So the transfer saga of the summer is over as Manchester City have finally completed the signing of England international James Milner with Stephen Ireland moving to Villa Park as part of the deal. While Manchester City have undoubtedly got themselves a top quality player we will have to wait and see whether or not […]

Articulate, funny and an enthusiastic celebrator of his team's goals, Martin O'Neill is one of the most popular men in football. Having done a superb job at Leicester City, and a very good one at Celtic (despite quite heavy spending) he was linked with the Manchester United job in 2002 (before Ferguson stayed on) and […]

Manchester City are continuing to flex their muscles in the transfer market with another massive signing looking set to join the club shortly. Aston Villa has confirmed that Milner has asked to leave them to join Manchester City and the club have agreed as long as City can match the valuation. Martin O'Neill, quite rightly […]

Aston Villa today launched their new home and away jerseys for the 2010-11 season. The biggest talking point about the home jersey is that they have the same sponsor as Fulham, which means they also have the same annoying tag line displayed on the front of their shirts. Ugh! As for Villa's away jersey, it […]

When you're a football club and you have to come up with ideas of how to promote the sale of season tickets during the summer months, what do you do? If you're Aston Villa, you release three very creative videos and hope that they go viral. James Milner, Carlos Cuellar and John Carew star in […]

So it seems the end is drawing close for Rafa Benitez at Anfield, with reports all over the place pointing to the Liverpool owners offering Benitez £3 million to leave immediately. Quite what has happened to bring Liverpool lurching in to another crisis so soon after the season has ended is unsure, but for me, […]

With the Premier League season now done and dusted, there is no better time to look at the winners and losers of one of the most open and un-predicable seasons in history. Arsenal Despite another trophy-less season there has been a considerable improvement with the Gunners, showing more fight and determination despite playing a majority […]

It's hard to believe, but it's the last weekend before the final Sunday of the 2009-10 Premier League season. I think you'll agree that it's been an incredible one both on and off the pitch. But before I get too nostalgic, there are still big games happening this weekend and plenty to talk about. Feel […]

2006 was a disaster for England's much vaunted strikers in so many ways it was depressing. It was clearly Sven Goran-Eriksson's nadir as the England supremo as his eccentric choices left England woefully short of options. Michael Owen was so off the pace as to be redundant and his World Cup collapse when he ruptured […]

Manchester United has gone crashing out of Champions League, having succumb to the left foot of Arjen Robben. On this episode of the EPL Talk podcast, I am joined by Laurence McKenna for our mid-week review show, talking about United's capitulation and Arsenals ouster at the boots of Lionel Messi. That, and a preview of […]

On Wednesday's edition of the podcast we welcome Richard Whittall, the award-winning blogger whose work can be found at A More Splendid Life and Pitch Invasion, where he is the associate editor. In this interview he speaks a writer, musician, and Aston Villa supporter, as we talk about his approach to chronicling the game and […]

It's the week of the Cheltenham festival, so in order to celebrate, this edition of fantasy football tips will take on a slightly equine nature. Apologies in advance for the inevitably dodgy puns. I'll try and ensure that there's not too much horse play... Anyway, to business. Just like horse racing, it's crucial that you're […]

Instead of providing a match report about the Carling Cup Final (great game, congratulations United on the win), I want to write about a different but related topic and that is the advertising boards sprinkled around Wembley which contained messages from supporters from both clubs Sunday. You may have seen some of them in between […]

[polldaddy poll=2769110] Don't forget that Sunday morning will feature the Carling Cup Final between Aston Villa and Manchester United (10am ET, Setanta US, Setanta-i and ESPN360). But who do you think will win? Vote in the poll above and share your opinions below. Personally, I hope it's a close contest between two teams that both […]

When watching Manchester City's fantastic 4-2 Victory away to league leaders Chelsea, one thing was paramount in that game and it wasn't Wayne Bridge V John Terry, Two red cards, Manchester City's flowing football, Shay Given's commanding goal keeping or Roberto Mancini's great man management and control of the game. It was Gareth Barry. I lost count […]