Win tickets to the Euro 2008 semi-final game in Vienna !

Now you can win 2 tickets to the Euro 2008 semi-final in Vienna, travel expenses, first class hotel for 2 nights, and a sweet VIP-package on top of that!

Do you like football and VIP treatment with lots of free beer?!!

All you have to do to have a chance to win this package is to place an accumulator bet at Betsson!

All customers that place a bet for at least 5 euro (or equivalent in their own currency) on a triple or higher during May will get a ticket in our big lottery that will take place on the 1st of June.

This means that the more coupons you place fulfilling these conditions the more tickets you get in the lottery and the bigger chance you have to go to Vienna in June!

From all these tickets we will draw five lucky winners and the customer with the highest winning odds on any of his (or her) winning tickets with a stake over 5 euro will get two tickets to the 2nd semi-final on Thursday, 26th June 2008 Vienna, Austria.

The four runner-ups will get 100 euro each on their account.

1st Prize:
2 tickets to the 2nd semi-final on Thursday 26th June 2008 in Vienna.
With travel expenses, and luxury hotel.

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100 euro on your account.

You've gotta be in to win - so make sure that you place at least one treble at Betsson Sportsbook this month - and win the best VIP football experience going.

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Blatter Bigotry blasted as EU votes against foreign quotas

The European parliament dealt a blow to the misguided rants of Fifa president Sepp Blatter who planned plans to curb the number of "foreigners" at clubs.

MEPs overwhelmingly rejected by 518 votes to 49 Blatter's "6+5 rule", which tried to restrict a club to no more than five foreign players to start a match.

The European parliment resolution said "The parliament calls on the member states and sports associations not to introduce new rules that create direct discrimination based on nationality, such as Fifa's 6+5".

"It calls on the Commission to recognise the legality of measures favouring the promotion of players who have come through training schemes, such as a minimum number of locally trained players, irrespective of their nationality."

Ivo Belet, the Belgian MEP and author of the parliament's report on the future of professional football, told the assembly: "Unfortunately the 6+5 rule is not compatible with the free movement of persons in the EU. The European Treaty is very clear on this point - discrimination on the basis of nationality is not allowed and this also counts for football."

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Man City being turned into a Thai toy for owner

Manchester City have reportedly offered Luiz Felipe Scolari the managers job at Eastlands - but have told him he must accept before the European Championships.

Various newspapers report that the current Portugal coach has been offered a contract worth around £3million a year to take over from Sven Goran Eriksson, who appears certain to be sacked at the end of the season - after Sven led City to their best league finish in 20 years !!

Both The Times and The Independent report that Thaksin Shinawatra has insisted that Scolari gives City an answer before Euro 2008 - but understandably Scolari is reluctant to do so, knowing that a winning performance could attract plenty of other attention.

Meanwhile Manchester City will arrive in Thailand on May 14 to open a club store and hold a clinic before playing against Thailand Premier All-Stars on May 17. A match with a South China Invitation XI follows in Hong Kong on May 22.

Who knows who will be in charge then ... this Shinawatra chap is rapidly turning things into a farce .. unfortunately I expect City to go backwards in 2008-09

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Italy Silly Season - Fixes or Rumour

We are getting towards the end of the Serie A season - and relegation looms in Italy making the situation rife for plenty of rumours about match-fixing.

There were plenty of strange low value prices today - and plenty of high value in Serie A. Of course we're all aware that Parma won today at a very low price - and everyone has jumped on the fix bandwagon again - was that really the case?

Let's take a look at a selection of games in Italy, and work out what would have happened if you'd backed the "fix" or taken the value.

THE FIXES :
Parma v Genoa (1.48 - 8.00)
This was picked as a close game by the betting spreadsheet, but the fixers were sure that Parma would win and so the 1.48 price on the home side was very, very low - unexplainable in normal terms. Parma were 5-6-5 at home this season, Genoa 5-5-6 away.

Parma won 1-0 and the FIXERS claim a win but was a home win here really a big surprise?!

Torino V Napoli (1.40 - 10.00)
Torino in relegation trouble and Napoli very safely in midtable. Torino favoured slightly by the sheet at home (0.36 of a goal) mainly due to Napoli's woeful 3-4-11 away record.

However the 1.40 on Torino to win is about 56% of fair and surely this is another "fix"? Torino do 2-1 so the FIXERS WIN. But was it proof of corruption or a desperate home team?

Siena v Juventus (8.40 - 1.57)
Juventus in 3rd assumed to have referee backing and will win at Siena. The home side are priced at a staggering 227% of correct value as they are estimated to win this game 27% of the time by the sheet.

The result is that Siena win 1-0. FIXERS LOSE. Value punters win big.

Atlanta v Livorno (3.25 - 2.35)
Atlanta by far the better side, and rated 0.66 of a goal favourite by the sheet are somehow considered outsiders at home to bottom placed Livorno who will win via a fix?.

Atlanta win 3-2. FIXERS LOSE

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There were two other games that did provide upsets of sorts - where they were away teams winning at prices over 4.00+ that never got a rumour of a "fix".

Looking at the form lines, it was very hard to pick the results, and based on the the price no-one seemed to suspect a fix. But the fact that they occured shows how results can vary in football especially at the tail end of a season.

Catania v Reggina (2.10 - 4.40)
A real relegation battle and lowly Reggina priced a low 53% of fair value. But Reggina grab a vital 2-1 away win at a 4.40 price - where were the fix rumours about this game then?

Lazio v Palermo (2.50 - 4.00)
Palermo came into the game 3 points ahead, but without a win in their last six away games. Lazio picked to win based on home form and cruised up 1-0 until the last 10 minutes when Palermo scored twice to win. A fix?

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The upshot is that if you had beleive in the two successful fixes then you did win - and make profits on the home wins. Of course you'd have had to really lump on in order to make good money - and also avoid the Juventus game.

Lets say you believe so wager double stakes (200 euros) on each of the two correct "fixed" games then here is how the money falls :
= 400 euros bet / 580 euros returned and a profit of 180 euros.

A good profit. However if you'd simply backed the four value sides (Napoli, Genoa, Atlanta and Siena) at normal level stakes of 100 euros then :
= 400 euros bet and two wins for 1265 euros returned for a profit of 865 euros !!!

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If every strange result is a fix - why did no-one seem to get on the upset wins for Reggina and Palermo who surprised at prices of over 4.00?

So are there fixes in Serie A that the public can get on? Or aew they simply wildfire internet rumours based on a few strange results?

I'm still not convinced.

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Look Away Now - the podcast

Look Away Now is a short term Sports Comedy Podcast.

Garry Richardson anchors a new series of hot-off-the-press sports sketches, spoof interviews, non-expert analysis and music.

The show is broadcast on Wednesday s at 6.30pm and looks back at the last five days' action as well as forward to the sporting weekend ahead (a bit like Linda Blair in the Exorcist but with less vomit and more badminton), and the series runs for six weeks. (ending may 7th)

It's a bit obvious, a bit twee, but also quite of lot of laughs - and did actually make me laugh out loud several times. Well worth a listen - especially after a few beers.

Check out the Look Away Now - Podcast which you can hear the latest episode on free download.

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A win at last - after 3 years of trying

Three years after setting out as a professional tenis player, Briton Robert Dee finally recorded a victory after 54 consecutive straight sets defeats.

His trail of defeats have Dee the dubious honour of holding the worst record in professional tennis losing each of his 108 contested set since his first tournament in Mexico.

The 21-year-old player finally was rewarded last weekend when he defeated Arzhand Derakhshani of the United States 6-4, 6-3 during qualifying for a Futures tournament in Rues (near Barcelona) in Spain.

However, his moment in the sun did not last long - he promptly lost 6-3 6-1 to Artur Romanowski in the second round.

The victory means he remains joint holder of the record for the longest losing streak in the history of the pro game with Diego Beltranena of Guatemala.

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Back - but not quite work ready

Alright - I'm back on board after the knee op and starting to slowly get into the workstream - although it's actually a bit harder than I thought to work with the massive knee brace that I've got to wear for the next couple of weeks.

I plan to sit down on Good Friday and knock out my previews for the weekend - so you should see them on site by Friday evening.

In the meantime there are previews on site from Chappers, Simon and Mario (Thanks guys!) on the main site and I've also got all the latest spreadsheet numbers in the usual place.

Good luck with your weekend punts

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Back by Easter

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last week - but I've been preparing for a little hospital visit that I've had coming up.

An old football injury has finally made me agree that I need to go under the knife, and I've been lucky enough to get a top knee man to sort out my (non-existant) ligaments.

Apparantly they use bits of your hamstring to build new ones these days, which I must admit sounds very inventive, but also a little bit painful. I last visited a hospital when I was about 8 so I'm NOT looking forward to this.

The good news is that he says that I may be able to play football in 6-9 months - assuming that I could actually play football before of course ...

I hope to be out and about and back on the internet before Easter, and plan on having all the spreadsheet data and match picks sorted out for the weekend.

See you all soon (I hope).

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So what's Wrong with Arsenal ?

I was asked a question in the forum today ... "What's wrong with Arsenal?"

What's wrong with Arsenal?
They're top of the table - by three points - and with 11 games to go have a good chance of winning their first title in four years ... will they take up the catch-cry of "winning it for Eduardo?"

What's wrong with Arsenal?
They're playing in a competitive league and they've scored in every Premier League game bar one .... a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Is that really going wrong?

What's wrong with Arsenal?
After losing Thierry Henry in the summer to Barcelona - nearly every external pundit said that Arsenal were finished and would struggle to make the top four - picking Spurs to replace them. Is first place really a bad effort?

What's wrong with Arsenal?
After winning 4 league games in a row they drew 2-2 with Birmingham City despite dominating the game and conceding a last minute (non) penalty. It's a stumble but not fatal.

Ok ... so having made my point ...
Perhaps the only thing that I'd point to - and I point to it each season - is Arsene Wenger's tendancy to work with a smaller squad or players when compared to the other "big 4 clubs" in England and also a tendancy to favour youth over experience.

My gut feeling is that this means that Mr Wenger has to spend less time dealing with players moaning about not getting playing time. Younger players expect less time (compare the attitude of Jens Lehmann to Manual Almunia - or Gilberto to Flamini) and with a smaller squad then they will all get to play some part in a game during a week where there is mid-week and weeekend fixtures.

With Van Persie out for the last 5 months, and now Eduardo out for 6 months, Arsenal are lacking a core of striker - indeed until Adebayor struck amazing form I might have said had no recognized strikers.

A lack of experienced heads is also a key - and if William Gallas is our most responsible player - then we're always going to be likely to be in trouble when stress is applied. (again see Birmingham after the final whistle)

Arsenal has a small, young squad of extremely talented players, but (as I always complain on the blog) it is not a squad that is capable of challenging on four fronts for trophies.

Wenger has realised this this season and the Carling Cup and FA Cup sides were decidedly under-strength - but with 10 players out Arsenal do not now have enough quality options.

Of course, the problem for Wenger is that while that solves the too many games problem, it does not satisfy that fans who honestly would like to see Arsenal win every game that they play.

Remember that prior to Arsenal, Wenger's biggest previous club was Monaco, and with all respect to Monaco - their fans probably didn't care if they didn't bother to much about domestic cups.

Arsene Wenger is a great manager - but he needs to find a way to handle the man management issues (I'm available to lay down the law ) and overcome his aversion to building a big experienced squad.

If Arsenal want to be a true European power on a regular basis - then they need a squad that can handle an injury situation like this - because quite frankly given the nature of the domestic league - this situation is likely to occur EVERY season.

However, I think that Wenger knows that if he brings in experience ahead of youth - then he will undo a lot of the good work he's doing now.

So What's wrong with Arsenal?

Not much that 2-3 experienced players couldn't solve. But will Wenger ever go that way in the transfer market? I don't think so.

This year was not supposed to be Arsenal's year - it was too soon with all the young heads. But now after such a great opening 6 months I do wonder if Arsenal will somehow manage to do it - perhaps with Eduardo helping to concentrate thier efforts?

And as for next season ... just watch out.

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The Premier League must act - ban thugs

Arsenal's Croatian / Brazilian striker Eduardo suffered a potentially career threatening injury on Saturday and it's time this sort of thuggery is sorted out.

Birmingham City's Martin Taylor clattered into Eduardo divingi in studs up and missing the ball by over a foot, and fractured his left fibula and an open dislocation of his ankle joint leaving Eduardo with a foot pointing the wrong way.



The apologists for the "get stuck in brigade" are already saying that it wasn't malicious, and that Taylor "is a good lad" but have no doubt at all that this tackle was a deliberate attempt to stop Eduardo and prevent a chance at goal.

Taylor probably did not mean to break a leg, or end a career, but he also did not mean to pull out of the tackle once the ball had gone.

This tackle wasn't mistimed, it was not accidental, it was a calculated tackle delivered with full force and designed to give the Arsenal player "something to think about" early on in the game, and it something that is still prevalent in the English game.

As it stands Taylor will be banned for three games for his red card, while Eduardo will be out of football for at least 6 months ... if he plays at professional level again.

I've gone into the forum saying that my solution would be that players that are sent off for violent fouls should be suspended for a periord of time that matches the duration that the injured player is out plus three months.

Perhaps that's too harsh, especially bearing in mind that Eduardo may not play again, but I certainly think that there needs to be a review panel that sits after the game to make a decision on an extended ban period for violent fouls.

Whether, it's 5, 10 or even 20 games is something that can be determined rationally in the week following with the benefit of video evidence and witness depositions.

As it stands at the moment a player that gets sent off gets a 3-match ban, be it for talking out of turn to a referee, slapping (Jeremie Aliadiere yesterday), or for violent foul play.

That's unacceptable.

(NEWS UPDATE : Arsenal are predicting that Eduardo da Silva will make a full recovery in about nine months)

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Henry to return to England - for Newcastle?

This one made me laugh out loud - I had to read it twice to make sure it was genuine.

Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan has stated that Thierry Henry is at the top of his wish-list and UK bookmaker bet365 make the price 11/2 (6.50) for Henry to join Newcastle by the time the transfer window closes at the end of August.

bet365 spokesman Steve Freeth managed to keep a straight face when he said : "If Keegan manages to stay at Newcastle and keep them in the Premiership he could have a bottomless pit at his disposal in the summer – and Thierry Henry is hardly getting rave reviews at Barcelona."

He did add : "However, Newcastle are just 12/1 for relegation and they'd have more chance of signing Lenny Henry if they dropped into the Championship."

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GOONER SAYS : Bearing in mind Henry's legendary status at Arsenal, and the fact that he left on extremely good terms last summer, I think that if he was going to turn up anywhere in the Premier League in August - then the Emirates Stadium would be the place to see him.

Keep your money in your pockets on this one.

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EPL : Fulham 0-3 Arsenal

There's nothing like a 3-0 Arsenal win to make a Gooner feel better about life.

I particularly like the wins where we've effectively wrapped it up by halftime and even the opposing manager and fans have good things to say about the Arsenal performance.

And so it was at Craven Cottage yesterday when Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice before halftime for a comfortable lead and Tomas Rosicky sealed the win in the second half.

The Guardian even called Arsenal "elegant" while a Fulham fans admits Arsenal "were brilliant" - whach are both things we probably already thought but it's nice to hear other people saying this sort of stuff too.

(it's all a far cry from the Don Howe / George graham days eh?)

Over at the BEEB Sports section the reporting is far more functional but it's worth playing the video interview with Fulham manager Roy Hodgson who talks about Arsenal's skill on the ball and admits it was a comfortable win.

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Nothing much changed in the league standings with ManYoo and Chelsea both scoring away wins (albeit both of them a little less comfortable than expected) while Liverpool and Man City play on Sunday.

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King Kev's debut at St James's Park was a damp squib, a 0-0 draw against a very defensive Bolton in a horrible game - but the Geordie fans recognise that it's gonig to take time and were not booing at the final whistle.

I expect to see more improvement in Newcastle in future months - but as we play them soon in both the FA Cup and the Premier League I'm hoping that it imght take Mr Keegan a wee while to restructure his side.

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Juande Ramos fielded a weakened Spurs side for their game against Sunderland, but still won 2-0 although it was a game that was surprising for the Sunderland effort in the second half.

I read a comment (somewhere) from a Sunderland fan saying that his side had mastered the art of snatching a defeat from a good performance - which I thought was a clever piece of gallows humour.

Spurs now host Arsenal kids in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg - and should rightly consider themselves favourites to progress - as I think that they've got the measure of the young Gooner side.

But still - that favourtism tag can hang heavy around teams - and stranger upsets have happened - so there is plenty to play for on Tuesday night.

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OK let's see what Sunday brings - I'm surprised to see such big prices for both Aston Villa (6.25) and West Ham (4.00) to win on the road - and I reckon that we might see a surprise in either (or both) of these games.

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Le Sulk heads for Les Bleus

Nicolas Anelka's move to Chelsea provides the perfect stage for the gifted but enigmatic French striker to make his football career mean something.

Arsene Wenger unearthed the french starlet as an 18 year-old from Paris St Germain, for the meagre price of £500,000 and got some brilliant performances during an all-too-brief stay at Highbury.

He earned the tag of "Le Sulk", during his stay in North London, as he listened to the deluded ramlbings of his brother agents - and despite his talent there was great relief and merriment in my household when he left Arsenal in August 1999 to join Real Madrid in a £23m deal.

Anelka has never lived up to his undoubted talent, never really looked likely to fulfill his potential as while he was blessed with physical prowess - he's also been cursed with mental shortcomings and a readiness to believe his sycophant followers.

Anelka showed at Arsenal, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Fenerbahce and Bolton that he has (had?) the skills to succeed at the top level, but for all his talents - he has too much baggage to be relied upon by top flight sides.

After a domestic double with Arsenal in 1998 and a Champions League win with Real Madrid in 2000, his career has been a series of ill-fated transfers where the biggest headlines are written the day he signs the contract - and little more thereafter.

Chelsea have bought a flawed talent, although in the short term Anelka might be able to help Chelsea to strive towards their trophy challenges this season.

But it will be beyond Avram Grant (or any manager) to keep Anelka playing to his ability for more than 30-40 matches. Anelka changes clubs like other players change their cars - playing for ten teams in scarcely more than ten years.

Despite the 4 1/2 years on the contract the fact remains that Anelka has never seen a contract through - and it's most likely that Stamford Bridge will be no more than a pit stop as "le Sulk" continues his footballing journey through most of Europe's clubs.

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FA Cup 3rd Round : Favourites fail to win - almost everywhere!

It was a tough weekend for favourites backers in the FA Cup this weekend with a mix of upset wins and draws meaning that only 7 of 22 teams that started as odds-on favourites actually managed to win.

You'd have been better off picking cup winners at random over the weekend!

Although there were no total shocks in the FA Cup on Sunday we still saw Liverpool, Newcastle, Derby and Fulham were all held by lower league opposition.

Liverpool are now 7.00 (6/1) (BetFred) for the trophy, while Newcastle are 29.00 (28/1) with Bet365 for Wembley glory.

At least my team Arsenal obliged with a good result as they beat Burnley 2-0 and covered the asian handicap bet too. The Gooners are now a 5.00 (4/1) chance at Ladbrokes to lift the cup.

On Saturday Manchester United beat Aston Villa 2-0 to book their place in the last 32. They are now 4.33 (10/3) favourites at BoyleSports to win the FA Cup.

Chelsea were also among the winners - they beat QPR 1-0 - and Avram Grant's side are now joint-second favourites to lift the trophy in May, as they are 4/1 with BoyleSports.

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Why no FA Cup previews Gooner ?

Why no English FA Cup previews Gooner ? - that was the question that I received nearly a hundred times this weekend when I didn't offer any personal cup picks on the main site.

I think that you've now seen the answer as a barrage of "upset" results hit most tipsters picks during the 3rd round.

In Europe, the domestic Cup is treated quite lightly, offering no more than a midweek diversion from the serious bread n butter of league football.

In England, it IS a little bit different, due to the age and history of the FA Cup competition as modern football's longest surviving trophy dating all the way back to 1872.

But the allure of the cup has definately changed in the last twenty years, with prize money, congested fixture lists, and a surfeit of football on TV all playing their part in lessening the status of the FA Cup.

TV EXPOSURE :
Back when I was a lad, the FA Cup was likely to be the ONLY live game that you would see on TV during the season. So reaching the final and worldwide exposure was a big thing.

Now there are literally 20-30 games on the box each week - all the rounds are covered - and frankly the FA Cup final is just one more telvised game and certainly not the major aim for the biggest clubs.

So in the fans eyes - the Cup is no longer the be-all and end-all and this is shown in the dwindling attendances in cup games right around the country.

PRIZE MONEY
Whether it's prize money or just TV appearance money for playing in the English Premier League and/or Champions League - there is little doubt that the FA Cup is a distant 3rd priority for teams with European commitments.

Arsenal's football budget is based around the TV money payments from the Premier League and Champions League, and the couple of million quid on offer for the FA Cup probably is now less than the gate receipts from a single league game at the Emirates Stadium with 60,000 attending.

Winning the silverware is nice - but it's only a consolation prize - "at least we won the cup".

The Cup Final is probably not even the most valuable domestic match either - as I've heard it said that the playoff match for the teams that finished 3rd - 6th in the lower English Championship is considered to be worth GBP 30m (in Premier League TV money).

IF the Football Association REALLY want the FA Cup to regain it's allure - then there are a lot of POUNDS, EUROS or DOLLARS to be found in order to make the Cup a major target.

Club motivation has to be examined when making a punt - and typically the only clubs that are fully motivated are those that are not challenging for a league title AND are not likely to be troubled by relegation either.

FIXTURE LISTS :
OK - I'm less sure about this arguement - because I remember teasm in the 1980's playing 70+ games in a season with a squad of just 14 or 15 players.

However, the game has changed, and perhaps because its faster, or perhaps because players are more pampered, it seems that squad rotation and fielding weaker sides in the cup is de-rigeur.

This makes picking results much harder as you have to guess at the mangers selection policy, especially amoung the big clubs who may be playing every four days at various stages of the cup.

You also have to factor in that teams will often settle for a replay with a few minutes left - instead of pressing on for the winner - meaning that the number of draws does tend to go up - and few people like to bet on the draws.

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So Why no English FA Cup previews Gooner ? simply because there are too many moderating influences and artificial events going on to make picking two line-ups easy - let alone forecasting a result.

So this wekeend I left it to guys who were pretty close to the action of several clubs - and even then they had plenty of problems in foreseeing what eventually happened.

We will see how the fourth round draw pans out - as their may be a tie or two worth a punt.

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Xmas In the Relegation Zone? Some hope exists !

Christmas has been and gone and we all know the oft-quoted statistic that being bottom of the Premier League on Dec 25th is a recipe for disaster ... but how likely is it - and what about the other two teams?

BOTTOM :
West Brom are the only team to escape relegation after being bottom of the Premiership at Christmas (in 2004-05). So 14 of 15 last placed teams have taken the drop.

It looks like almost certain relegation for Derby County then - but you probably didn't need these stats to decide that.

19TH PLACE :
But second-from-bottom sides have only been relegated seven times in 15 seasons (Leicester 1994-95, Watford 1999-00, Leicester 2001-02, Leeds 2003-04, Southampton 2004-05, Birmingham 2005-06 and Charlton 2006-07).

Unfortunately, that is also the last four seasons in a row.

18TH PLACE :
While third-from-bottom teams have gone down only six times out of 15 (Middlesbrough 1996-97, Blackburn 1998-99, Coventry 2000-01, Derby 2001-02, West Brom 2002-03, Crystal Palace 2004-05).

Of course West Ham were the most recent example of an 18th placed side coming good in the second half of the season - including a 1-0 win at Old Trafford.

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Moyes needs convincing Arsenal were better?

Arsenal surprised as lot of people yesterday by battling back from a goal down to beat Everton 4-1 at Goodision Park.

The win moved Arsenal to the top of the Premier League - 2 points clear of Manchester United - to see in the New Year.

However, Everton manager David Moyes says that he thinks that Everton were the better footballing side during the game.

He said: "For all the stuff talked about the way they play, it was not their usual type of goals that beat us. We cannot hide that we made mistakes for the goals, but I will take some convincing that Arsenal were better than us.

Moyes continued "It was us who played the football and Arsenal who went direct. I'd find it hard to view it differently."

Of course what Mr Moyes is ignoring is the fact that on a cold, wet Merseyside night Arsenal scored four goals away from home to win by some margin.

Both sides had 10 shots, although Arsenal were more accurate with a 7-3 advantage on target - however the biggest difference was in the accurate finishing and quality defending.

For all the talk that Mr Moyes offers about the Everton style of play - the passing movements only really happened after Everton were 1-2 and then 1-3 behind, and Arsenal allowed the Toffees to play in the middle 3rd of the pitch.

Yes - Everton did make more passes - when they were losing on the scoreboard and Mr Moyes ignores the key areas of the game in his assessment.

The league table is NOT ranked according to possession stats - if it was then Arsenal would be runaway champions - instead it's ranked according to match results and goals scored and conceded.

Arsenal made one defensive mistake (and were punished) while Everton made half a dozen - and at the top level that's far too many to expect to win.

Quite simply Arsenal were better because they scored four times while playing away from home - and that's usually enough to win any game ...

(unless of course you are Reading)

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Germany Banning Internet Gambling ?!

Online gambling will be banned in Germany as of Jan 1st 2008 after German states ratified an accord that preserves the country's state monopoly for lotteries and most forms of betting.

A majority of Germany's 16 states have submitted the ratification documents, Eric Braum, a spokesman for the Hesse government, which monitors the process, said in an interview today.

All 16 state legislatures voted by mid-December to approve the new online-betting laws, which the states negotiated after the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in 2006 that the former model was unconstitutional. The new rules, which expire at the end of 2011, have drawn criticism from Internet betting companies and lottery brokers like Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, Fluxx AG and Tipp24 AG.

The new rules ban any form of Web-based gambling or brokering of games over the Internet. The states may order Internet service providers to block Web sites of illegal betting operations and banks to stop money transfers to them. The rules definition of illegal gaming includes placing a bet from German territory over the Web with a company based outside Germany.

The regulations also will outlaw advertising of gaming over the Internet and on television. Advertising in print and other media may no longer "directly invite, incite or prompt" customers to play instead it may only "inform" about the possibility to do so.

The European Commission, the European Union's Brussels- based regulator, called on Germany to reconsider the total ban on online betting, saying the step was disproportional.

In the meantime German citizens are going to have to put up with Federal interference in their gambling habits - as the local government seeks to increase their tax take by only allowing local monopolies.

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AC Milan 4-2 Boca Juniors

Milan win FIFA World Club Championship

Finally we had a football game worth talking about at the "World Club Championships" as an aging Milan team overcame an out-of-season Boca Juniors side in the "final".

Filippo Inzaghi scored twice as AC Milan beat Boca Juniors to win the Club World Cup in Japan. Inzaghi struck after a Kaka pass on 21 minutes but Boca equalised a minute later through Rodrigo Palacio's header.

Alessandro Nesta's volley, Kaka's solo run and finish and Inzaghi's second - all in the space of 10 minutes - settled the match in Milan's favour.

Kakha Kaladze saw red, as did Boca's Pablo Ledesma, while Milan's Massimo Ambrosini scored an own goal.

So well done and congratulations to AC Milan - who learned that Paulo Maldini will be retiring at the end of the season.

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GOONER BEER RANT :

But frankly the preliminary games are a bit of a farce - and even if an upset did happen so that we did not get a Europe v South America final all it would mean is another imbalanced game in the final.

This is one FIFA turkey that will not fly - no matter how much they dress it up. Either bring over a couple more top sides for the "tournament" or stop pretending that it's anything more than a one-game title.

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Big match Buildup.

Having recently lost the last two unbeaten Premier League records, Arsenal and Liverpool will be trying to bounce back with wins over their biggest rivals.

Alex Ferguson will take some time out from advising the FA not to pick Sam Allardyce for the England job to test the true quality of Rafa Benitez's perennial cup kings and see if their title challenge is for real.

While, Arsene Wenger could welcome back Cesc Fabregas, and Van Persie is almost certain to take part in a mouth-watering contest. One team plays some of the most attractive football in the world. The other is Chelsea.

The managers will say these Sunday games will decide nothing, we say it'll decide who gets to abuse who in offices and workplaces all over the planet for months to come.

Nothing could be more important!

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The Fiver Rumour Mill ...

As stolen from the high-profile (for a blog) and always funny Guardian Fiver blog ... their rumour mill always has a nice turn of phrase.

Milan have had enough of Ronaldo's injury problems, and would be happy to see the cuddly striker lending his weight to another team's attack.

Wayne Bridge has had enough of not being picked by Avram Grant, and is considering taking his unique brand of comedy to Newcastle or Spurs, where it will be properly appreciated.

And Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks has had enough, and will sell his stake in the club as soon as Rafa Benitez stops whining about transfer targets long enough for him to get a word in edgeways.

Check out the Guardian Fiver Monday to Friday (around tea-time) for a regular laugh.

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Apologies for the outage

Oooops. Our host had a few problems this morning with hackers, power spikes, T1 cables and the "full moon" all blamed at various stages during the fault resolution ...

We noticed about 5am GMT - and with phone calls going to three different timezones - it seemed to take quite a lot of work just to get everyone up out of bed and fixing the problem.

Needless to say that we finally have got it all resolved (in a calm and diplomatic manner - see picture) and we are all up an running again.

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Posting everyday? Not likely - so here's a joke ..

One of the things that I read is that if you've got a blog and want people to read it then you really should post on it every day ..

Trouble is - I don't have anything interesting to say about betting on a daily basis ... but in the interests of READER enticement and geting you lot to come back every day ...

Here's a "sporting" joke that I got sent today ... It'll make you laugh.
:-)

----


A nun is sitting with her Mother Superior chatting. "I used some horrible language this week and feel absolutely terrible about it."

"When did you use this awful language?" asks the elder nun.

"Well, I was golfing and hit an incredible drive that looked like it was going to go over 280 yards, but it struck a phone line that was hanging over the fairway and fell straight down to the ground after going only about 100 yards."

"Is that when you swore?"

"No, Mother," says the nun. "After that, a squirrel ran out of the bushesand grabbed my ball in its mouth and began to run away."

"Is THAT when you swore?" asks the Mother Superior again.

"Well, no." says the nun. "You see, as the squirrel was running, an eagle came down out of the sky, grabbed the squirrel in his talons and began to fly away!"

"And Is THAT when you swore?" asks the amazed elder nun.

"No, not yet. As the eagle carried the squirrel away in its claws, it flew near the green and the squirrel dropped my ball."

"Did you swear THEN?" asked Mother Superior, becoming impatient.

"No, because the ball fell on a big rock, bounced over the sand trap, rolled onto the green, and stopped about six inches from the hole."

The two nuns were silent for a moment.

Then Mother Superior sighed and said, "You missed the fucking putt, didn't you?

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Heinze still stuck at Old Trafford

Manchester United's Gabriel Heinze has lost his attempt to force the club to allow him to move to rivals Liverpool.

Heinze said the Red Devils gave him written permission to pursue a transfer to another club for a fee of £6.8m but ManYoo disputed this.

A Premier League arbitration panel concluded that the permission "was unambiguous in that it envisages only an international transfer".

The defender is set to appeal against the panel's decision. United will have 14 days to respond and, with the transfer window scheduled to shut on 31 August, Heinze is short of time if he wants to leave Old Trafford.

But his solicitor Richard Green says the Argentine could still join Liverpool after that date using Rule M4, which allows the Premier League discretion to grant a transfer outside the window.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill travelled to Monday's hearing in London to put their case and will be happy with the verdict.

I don't really understand Manchester United's approach to this - they've obviously got a player who doesn't want to be there anymore - and indeed Ferguson shows no inclination to want to include Heinze in his match day squads.

I know that transfers between the Liverpoll and United are rare (the last first-team player to move from United to Liverpool was Phil Chisnall in 1964) but the club approach here seems wrong - given that the requested fee has been meet.

It seems like a bloody minded approach, and one that does smack of restraint of trade - or attempting to keep the best players away from your rivals. If you are not gonig to use a player then he should be able to leave - as long as reasonable financial demands have been met.

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Fantasy Football - almost completely pointless ?

... and that's not just describing the state of my entries - but almost.
;-)

A new football season started this week - but not just on the pitch - as throughout the globe an army of pencil pushing, spreadsheet code, FIFA 2007 playing, spotty faced nerds have begun battle in the various fantasy football competitions.

It's an almost futile endeavour for the casual participant, as you have absolutely no chance of keeping up with who is playing or injured in your own REAL life club, and main rivals, let alone all the minor players that you're forced to buy in order to fit under the "salary cap".

This season I've declined almost every invitation for competitions and leagues, but still find myself playing in two fantasy football comps, a tipping league, and an NFL fantasy comp over at bodog (that one I'm actually looking forward too).

I have no real idea where the sites are (I've bookmarked them somewhere), what the rules are, or how often you are supposed to update these things, and I suspect that my SPAM filter greedily chews up all the reminder emails that were going to be sent out.

So after a week of competiton I am rock bottom of an 8 team league in one competiton (after only 6 of my team actually turned up to play on opening weekend) although I was surprised to see that was still the 32nd percentile overall ...

Does that mean that 31% of teams actually did worse than I did?! Ddi their managers die before submitting a team?

And in the other competitino my mid-week performance was a shocking 18 points after I didn't bother to swap out all my Arsenal and Liverpool players - I think you get unlimited transfers in this comp - although staggeringly that still left me in about 238,000 place from 1.2 million entrants ?!!

Come on guys - don't tell me that you've abandoned your teams already ... Oh - whats that? You have - and you're still beating me?

Yup. Pointless.
;-)

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Can you feel the tension midweek ?

Here we are on Wednesday afternoon - and I'm knee-deep in computer code and related work tasks which is probably just as well or else I'd be wasting all my time thinking about Arsenal Football Club and the start of the season.

They've got Fulham at the Emirates this weekend - a match that usually suits Arsenal well enough and I've opened my English Premier League previews for the weekend with a pick for a 3-1 win to the Gunners.

The team are talking the talk - well Robin Van Persie and William Gallas mostly - and Wenger has also chimed in saying that they want to put a better title challenge together - and to my mind that must mean focusing on getting maximum points for the season opening game at home.

We will see - but I am looking forward to the game - nervously like almost every fan - but with expectations of an improved showing this season.

I notice there is a bit of Sunderland baiting going on in the forum - mainly from Newcastle fans ... ;-) ... and also a bit of optimism from Spurs and Birmingham fans looking for their team to suprise the critics.

As far as the site previews go, we will sit down on Thursday evening and do the research and post a few more previews and we should have 5-6 there ready for Friday morning with all the odds for you to check out over morning tea.

Right I'd better get on with some paying work - catch ya later.

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From United to Liverpool with Love? Not Likely!

The non-transfer of Gabriel Heinze from Manchester United to Liverpool looks like it finally rumbling to a conclusion ... no sale !!

Manchester United are prepared to sell the want-away Argentine player to anyone - anyone except their domestic rivals in England - specifically Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

I know that Man United hardly need the money and Heinze will still be a potentally useful squad player - although how useful a player really is when he doesn't want to even be there is up for debate.

As an old time gooner, I can remember a few transfers from Arsenal to other major English clubs
- Frank Stapleton to Manchester United
(that hurt Frank was a fan favourite),
- Michael Thomas to Liverpool
(a financial insult to Liverpools Championship defeat?)
- and of course Cashley Cole
(who was tapped up by Chelsea - and good riddance!)

We also picked up a few former Spurs players in the legendary Pat Jennings (how that happened I'll never know) and Sol Campbell.

But they did happen, both clubs accepted the inevitiability of the tranfer once the player had madeup their minds - and eventually people forgot about it and got on their lives - except for every season when the player returned with his new side.

What I don't recall is ever hearing the NOT TO YOU LOT being shouted so strongly - and it's probably no surprise that it's the aging Sir Alex Ferguson doing the ranting.

Is it simply being petty? Is it restrain of trade? Or are United just a little bit scared of what is going on at Anfield?

How would United react if every club in England said "Not to You" to the defending champions - justifying it with the reasoning that as the current top side in England then they must be the biggest rivals?

Whatever the cause - whatever the reason - it's a new development and something that is going to add a bit more spice to their clashes this season ...

(mental note : BUY BOOKINGS when UNITED and LIVERPOOL clash)

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Takeover at Arsenal? Pure summer bollocks !!

It's incredible - the magical creation of mystic worlds and suspension of disbelief almost makes it beleivable ... almost. No - I'm not talking about the latest Harry Potter book - but the daily Arsenal takeover saga in the papers.

I know it's summertime - so we know that journos will make plenty of stuff up - but the daily rumour mill surrounding possbile takeovers at Arsenal are getting weirder and weirder.

Today it's eccentric F1 owner Bernie Ecclestone who is quoted as saying "he interested in anything as long as its CHEAP enough" and "I do go to Chelsea when there is nothing else to do".

There you go - a casual newbie Chelsea fan who'll buy anything cheap - that obviously proof positive that he's on the inside track to buying Arsenal eh? NOT!

Elsewhere we read that the reclusive American Stan Kroenke has been accumulating shares to add to his 12%-14% holding - oh except for the facts being that only about 24 Arsenal shares have been bought/sold on the PLUS exchange in total during JULY !!

TWENTY FOUR !! There are 62,219 total shares on offer (making Arsenal a £450m company) and my calculations show that if ALL 24 were sold to Kroenke then it will take the American a further 77 years to reach a 50% shareholding at that rate.

Throw in the fact that you have a report that Arsenal board not keen to sell because they beleive that an overseas invester will want to take more money out than they put in - financial investors are likely to be treating the club as a business.

Of course the prime mover, motivator and PR spinner in all this is former vice-chairman David Dein who simply could not take the boards decision last March and resigned in a fit of pique - and has been desperately aggitating ever since.

But, Arsenal don't need the money. The club is financially stronger now than at any stage in their history. There are other clubs with more cash of course - Chelsea, Man United, Liverpool, Barcelona - but that's always been the case.

But with the new 60,000 seat stadium functioning, and a major property development in London coming on stream, the Arsenal Football Club is in sound health and is not "cash strapped" - it's soundly managed to spend within it's operating budget.

The current board are running things for AFC's benefit - not to line their own pockets (they have not taken a dividend on their shares for over TWENTY years) - and they've carefully plotted and manouvered Arsenal to take best advantage of the current financial climate - upgrading the ground while not risking the clubs future.



IF Arsenal can find an investor who wants to be part of creating positive conditions for the continuation of the football club - ahead of returning profits back to their own pockets - then I'm sure that he/she will be welcomed with open arms.

But it NOT be a hostile takeover because the shares are tightly held, and so Arsenal Football Club is not a pretty bauble to be plucked or a financial opportunity to be exploited. Rather it is a football club whose main purpose is to play football at the highest levels - not to chase profits for American, Russian or English fatcat (and suntanned) pockets.

With Arsenal taking a prudent financial approach that protects them if and when the TV rights bubble bursts - you can be sure that the club that was created in 1888 in a pub across the road from the Royal Arsenal factory will be around for many more years to come.

To write anything else is journolistic bollocks - a cheap headline because the transfer market is not moving - and simply published in order to sell a few more papers or get a few more hits for their website.

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Chelsea : So long Sheva ?

AC Milan look to be forcing a decision from Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich on Andriy Shevchenko with the European Champions offering £15m for their former player.

Shevchenko has struggled at Stamford Bridge since arriving for £30million last summer, scoring just 4 goals in 30 league appearances and seemingly out of favour with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho who never really wanted him.

But Abramovich is a personal friend of Shevchenko, and is keen to give the striker more time to impress although time is running short with the player turning 31 in August.

However if the Ukraine international wants to return to Milan, then Abramovich could let him go despite the huge £15m loss on the fee.

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Sheffield Utd lose again - Beckham media mania

Two things catch my eye in the news today - and unfortunately both are probably things that I'd rather didn't get so much coverage.

I see that yet another Sheffield United legal appeal has failed today with the High Court not allowing the Blades "leave to appeal".

I know relegation was hard on Sheffield Utd, but I really don't have much sympathy for the case for compensation - or the original appeal.

Why not? Because despite the convoluted transfer wranglings going on at West Ham - all that really happened is the West Ham got access to a couple of players and then had to go out and win games on the pitch.

Frankly I don't see any difference between these transfers and the usual loan player scheme that has hit the Premier League and Football league over the last two seasons.

There was no rigging of players or fixing of games - and Sheffield United had plenty of time during the season to win enough points so as not to finish 18th and get relegated. They knew what the decision was and the only reason they're appealing now is that they finished 18th.

If the Premier League had announced that they were deducting points from West Ham - so that Sheffield United thought they were safe - and then later on changed their minds then I'd understand the appeal.

But this is bollocks - give it up guys.

-------------------
The other "big event" was the hype around David Beckham's arrival in the United States.

Screaming fans, over-hyped publicity, it's a "made for reality TV" situation that unfortunately has almost no chance of living up to the hysteria and so will inevitiably result is disappointment and more negative headlines in the US.

Victoria seems to love the idea of being a US media queen though - and there seems little doubt that her wants and needs were a big part of his decision to play football in the US - which probably says it all - BRAND BECKHAM HYPE - here we come.

It is good to see that ticket sales for his games are huge - I understand the first league opponents the "New York Red Bulls" (has advertising in the US gone mad?) have sold triple their normal number of tickets ...

... but really what are these people expecting to see and will they be happy if he plays a solid game in midfield holding the ball with a couple of good touches - as you might expect in a new player arriving at a side? Don't you beleive it !!

Still - I guess it's one way to make money out of football - and football is a business these days - but you know it's going to be a huge "SO WHAT?!" inside a month.

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Arsenal : Swapping Freddie for Bakary ?

It looks like we might have seen the last of one of the old guard as Freddie Ljundburg's possible move to Fiorentina looks more likely every day.

The BBC Sports site is now reporting on Freddie's talks with the Italian club and I've gotta say that it would probably be a good bit of business if the Arsenal could flog him off to Fiorentina for £5m or more.

Freddie is 30 now, and although we might all want to remember him in his flash red mohawk haircut (BEFORE Beckham copie it) when he was scoring goals for fun, the truth is that he's knackered and injured a lot these days.

He's paid around 80-90K per week, and managed to get on the pitch for just 27 games last season managing 2 goals - neither of them in the league.

He's been a great servant for Arsenal Football Club, and a superb pruchase for £3m from Halmstads in 1998 - but his time with us is done - remember I told you how mercenary football can be ...

Thanks for the good times Freddie - but you are done lad.

---

And it looks like in comes Auxerre player Bakary Sagna, a 24yo who has represented France at U21 level for a pricetag of £7m.

I know that you might be thinking - not another bloody outside back - but Arsenal concede too many weird goals last season from crosses out wde - and if Arsene Wenger thinks that this man might help turn those frustraing 1-1 draws into 1-0 wins then I'm more than happy to see it.

Perhaps it might allow us to play Eboue a little more further orward in midfield - he's at his best going forward anyway - and it will be interesting to see quite how Arsene will sort this all out.

---

Anyway at least we are seeing some action in the market - but I still want to see some significant experience injected into midfield and upfront ...

However I'm sure that Mr Wenger will react after reading the blog ...
;-)

Catch ya later ..

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UEFA Champions League Money Pot

The latest issue of the online publication UEFA Direct makes very interesting reading.

Page 6 outlines exactly how much each club got for participating - and why - and it just shows how important the Champions League is to the budgets of the clubs.

The top payouts went to the sides that progressed furtherest, as you might expect, with AC Milan getting €38.5m and Liverpool €34.6m.

But even group easy-beats like Levski Sofia received €5.5m just for making the group stage - even though they lost all 6 group games.

Another big factor was the size of the TV market - with Arsenal receiving €19.2m compared to FC Porto's €11.5m despite having very similar records and both going out in the second round - due to the lucrative UK TV market.

And what about the UEFA Cup? How does it compare?

Well it really is a second teir competition with winners Sevilla earning just €6.2m for winning the whole thing (barely more than Levski Sofia) while if you were eliminated before the UEFA Cup group stage you made less than €0.5m for your efforts.

As you can see participation in the Champions League is all important for the financial future of football clubs - and it's no wonder that the pursuit of 4th place is considered more important than a Carling Cup or FA Cup in England.

Without the regular flow of money - the big clubs turn into "sleeping giants" ... like Newcastle or Tottenham
;-)

RELATED LINKS :
The UEFA main website
The GoonersGuide.com UEFA club football betting previews.

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English Transfer Round-up : Babel, Bellamy, Tevez

So the transfer merry-go-round continues to spin, and Liverpool are certainly flexing their newly acquired financial muscles.

LIVERPOOL
Liverpool are very intersted