The Glazers are said to be looking at another refinancing of the Manchester United’s debt.

UEFA has created a shortlist of stadiums that are bidding to host the 2010 and 2011 Champions League and UEFA Cup.

Tony Cascarino on players who have played for Sir Alex Ferguson and gone on to management. 

Wednesday marked the 150th anniversary of the founding in Sheffield of the world’s first football team. Three years later another team was formed and likely 30 seconds later there was the first disagreement over a referee’s decision.

The new Canadian Soccer Association President hopes to turn the situation around in few months. He may hope that but his first public statement makes it sound like the CSA has another leader who believes that rearranging the deck chairs will save the ship. A few years is a more realistic estimate and that is only with a charismatic leader who can speak to a grander vision. The new President apparently has a medical background; next step a priest?

Two contrasting performances in Europe in midweek provide the backdrop to Arsenal’s visit to Anfield. No matter how poor the opposition may or may not have been on Tuesday, the bottom line was that Arsenal put on a classic display of speed and precision passing that is rarely seen.

Theo Walcott has attracted a lot of attention on account of his display against Slavia Prague (and as substitute last week versus Bolton) and Cesc Fabregas has been rightfully singled out for the start he has made to the season. But Alexandre Hleb also deserves mention. Wenger initially played him on the right side of midfield but from time to time he has been used in what might be considered the “Bergkamp” role – playing just behind the striker.  On song he is a marvelous player to watch.

Arsenal’s record at Anfield in the Premiership has been poor with Liverpool picking up 9 wins and 3 draws in 15 matches. Both teams are unbeaten in the Premiership this season but Liverpool’s four draws against Arsenal’s one has them trailing the league leaders by six points after nine games.

A home loss would not be the end of Liverpool’s title hopes but it would certainly heap more pressure on the shoulders of Rafa Benitez - the bookies cut the odds on him being fired from 33-1 to 14-1 on the back of the loss to Besiktas this week. The fact that Liverpool needs the win and Arsenal are bound to hit a back game sooner or later makes me think that the gap between the two will be down to three points after this one is finished.

Manchester City leaves the friendly confines of the City of Manchester Stadium and travels south to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. City currently sits third in the Premiership with 18 of 22 points coming at home. A 100% home record contrasts starkly with four points from four away games. On top of that recent history is heavily in Chelsea’s favour.

City has only scored once in the last ten Premiership meetings (an Anelka penalty winner was only defeat suffered by Chelsea in the 2004/05 season) while on the last five league visits to Stamford Bridge City have lost four games and conceded 11 goals.

But, there again, City have not had too many players of the quality of Elano available to them over that time. Much has been made of Chelsea’s mini-revival under Avram Grant and if it is to continue then Elano will have to be controlled. The Brazilian has been involved in 9 of City’s 15 goals this season.

Short Corners – Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their last four league visits to Old Trafford – 3 draws and a win. Last week’s win for Portsmouth over Wigan meant four straight Premiership wins – a first for Pompey. Martin Jol was in charge at WHL for a week short of 3 years. His Premiership record in that time was 113 games, 47 wins, 30 draws and 36 losses with estimated net spending of around $70M. Newcastle visits Reading hoping that the home team’s defense is still in a giving mood.  Newcastle are currently sitting 8th but in nine games the only team they have played that is currently above them is Manchester City. Can someone please explain to me why Bolton has hired Gary Megson? If you’re drowning surely the last thing you need is a concrete block.

MLS play-offs started on Thursday night and continue this weekend. The New England Revolution faces the New York Red Bulls with neither team having finished the season in  grand style. Between the two teams they  combined for only three wins in their last 12 matches. Both teams have struggled away from home this season with the Revolution without a win since August 19 while the Red Bulls only won three away games and they all came before mid-July.

Conversely both teams have relied on solid home records with the Red Bulls averaging 2 points a game with New England just a shade below that mark. In terms of goals NYRBs look to Angel and Altidore.  They finished the regular season as the leagues top scoring duo with 28 goals between them (19 and 9). However, Taylor Twellman (15 goals) and Pat Noonan (7 goals) of New England are no slouches. If New England has a concern then it might be down to a scoring drought from the supporting cast. Andy Dorman’s last goal was in mid-July (the only goal of the game against Red Bulls) while Sharlie Joseph and Adam Cristman are not far behind having gone 13 and 11 games without a goal.

In Italy the game of the weekend is Milan at home against Roma. Both teams won in midweek in the Champions League and will be looking to build on that success. Roma have three draws and a loss in their last five Serie A matches and trail league leaders Inter by five points.

It’s doubtful that the schedulers could have come up with a more difficult fixture list for Roma if they had tried. Roma started with Juventus on the second last weekend of September and since then have played Fiorentina, Inter, Parma and Napoli. After Milan the Rome derby against Lazio beckons on October 31.

But for any neutral fan it has been a treat. Over the five games there have been 24 goals with scoring split evenly 12 for Roma and 12 for the opposition. Roma started the season with three clean sheets but are now in the position that only three teams in Serie A have conceded more goals.

Milan have had their own struggles with only two wins in eight games and a general malaise in their league performances. Last season they could look to an eight points deduction that left them adrift but there is no such excuse this season.The results between these two sides have gone back and forward over the last few seasons. But, with the exception of one match, the encounters have been close with eight of the last nine Serie A games being decided by no more than a goal.