Month: May 2009

Tomorrow, all hell breaks loose. Well, not quite, but it’s pretty close. The summer transfer window kicks off tomorrow, and though there’s already been a little activity, the start of…

Update: Chelsea have announced that Carlo Ancelotti will take over as manager in a 3-year deal. Carlo Ancelotti’s contract at AC Milan has been terminated by mutual consent and technical…

The summer transfer window is looming and once again Manchester City are expected to be the Premier League’s big spenders. It seems no target has been too audacious since new…

All we’ve been reading about these past few weeks is Messi this, Ronaldo that. The seemingly never ending debate on which player is the best has granted, been a whole…

Everton and Louis Saha broke the long-standing ‘Fastest Cup Final Goal’ record at Wembley today, but ultimately left the famous stadium with broken hearts and no silverware. Alas it was…

Chelsea beat Everton 2-1 in the 2009 FA Cup Final to record their only trophy of the season in Guus Hiddink’s last game in charge. Louis Saha had given Everton…

Watch Chelsea v Everton live here. Chelsea (Drogba 21′, Lampard 72′) 2-1 Everton (Saha 1′) Stadium: Wembley Stadium, England Competition: F.A. Cup Finals Date: 30 May 2009 Kickoff: 14:00 GMT,…

Last summer I was bored of all the Ronaldo moving to Real Madrid stuff pretty quickly, it carried on through right up until the transfer deadline and I’m fairly sure…

Update: Order your pair from Kitbag; deliveries start from 9th June, 2009. Also, get a chance to win Messi signed football shoes. Adidas has recently revealed their new F50i football…

The party is still going on in Barcelona, and there might still yet be a few angry hangovers in Manchester right now, but the aftermath of the Champions League final…

By winning the Champions League on Wednesday evening Pep Guardiola could stand be chucked in the air safe in the knowledge that he had become the first manager in Spain to…

On the fourteenth episode of the Soccerlens Podcast, Stephen Darwin is joined by the editor of TEAMtalk.com, Simon Wilkes to look back at Barcelona’s triumph over Manchester United in the Champions League final…

However in the build up to the final the question that lingers across the country from Stamford Bridge corridors and internet message boards remains:

‘How important is it for Chelsea to win the FA Cup and do we really care?’

This question reflects issues both inside the club and the general decline of the competition in the last ten years the competition has lost a lot of its prestige and in today’s global game it no longer seems to generate the interest and hype that it once did.

This decline can be attributed to a number of interlinked factors revolving around the themes of Money, Globalisation or both a few of which I have explored in this article.

The transfer window hasn’t even started yet, and some of the most anticipated signings have already been finalised. Kaka will be unveiled for Real Madrid next Thursday in a sensational…

This weekend will mark the official end of the season in Europe’s top leagues, and after that, we can look forward to the start of the summer transfer window. As…

For nine minutes, I was smug and self-satisfied, as well as disappointed. My pre-match predictions were being played out in front of my eyes; the men in all-white were on…

The 14th Major League Soccer season has had something of a messy start. Of 74 matches played at the time of writing, 27 have resulted in draws. Matches are frequently…

Much of the focus in the football world today is on the massive UEFA Champions League final showdown between Manchester United and Barcelona (which you can follow live on SL),…

The season isn’t actually over yet, but several managers have quit (or in Sunderland’s case jumped before they were pushed out) and clubs from Celtic to Chelsea are looking for…

“Ceux sont les meilleurs equips” “Die Meister, die Besten, les meilleurs equipes, the champions.” What UEFA has tried to do in the infamous CL anthem played before European nights, during…

Watch Manchester United v Barcelona live online here. Barcelona (Eto’o 10′, Messi 70′) 2-0 Manchester United Stadium: Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy Competition: UEFA Champions League Final Date: 27 May 2009…

By some accounts, Sunderland should have been relegated this season. They didn’t, and with Ellis Short due to complete a full buy-out of the north-east club, the Black Cats are…

The summer transfer window hasn’t even opened yet, but a couple of big names from Europe’s top leagues are already on the move to new destinations, and a few others…

The phenomenon of déjà vu is quite common to us nowadays, endlessly chronicled in movies and novels. As my comrade Alex Bogatiryov stated in his blog piece, one of the…

Like a butterfly floating around the pitch, Lionel Messi has an uncanny ability for making things look easy. With the ball at his feet and a pair of defenders flanking…

Obviously, we know that Sir Alex Ferguson has won many trophies, coached a lot of great players, and accomplished a lot of extraordinary things during his time at Manchester United….

Forty eight hours have passed, yet still the inquests rumble on. Still the post-mortem is being carried out, still each and every name and role is under scrutiny, with every…