Kate Foster on one of the strangest supporters clubs that you will find any place. Here is a clue - at one time the club was managed by a young man called Alex Ferguson.
Daniel Finkelstein uses a more statistical basis to pick his Player of the Year.
There will be a number of blog entries this week. The first in a series of Toronto FC Reports will be posted along with a review of the Premiership predictions that were made back in August. There will also be a “Premiership by the Numbers” column on Tuesday and on Friday there will be a recap of the road to the FA Cup where we will go from the first preliminary round that got underway in August right through to Saturday’s Final.
Daniel Finkelstein shows how unlikely it is that Chelsea can achieve the quadruple as well as who the stats say is Manchester United’s most valuable player – it may surprise you.
Alan Hansen with an early preview of England’s task in Israel.
Rob Hughes contends that it is the middle years of a player’s career that provide pain and sel####oubt.
The Hawk-Eye system used to judge line calls in tennis looks like it will become the system of choice to decide whether or not the ball has crossed the line - in football that is.
The first two are a couple of articles from earlier this week.
Kevin Eason describes how the new Premiership television deal that kicks in next year will see the “richest-clubs” list being dominated by English teams.
Another insightful piece by Daniel Finkelstein – this time on Arsenal’s up and down season.
Rob Hughes on last weeks international friendlies.
This weekend I was thinking how difficult it is to come up with greatr trivia questions in the age of the internet and goggle. I would interested to see if anyone has a trivia question that can go unanswered for 24 hours - soccer related of course.
It is official - Newcastle are the winners of the Intertoto Cup.
Neil Warnock the manager of one of the Premiership’s hottest clubs Sheffield United, has been writing a regular column for the Independent.
Stewart Robson on the pros and cons of Chelsea’s current midfield set-up.
Daniel Finkelstein and “The Fink Tank” takes a look at the Champions League draw.
Another clear indication that UEFA is willing – or must – align with the European Union in order to control the G-14. The article may point to Chelsea, but this is only because they are an easy target.
Rob Hughes provides more details on the FIFA-Mastercard-Visa court case. The article includes the following comment from the Judge on Jack Warner’s right-hand man Chuck Blazer. “Mr. Blazer’s testimony was generally without credibility based on his attitude and evasive answers on cross examination.”
After this week Speakers’ Corner will be taking a break over the holiday season. However, I will continue to post during that time and create open forums for discussion over the next few weeks.
Thank you to all the regular blog readers and contributors and a happy holiday season to you all and a guid New Year.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
Thank you to all who take time to visit this blog and especially to those of you who post your comments and thoughts.
PS - If you have questions please post them on the regular Monday blog. I am unable to answer e mails posted to the inbox on this site.
And one more thing. If you have questions or complaints or compliments about programming please contact Fox Soccer Channel or Fox Sports World Canada directly. I have no control over what the stations televise.
