Alan Smith on the man who may finally become Arsenal’s “fox-in-the-box”. As it was he didn't even set foot on the park against Spurs on Saturday.

A couple pieces from articles that ran in the Economist back in July that RealMadridccfan forwarded to me. 

David Lacey writing about the good fortune of Steve McClaren.

A Times interview with Pierluigi Collina.

An excerpt from a massive – and massively expensive – Arsenal book soon to be published.

How long will Steve Staunton remain in charge of the Republic of Ireland?

Last week just before an old-timers game one of my team mates posed the question - when is a volley actually a volley? His point was that commentators have taken to calling just about every shot a volley when clearly it is not. (Another mate jumped in on the subject of penalty kicks and how he is fed up hearing about the dot, going to the spot etc. when commentators only have to save the words penalty kick!) As chance would have it the Times ran an article about the volley subject two days later.

That got me thinking about my pet-peeves – it didn’t take much.
I have a top four:

1. References to “footy” – it’s football, soccer or if you are, Italian, Calcio. The only two groups that are entitled to call it footy are kids under the age of 5 or Rugby playing public school boys who don’t know any better.

2. References to “mid” as in I play mid– what the hell is mid – midshipman, midriff! Apparently it’s a reference to midfield. Try saying midfield it doesn’t take that much longer.

3. Man Yoo – cringe!!! It is Manchester United or United – there is no such team as Man Yoo unless you are talking about the University of Manchester.

4. Right or left defense – no such position.  An obvious indication that the person you are talking to or reading hasn't a clue.

Now that I have that off my chest are there any that drive you up the wall? 

A new feature - Down Video Lane. Seeing that the Champions League proper gets going this week a European theme seems apprpriate. Here are the four goals scored by Ferenc Puskas in Real Madrid's 7-3 1960 European Cup Final win against Eintracht Frankfurt at Hampden Park, Glasgow in front of 130,000 odd fans.

Excerpts from the Ference Puskas biography published in 1999.

As an aside, many of the obituaries that ran after the great man’s death contained an error or two. A number referenced his part in winning five consecutive European Cups with Real Madrid when in fact he did not sign for Madrid until the 1958/59 season. He was suspended for almost two years by UEFA after failing to return to Hungary after the 1956 Uprising. The other often misreported item was the reference to Hungary as the first foreign team to beat England at home. Hungary was the first foreign team to beat England at Wembley but the Republic of Ireland beat England in 1949 in an international game held in Liverpool at Goodison Park.

It is true Scottish ball-boys are just too slow.

Alan Campbell on the debacle that is Heart of Midlothian and the de####able treatment of Captain Steven Pressley.

Gabriele Marcotti suggests a major revamp of domestic leagues outside of the present big 5.

David Bond says that a new owner for West Ham will be confirmed very soon.

Steven Morris writes about the smallest league in the world.

This is going to some week what with round 5 of the Champions League on Tuesday and Wednesday followed by a weekend that includes top-of-the-table action in Italy and England. Palermo plays Inter Milan and Chelsea will go to Old Trafford next Sunday for the biggest game of the Premiership season so far. More on Manchester United and Chelsea later this week.