The View Outside The Premier League: The Gulls Fly High But The Owls Crash Land

Another weekend of fixtures badly affected by the freezing conditions. Without undersoil heating it was the games in the far south and west that had the best chance of surviving and Torquay, Exeter City, Bristol Rovers and Hereford United all took advantage while others were forced off. Torquay jum...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Hughton's Birmingham Maintain Promotion Push

A much truncated programme because of the weather. And some of the games that were completed only just made it - Birmingham and Southampton fans were especially unlucky to be slated for the late kick-off at snowy St Andrews and the two sides put on a creditable show. Only Sporting Braga have won at...

READ MORE

Manchester City's Core Stars Can Get Them Through Their Bad Patch

Winning Premier League titles is rarely a smooth progression. Arsenals ultra-dominant 2003/04 campaign and Manchester Uniteds stroll in 1999/2000 are the exceptions rather than the norm - a year before 2000, when United finished 18 points clear, they squeaked home by a point. All the talk is about ...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: The Onward March of Crawley Town And Accrington's New Era

This weekend saw a mixed programme with a virtually full fixture list in League Two and reduced numbers for the Championship and League One as clubs tried to reach the Fifth Round of the FA Cup. In the cup the standout result was Crawleys win at Hull City. Steve Evanss side reached the last 16 last...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League- Hammers Go Top And Sky Blues Shock Boro

The word is that some West Ham fans dont like the way Sam Allardyce gets his teams to play - come to think of it, most fans dont care much for his style but when it wins pointsevendiehard adherents of the beautiful gamewill swallow their doubts. Theres probably a debate waiting to happen about the ...

READ MORE

Wolves: Is It The End For Mick McCarthy At Molineux?

This willbe an anxious few days for Mick McCarthy as he waits to see what the reaction of owner Stephen Morgan is to the clubs continuing slide. The letters columns of the Express Star will be full of Wolves fans calling for the managers head after a week that went from hope to gloom. Last Saturda...

READ MORE

Darlington FC: The Club Saddled With A White Elephant

On Monday afternoon news broke that all of the playing staff at Blue Square Premier side Darlington had been sacked. Fans of the club will be wondering how they can fulfill the upcoming fixture against Fleetwood this weekend. Heres hoping that one of the possible bidders for the club will meet the ...

READ MORE

Arsenal: Time To Give It A Rest, Arsene

The most predictable headline on Mondays sports pages? Wenger angered by penalty award stands out a mile. So many football fans leaf open the paper or turn on the radio these days after an Arsenal game expecting to hear theGunners manager explain why his team were robbed. As soon as I heard that Swa...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Birmingham Hit Six and Southampton Get Back In The Groove

Birmingham City smashed six goals without reply at Millwall and while they did benefit from two dismissals for the home side, the result demonstrated that Chris Hughtons side are firmly in the promotion picture. Inthe league the Blues season has had something ofa slow burn about it - partly due to ...

READ MORE

Premier League referees: Does Professional Really Mean Better?

Occasionally you feel like writing a piece and then realise that what youre about to say makes you sound like a dinosaur - and after seeing Sundays Manchester cup tie thats what happened to me. Not many people will agree with what follows but in football theres nothing like a debate about referees t...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Robins Fly High And Rhodes Terrorises Wycombe

This was a weekend when FA Cup action mixed with a number of games in Leagues One and Two. Huddersfields star man Jordan Rhodes got things off with a bang on Friday night by crashing five goals past a hapless Wycombe Wanderers. Manager Lee Clark must have had mixed feelings as his top striker once ...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Sheffield Pair See Out 2011 In Style But Its Misery at Northampton

No doubt where the gloomiest bunch of fans were to be found on New Yearss Eve. Excellent results by the teams around them sent Northampton Town to the bottom of the Football League. This event was even more galling as the Cobblers conceded a last-minute winner at home to Swindon Town. There is now ...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Southampton Dominant At St Mary's And Its Presents For The Cellar-Dwellers In League Two

Southampton have had a few blips on the road of late but everyone feels warm and comfortable at home over Christmas and the Saints found life at St Marys as welcoming as ever. Crystal Palace drew the holiday short straw of a trip to the South Coast and went down 2-0 to the Championship leaders. Pal...

READ MORE

Blackburn Rovers: Steve Kean Needs To Act The Part To Survive

I dont know what kind of a person Steve Kean is and Blackburn Rovers fans would know a great deal more about whether hes a decent manager in a tough situation, or a guy in over his head who shouldnt be running a Premiership Club. One thing is clear though - hes definitely out on a limb. Whether its...

READ MORE

Pirlo Leads Juventus Back To The Serie A Summit

Theres something familiar about the Serie A table just before the Christmas break - Juventus are unbeaten (with this weeks match at Udinese to go) and leading the way. Before the traumas of the Calciopoli betting scandal this was the norm in Serie A. Like it or not (and many wont) Juve are back at t...

READ MORE

David Beckham At London 2012 Moves A Step Closer

The Football Association have cleared up some of the conjecture about the make-up of the Great Britain squad for the 2012 Olympics. Its now now firmly stated that no players will be doubling up on Euro 2012 and London. The really interesting element in the announcement is that anyone selected for t...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Sheffield Wednesday And Huddersfield Serve Up A Christmas Cracker

A few weeks ago the Sheffield Wednesday-Huddersfield Town encounter shaped up to be a collision between a 100 per cent home record and a record unbeaten run - but Wednesday have been held at home recently and the Terriers lost their sequence on 43 games. The match still turned out to be an epic enc...

READ MORE

Sunderland: What To Expect From A Martin O'Neill Side

One game, one win and alreadya keytrademark of a Martin ONeill team has been evident - desire to play for the manager and a refusal to give in. The new Sunderland boss may be a bit of a football romantic but he wont be fooled by a single victory though - expect him to put his own spin of the squad i...

READ MORE

Chelsea Head Arsenal In Champions League Betting

Chelsea may have been struggling for form in the league but the bookmakers still feel the Champions League trophy has more chance of ending up in the Stamford Bridge trophy room than the equivalent at the Emirates Stadium. Their dimissal of Valencias challenge to ensure qualification - and the robu...

READ MORE

Manchester Clubs Dominate Europa League Betting

They may not want to even be in the competition but Manchester City and Manchester United have immediately been installed at the head of the betting for the Europa League. Punters will have to try and second guess just how much effort the two clubs will put into winning the competition. Both should...

READ MORE

Apoel and Basle Stir Up The Champions League

There was something depressing about watching ITVs coverage of Manchester Uniteds exit from the Champions League. There was West Bromwich Albion fan Adrian Chiles surveying the teams in the last 16 and sniffily delivering the opinion that many of the qualifiers were teams United could beat. The Cha...

READ MORE

World Player Of The Year: Big Three of Messi, Ronaldo and Xavi Dominate Again

The news that Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Christiano Ronaldo will make up the top three in the vote for World Player of The Year, would surprise no-one who takes a decent interest in the world game. These are the same three players who filled out those positions in 2009. Last year Messi and Xa...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Southampton Lose Again While Bristol Rovers Stage Goal of the Season

Saturdays Championship results would have delighted the bookmakers as both Southampton and West Ham United went down to unexpected defeats. Middlesbrough and Leeds United were both beneficiaries as the top two lost, while Doncasters victory threw more gloom towards Coventry City. Nigel Adkins has e...

READ MORE

FA Cup Second Round: How Many Non-Leaguers Will Reach Round Three?

This weekend is one with the promise of early Christmas presents for a select band of non-league clubs. Twelve are in the draw for the Second Round of the FA Cup with a chance to mix it with the elite if they can progress. It may be a cliche to say they will be dreaming of being paired with Manches...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Bristol City Are On The March As Northampton Keep On Crumbling

Bristol City posted the eye-catching result of the weekend when they overturned Championship leaders Southampton. As so often happens, the arrival of a new manager has produced a sharp upturn in performance - the gaffer in question this time is Derek McInnes, who is adding yet more lustre to the re...

READ MORE

Beckham Strikes Silverware And Puts The Heat On Stuart Pearce

Who writes your scripts? is the famous comment by Graham Gooch about Ian Bothams legendary ability to take centre stage throughout his career. Something similar applies to David Beckham and he gave another example on Sunday by helping LA Galaxy win the MLS play-off final. This is probably the Engla...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Huddersfield Make It 43 Games Unbeaten as the Cobblers struggle

Huddersfield Town are mentioned a lot in this column but it could hardly be otherwise when a team goes 43 league games without defeat. Thats what the Terriers achieved this weekend when they ground out a hard-fought win over Notts County. This run sets the record for the Football League surpassing ...

READ MORE

Olympics: Four Big Problems Facing Stuart Pearce's Team GB

So as expected, Stuart Pearce got the job of leading the Great Britain squad at next years jamboree. Hes been the favourite for so long that its a fair bet he knows nearly all the names hed like to have on board at the Olympics. The question is - will he have them all available? Its hard enough cho...

READ MORE

Can Paolo Di Canio Win A Trophy With Swindon?

Putting Paolo Di Canio in charge at Swindon Town was always likely to be something of a gamble. The Italian is the walking definition of the term mercurial and is always liable to end up in some form of controversy. When he got into an on-field barney with one of his strikers, everyone sucked in th...

READ MORE

England: What Happens If Capello Loses Joe Hart?

The friendly against Sweden gave Fabio Capello a lot of useful information about players like Kyle Walker and Jack Rodwell, but he didnt learn a great deal about his resources in one key position - the goalkeeper role. Scott Carson came out of the international wilderness for the second half and di...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Fleetwood Sit On The Chairboys, Charlton Show Their Class as Swindon KO Huddersfield

This weeks View Outside the Premier League is really an FA Cup round-up because the Championship is on hold due to internationals and League One and Two sides scrapped it out in the First Round proper. Instinctively we look for non-league success but these events arent quite what they used to be, a...

READ MORE

MK Dons: 10 Handy Facts About FA Cup Opponents Nantwich Town

Nantwich Town are one of those non-league clubs going through the best period in their history. This weekend they appear in the FA Cup First Round for the first time in their 127 year history - over the pastfive years the club keep hitting new heights. In 2006 Nantwich won the FA Vase Final, play...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Diouf And Sharp Blunt Ipswich as Huddersfield extend unbeaten run

Its been an extraordinary few days at Doncaster Rovers. Their perilous position in the Championship was put in perspective by the death of Billy Sharps baby son and then the man himself appeared in a midweek game against Middlesbrough and scored just three days after the tragedy. The dreadful event...

READ MORE

Can Beckham And The Galaxy Become MLS Champions?

Remember 2007? Thats when David Beckham first went to Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer. Four years later hes still playing for LA - which is longer than some commentators thought it would last. It hasnt all been plain sailing for the superstar. His understandable desire to play for Milan a...

READ MORE

Newcastle United: City, United and Chelsea Set To Test The Mags' Credentials

The 2011/12 Premier League season has already been the most unpredictable for years with elite teams shipping goals from every angle, but the biggest surprise has been Newcastle Uniteds rise to third place after 14 matches. When the season began, a glance at Newcastles squad didnt inspire too much ...

READ MORE

Doncaster Rovers Take A Punt On the Controversial El Hadji Djouf

Hes back in English football, albeit on a three-month loan only. El Hadji Diouf, one of the games most controversial players, has returned south of the border after a predictably combustible spell in the Scottish Premier League. Diouf is one of those players who polarises opinion - spitting at fans...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Southampton Make Their Mark While Burton Hit Barnet For Six

As statements of intent go, Southamptons victory over Middlesbrough could hardly have been more emphatic. Taking on the side with the best away record in the Championship and the meanest defence, the Saints swept them aside by a three-goal margin. Ever since the campaign began the South coast clu...

READ MORE

Manchester United: The Changing Of The Guard At Old Trafford

Amidst the wreckage of Manchester Citys 6-1 win at Old Trafford one feature stood out. Sir Alex Ferguson mouthed the words about how embarrassing the loss was, but his face said something else. Where was the rage? The purple colour and the anger? By all accounts he gave a decent rollicking to the s...

READ MORE

Why Do Wolves Fans Boo? Because It's A Big Club

As someone who grew up in Wolverhampton, its been interesting to see the media interest in the way Molineux fans gave stick to Mick McCarthy at the weekend. The furore rages on about whether its right to boo your own team and what purpose it has. In amongst all this, there doesnt seem to have been ...

READ MORE

Manchester United got off lightly: Here's five of the worst results ever

Manchester City rocked the champions at Old Trafford, hitting Fergies men for six, but Hugh Larkin recalls five of the worst beatings of all time. As Chris Pettit reminded us elsewhere on this site - Manchester Citys spectacular 6-1 victory at Old Trafford was the second jaw-dropping scoreline of t...

READ MORE

FA Cup: Ashington In Sight Of Glory

Its that time of year again. No, not the Champions League group stages or mega games in the Premier League, although thosematches do have some interest, Ill admit. But for many football fans in England - the ones who follow their local sides - its the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup that reall...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Huddersfield and Wednesday March On

Charlton Athletic have set the pace in League One but two of their closest rivals are putting together a pair of remarkable sequences. Sheffield Wednesday have now made it seven wins from seven games at Hillsborough and, in West Yorkshire, Huddersfield Town are still to be beaten. The Terriers un...

READ MORE

Ireland: 10 Handy Facts About Estonia

The Republic of Ireland probably received the draw they wanted when they were paired with Estonia in the Euro 2012 play-offs. The Baltic state have never qualified for anWorld Cup or Eurotournament, or a play-off, before. 1. Estonia have been in action since 1991 after the break-up of the Soviet Un...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Leicester Get The TV Blues Again

The Championship returned after the international break with a televised game on BBC. Leicester City fans must wish that the Beeb would leavetheir team alone - for the second time this season they were undone in front of the cameras by a penalty and a sending off. The Foxes appeared to be comfo...

READ MORE

Republic Of Ireland Seeded But Tough Opponents Still Await

The news that the Republic of Ireland are seeded for the Euro 2012 play-offs will at least allow Giovanni Trappatonis squad to avoid the most dangerous side in the draw - Portugal - but the cliche there are no easy games really does apply here. And it especially applies to Ireland. In six play-off ...

READ MORE

England: The Upward Rise Of Tottenham's Scott Parker

Summer of 2010 and Fabo Capello trims a 30-man training group to the 23players heading for the World Cup in South Africa. Among those chopped is West Ham midfielder Scott Parker, who had surprisingly few chances to press his case during Capellos pre World Cup warm-up games. In June 2010 it appeared...

READ MORE

The View Outside The Premier League: Chesterfield Succumb At Fortress Hillsborough

With no Premier League or Championship games this weekend the spotlight fell on League One where one of the rarer local derbies took place. Just 13 miles seperates Sheffield from Chesterfield but meetings between the Steel City clubs and the Spireites can be infrequent. This was the first league...

READ MORE

Who Will Take Africa's Biggest Prize?

The semi-finals of Africas Champions League areunder wayand there will be new champions of the Continent this year after the sensational disqualification of holders TP Mazembe. The DR Congo club lifted the trophy in 2009 and 2010; more significantly, they became the first African side to reach the ...

READ MORE

Can Al-Sadd Give Qatar Another Victory?

While the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League is still in the group stages, the Asian Champions League is reaching its climax. The semi-finals are about to take place and there is a chance that Qatar will make yet more impact on the world game. Qatar caused a stir when the country won the right to host t...

READ MORE

Nottingham Forest: The Strange Case Of Steve McClaren

The rollercoaster managerial life of Steve McClaren took another lurch downwards on Sunday when he resigned from his post at Nottingham Forest after apoor run of results - and more significantly, after it appeared the players werent putting in their shift for the manager. What to make of McClarens ...

READ MORE