected. From Ipswich to PSV to Newcastle at club level this was a true legend of football that will be missed in the football world. Personally, Bobby Robson was my favourite England manager because he had 2 World Cups where England were very competitive in Mexico '86 and Italia '90. Alex Ferguson always says there are too many outspoken journalists talking about something they don't really know enough about. As did Brian Clough. For me, one of the best examples of this was the build up to England getting to the semi-finals against Germany in 1990. The media criticised Bobby's men of being defensive and negative. However that team had a fit Paul Gascoigne in and a super sharp Gary Lineker which meant that any team could be threatened with super attacking quality.

Bobby Robson - we all will miss you, thanks for some legendary footballing memories.

Darren Bent apologises for twitter outburst

As Sunderland have followed Bent now for most of the pre-season you can understand Steve Bruce threatening to end his pursuit for the Spurs man. Sunderland are in need of a consistent floe of goals, Bent is a decent Premier League striker with good experience but he scored a major political own goal by expressing his frustration so publicly on social networking site twitter.com. By slating Hull City and Stoke he won't have made any friends there and also Daniel Levy would have surely been fuming with the tweet. By the end of the day, Bent apologised for his actions.

In the same week as Phil Hughes twittered about being dropped, it's not surprising that some of these spoilt sportsmen are washing thier linen in public via the internet. However it is not a channel of communication that can be used by a player directly, surely the player must always communicate via the club they work for and with their approval.

Interesting word of mouth though...