Paul Bestall

Fresh from giving England fans palpitations after Fridays semi-final win against host nation Sweden, England's young lions have a chance to win some silverware for the junior lions for the first time since 1993. England Under 18's triumphed that year, riding a week long wave of growing optimism and support to beat Turkey 1-0 in […]

Well, two days are left until the transfer window opens again and Manchester City look like they've signed two strikers to help Mark Hughes drag them up the table. I suppose they need some good news down at Eastlands after the ground flooded on Saturday due to flash floods. With both signings, City could have an […]

The build up had been going on for weeks, with the first teasers of the new kit advertised on the hoardings surrounding the pitch during Spurs' final home League game against Manchester City. "Glory Comes In Three Colours" read the tagline, and Spurs fans collectively shrugged at the thought of having another 3 kits for the […]

Now I'm certainly not going to start defending Chelsea's players or the reactions of certain fans after the final whistle back on May 6th. Yes, the referee had a nightmare, yes Chelsea should have had two penalties at least and yes to some people it was easy to understand the reactions of some of the […]

The Guardian today has a very interesting article regarding Manchester United's owners changing the clubs transfer policy to concentrate on signing players under 26. It seems that the Glazer family want the club to only sign players that they can recoup transfer fees on later in their careers. Now maybe it's me, but I've yet […]

Ah, isn't buying a football club the easiest thing in the world. Look how quickly Abramovich bought Chelsea, the Glazers bought Manchester United and the Abu Dhabi group picked up City. Compared to the protracted nature of the proposed takeover of Portsmouth, even buying Newcastle United may be easier. When Sulaiman Al-Fahim reappeared in May […]

It was not the start that England's Under 21 side wanted, but it could have been a whole lot worse after today's close shave against a Finland side full of surprises. By finding themselves in the toughest of the two groups with Spain and Germany, this was the game that Stuart Pearce would have targeted […]

February 2007, the dawning of a great new era in Liverpool's history as Tom Hicks and George Gillett bought the club from the Moore's family. Promising massive investment and the funds for the construction for the new stadium that Liverpool needed, it seemed as if Liverpool were finally about to catch up with Manchester United […]

Jose Mourinho fell out with Roman Abrahamovic over him, Martin Jol tried twice to sign him for Tottenham and Barcelona were even watching him but those admiring glances and failed bids seem a long way off now. When he first burst in to the Premier League back in 2006, I was blown away by the […]

It seems that the people who own Carlos Tevez, well the own his economic rights; seem to underestimate Sir Alex Fergusons strength of character. Over the last few weeks, Tevez has been quoted several times stating he feels his future lies away from Old Trafford and with a club that will show him more respect. […]

So its official, Manchester United's board have accepted a world record shattering bid of £80 million this morning from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. I don't know about you, but I couldn't face another summer of every news outlet boring us to tears speculating on Ronaldo's future as we had last season. Day after day, […]

When we had to put up with the on/off Gareth Barry transfer saga all last season, one of the key facts throughout the drama was that Barry wanted to play Champions League football. It was a purely football based decision to want to leave Aston Villa, though the fact that his best mate Steven Gerrard […]

Well, the most unsurprising managerial appointment of the summer has thankfully been completed this morning, with Carlo Ancelotti taking over as the new manager of Chelsea on July 1st. It was no real surprise at all really and a couple of weeks ago, I posted my thoughts that Ancelotti was making sure that Chelsea really […]

The only thing that surprised me about Ricky Sbragia's resignation was the timing of it, coming just 20 or 30 minutes after the final whistle. It was odd to watch Niall Quinn speaking about his manager not wanting to take up the option of another year as manager, whilst Sbragia stood there impassively. Now it […]

So less than 24 hours after Promotion to the Premiership and the usual round of tired cliches and articles about "brave little Burnley" are beginning to pop up on-line and in the press. Do they never learn, Do they know the football history attached to this club? Burnley fans will probably laugh in the face […]