Paul Bestall

Four weeks ago, Arsenal's title challenge was over. The home defeat to Chelsea had seen everyone and their dog line up to kick Arsene Wenger's team. While they were still licking their wounds, Manchester City snatched a win against the usual collection of youngsters, sprinkled with experience in the League Cup. Not good enough, not […]

This weekend sees the entrance of the Premiership and Championship clubs in to the F.A. Cup as the worlds oldest domestic cup competition continues in its 128th year. It's one of those weekends that gets football fans excited, throwing up all kinds of memories for fans of every club from every level of the domestic […]

For every Ronaldo, there's a Shevchenko. Sometimes, great reputations come at a great cost yet fail to deliver. Shevchenko is a great player to start with. Feared throughout Europe, his performances for Dynamo Kiev and A.C. Milan saw him become one of the most lethal strikers in the world. Once he arrived at Stamford Bridge, […]

Is there a worse chairman in the history of the Premiership than Sulaiman Al-Fahim? I'm struggling to think of anyone who has misled, misinformed and treated the supporters of a club so clearly as Al-Fahim has in his 8 month relationship with Portsmouth. Today the HM Revenue & Customs have issues a winding up order […]

This decade has seen the Premiership continue to grow and attract some of the worlds greatest players throughout the last ten years. By continuing to attract some of the biggest stars in the world, only La Liga can truly consider itself a rival for the quality of the players on show throughout the league. Yet […]

So what makes a great goal? I know it seems a easy question but honestly, what makes a goal truly great? Is it the goal that keeps a side up or a lob from the half way line? The goal that drags a side back in to a game when they're 2-0 or a last […]

During the takeover of Manchester City last summer, City's Chief Executive, Gary Cook made several rather tasteless comments but one stood out above all the others for me. During an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Cook was outlining City's plan for world domination. As Wednesday's defeat at Tottenham showed, sometimes things don't go to plan. […]

So it's official now, Manchester City's owners have shown there true colours with yesterdays sacking of Mark Hughes and replacing him with Roberto Mancini. Rumours had been circling Hughes since Saturday morning, with several British papers stating that the game against Sunderland was to be his last. The board of Manchester City can no longer […]

Over the next few days until the end of 2009, I'll be compliling a few articles looking at my favourite moments from the Premiership's second decade. I'll be looking at some of the great players, some of the great managers, matches, goals even kits. I'll be giving you my honest opinion on what and who […]

Well if there was one game I couldn't wait for the return leg this season so far, then Manchester City vs Arsenal was the one. Now thanks to the magic of the League Cup draw, we get an extra episode in this intriguing match up. There is no doubt that the first league clash saw […]

As it's World Cup draw week, I thought I'd share one of my favourite football stories with you, about the first ever World Cup, though it was only for domestic sides at the time.I heard this story for the first time when I was nine, due to it being made in to a television drama […]

Well, you can't blame them for trying, two weeks after that hand ball incident and FIFA and UEFA being as patronising as possible, the Football Association of Ireland have asked to be included in the World Cup draw on Friday as a 33rd team.I've just had the misfortune of sitting through a Sepp Blatter press […]

Over the years since he bought an ailing and abject club, Mohamed Al Fayed has certainly made some "interesting" decisions over the years. Whilst Mickey Adams was rewarded for taking the team up to Division One by being sacked in September 1997, after Al Fayed deemed him "not high profile enough", Fulham were making major […]

Another away game and another game which could have been closer ends up running away from Burnley. Similar to the match against Tottenham, when they had a dubious offside decision against them, Burnley pushed West Ham close for the first 15 minutes, conceded a goal and ended up finding themselves 5-0 down. It must be […]

The morning after Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League has seen the club reiterate that Rafa Benitez's position is safe. Not qualifying for the Champions League knock out stage is a big blow for a club that strives for parity at Europe's top table. Throughout this season, Liverpool have struggled in the League and […]