Brian Clough - "The Damned United"

For those of you who have no idea who Brian Clough is, you are going to want to make sure and see this movie about the legend that was. The movie was released in the UK back in March, but it has only now made its way across the pond and opens in New York and Los Angeles on Oct 9th. Clough was a very confident and larger than life figure, optimized by his own quote "I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one". I love that quote! I can't say I remember too much of Clough's career, but I do remember his final few seasons, and watching him finish his career at Nottingham Forest. I also took the opportunity to read his autobiography, which in my opinion is one of the read reads available, especially if you want to know more about what soccer in England was about from the 60s to the 90s. This includes a playing career at Middlesbrough and then management, which turned out to be his real calling! The highlights included a sparkling career at Derby, a short but memorable 7 game stint at Leeds before his move to Nottingham Forest. At Forest, Clough achieved the unimaginable by winning back to back European titles in 1979 and 1980.
I could keep taking about the legend, but I will let the book and movie give you the full details! The movie is called 'The Damned United" and will be released in the US October 9th, while the book is called "Clough: The Autobiography" available at Amazon, and believe me when I say this book is one of the best soccer reads out there!!

Russian Pitch Invader Scores Penalty!

This could be one of the best Penalties I have seen taken, the keeper doesn't even move!! This happened last weekend in Russia, when a fan ran onto the field of the Saturn vs Spartak Moscow game and buried the ball in the corner of the net! It is a great penalty, but lets be honest, where is security? These two clowns just run free on the field! Gotta love it though!

Get a Retro English Soccer Jerseys!

So, you are thinking of getting yourself a new soccer jersey but dont know which to get (maybe you are a Portsmouth fan and need to change it up a bit!!), well what about getting yourself an old school retro jersey? I just found this page over on the 'English Mirror' tabloid, where they have a bunch classic jerseys for sale. There are a bunch of great jerseys up for grabs for all of the top teams. I recommend the Manchester United 1985 FA Cup final jersey. Get Kevin Moran on the back, wearit in a game, get a red card and make the Jersey even more legitimate!! (Kevin Moran was the first player to get a red card in an FA Cup Final, and that was in the 85 final!)

Check it all out over at the Mirror Football Shop!

Owen Seals Manchester Derby

Quite ironic if you ask me...Man City spend over $100 million on new strikers yet Michael Owen, who was signed on a free transfer by United was the one to score the winning goal in the Manchester Derby! The game finished 4-3, with Owen scoring the winning goal in the 95th minute. This Derby will go down as one of the greatest Derby games of all time, and it will come as no surprise that this game was full of controversy! One of the talking points was the fact that Owen's goal came in the 95th minute, when the 4th official had signalled there would only be 4 minutes added! After the game City coach Mark Hughes was fuming! Alex Ferguson on the other hand, played off the win by saying it was not about beating Man City but rather finishing top at the end of the season!

Speaking of Michael Owen, I have been impressed with how Sir Alex Ferguson has been handling the ex-Liverpool man. One of Owen's big downfalls has been the fact that he seems to consistently pick up injuries. But right now, Owen looks like a man on fire, and finally injuries are on the back foot. Ferguson has not used Owen in all games this season. In fact, Owen has only started one Premier League game! With that, Owen has been influential when brought of the bench, and so was the outcome of Sundays Manchester Derby! England Coach Fabio Capello has continued to leave Owen out of his squads because of Owen's injuries, but if he continues to play how he is right now, I think Capello will have to call him into some squads. And that would suit Owen as we head towards a World Cup year!

When will Portsmouth get their first win?

Portsmouth have endured a pretty bad start to the 2009/10 season. Actually, it has been the worst start ever in the Premier League, with 6 losses on the trot. Paul Hart has been assured of his position as manager, and with the takeover there are sure to be big signings come the January transfer market. For now, the boys at Pompey need to battle for a win, or even a draw, to break the losing streak. Below is a list of their fixtures until December. They have to break it at some stage, but the question is when? They have some difficult fixtures coming up in the next few weeks. My opinion: the will get a draw at Wolves! Leave thoughts, comments, or predictions below.

Man City to Appeal Adebayor Charge!

Last week, Manchester City accepted the charge handed down by the English FA to Emmanuel Adebayor after his rash challenge on Arsenal's Robin Van Persie in their Premier League encounter. Adebayor and City did not hand in an appeal against the three match ban that the English FA handed out. All well and good as, from my point of view, Adebayor did rake his cleat along Van Persie's face. In light of the game, match official Mark Clattenberg admitted that if he had seen the incident he would have sent Adebayor off. Charge one accepted.
A second improper conduct charge is to be handed out to Adebayor in the coming weeks. Man City today stated that they will be appealing this charge as they believe they have a case against it. After scoring against his old club, Adebayor after he ran the whole length of the field to celebrate scoring in front of the Arsenal fans. The incident caused a huge riot in the stands, and could so easily have got even further out of hand. In fact, one of the stewards had to be rushed to hospital after getting stamped on. I'm not sure why Man City would even think about appealing this one! What Adebayor did was senseless. To score and celebrate in front of the opposing fans on the same end where the goal is scored is somewhat ok. But to sprint (and I mean sprint, no one could catch Adebayor) the length of the field, to the other goal, and slide on your knees in front of the fans to celebrate in kind of brainless! There was a lot of emotion at the game, and Adebayor did have to put up with a lot of slack from the Arsenal fans. On top of that, add the fact that some of his former teammates would not shake his hand before kick off and it raises the level even more. One thing to note on this is that I have played at the top level of soccer, and been at stadiums where fans booed me up and down the field. Yet I never even thought about celebrating like this. The right response is to score the goal and celebrate with your fans and teammates. I think it would have been more effective for Adebayor to celebrate with his new teammates in front of his new fans, and maybe even kiss the City crest to show his loyalty to his new club. Instead he choose to shun them and be an 'individual'!
Lets hope Adebayor enjoys his few weeks of rest, and comes back with a better attitude!

Chelsea Banned From Transfer Market!

Don’t expect any big transfers at Stamford Bridge for the next 12 months; FIFA, the world governing body have banned Chelsea from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows. The club was found guilty of inducing a French teenager to breach his contract with another club. The player in question is Gael Kakuta, 18, who joined Chelsea from Lens two years ago. It was the French club who lodged a complaint with the sport's world governing body seeking compensation for breach of contract from the player and requesting also sporting sanctions to be imposed on the player and the English club.
An official FIFA statement went like this:
"The DRC found that the player had indeed breached a contract signed with the French club. Equally, the DRC deemed it to be established that the English club induced the player to such breach.
"As a result the player was condemned to pay compensation in the amount of 780,000 euros (£680,995), for which the club, Chelsea, is jointly and severally liable, and sporting sanctions were imposed on both the player and Chelsea in accordance with art. 17 par. 3 and 4 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.
"A restriction of four months on his eligibility to play in official matches is imposed on the player Gael Kakuta while the club Chelsea is banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the present decision. "Furthermore, Chelsea, has to pay RC Lens training compensation in the amount of 130,000 euros (£113,498)."

The ruling means that Chelsea would not be eligible to sign players in the Christmas transfer window, or next summer’s transfer window. The next time they would be able to buy would be December of 2010! What a hit that would be to the club. Include that next summer the World Cup will take place, and it is an even bigger blow. Usually World Cup’s are where the new upcoming stars shine and every team will be looking for new signings. Chelsea are not the first club to have been punished in such a way. Italian side Roma were also given a ban for two transfer windows in 2004 following defender Philippe Mexes' transfer from Auxerre. Roma appealed to the CAS and had the ban cut to one transfer window.

Seattle Win the Lamar Hunt Open Cup

Seattle Sounders defeated D.C United in the final of the Lamar Hunt Open Cup on Wednesday night, and sealed the first trophy for the first year franchise. No doubt, people were expecting an entertaining game and a close result..and that is exactly what they got. I would say that it was one of the more entertaining finals in recent times and shows why the tournament is still important to teams. In 2007, I was part of the New England Revolution team that took the title, and I know that winning that trophy was very important to what we did that season! To have any US Professional soccer medal is an honor.

What capped the game for me was the fact that a player who moved with the Seattle Sounder Franchise from USL to MLS was the one to score the winning goal - Roger Levesque. What a fairy tale story for the 28 year old striker, who is in his 5th season as a Seattle player. A lot of credit has to go to Frenchman Sebastien Le Toux, who tussled for the ball at the edge of the area before squaring a neat ball to Levesque at the back post. A well deserved goal!

My final point is on the red card given to D.C goalkeeper Chris Wicks after Seattle's first goal. What was the big man thinking? He gets up and jumps on a player (Freddie Montero) who is lying on the ground after a legitimate goal...a moment of madness that should see the keeper fined and suspended for more than the normal 2 games for a red card. He could have seriously injured Montero as he appeared to stamp on the strikers chest.

Great win for Seattle.....and congrats to one of the best set of supporters in MLS! Feel free to leave your thoughts about the game below. What did you think of Seattles performance? What about Josh Wicks red card?