Summer Soccer Smorgasbord

So much soccer news, so little time. Here are some of the top stories that you may be interested in:

• If you want to receive a beta invite to Pownce, one of the hottest new social networking web sites out there, email me at thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com with “Pownce” as the subject line. The first six people to contact me will receive one beta invite each.
• The last time I checked yesterday, the EPL Talk Fantasy Premier League had 184 people registered already. Thanks to everyone who has already signed up. Be sure to check out the forums within the EPL Talk league for several healthy debates about fantasy strategy and more. And if you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for? Go here for more information on how to sign up for free. If you’ve never played fantasy football/soccer before, it’s extremely addictive and can be quite enjoyable.
• In the UK, Setanta Sports is launching a sports news channel to compete with Sky Sports News.
• Portsmouth will be launching Portsmouth TV in the near future and are looking to expand their brand globally.
• The St. Louis Business Journal is reporting that GolTV has signed an agreement with SCP Worldwide (who tried to buy GolTV but failed) whereby GolTV will be able to show 18 of the World Cup qualifying matches from South America. The remaining 72 games will be shown on pay-per-view, broadband and cable (presumably not on GolTV).
• The Major League Soccer Talk site has photos and a review of this past weekend’s Chicago Fire v Celtic friendly, as well as the latest news about this week’s SuperLiga matches.
• Aston Villa seem to be enjoying their tour of Toronto thus far. Read this interesting report about what antics the Villa players and manager have been up to.
• Speaking of Canada, The Score will be showing some of the Premier League matches this upcoming season.
• The Independent newspaper has revealed more about Stan Kroenke than most of us knew before. I’m thoroughly convinced he’ll be the new Arsenal owner within 12 months especially by what one of his underlings says in this story.
• Some of you may know (and couldn’t care less) that Garmin will be the news sponsor on the front of the Middlesbrough shirts this upcoming season, but did you know that Boro players will be wearing Garmin devices whereby you’ll be able to track their progress on the Internet to read their heart rate, distance and speed?