EPL Talk has two pairs of tickets to give away to this Tuesday’s premiere of The Cesc Fabregas Show, recorded live in London. Entry is strictly by ticket only.

Fabregas will be the star of the show, which will be televised before a private audience of 400 people. Several surprise special guests will join Fabregas for the show. Doors open at 6pm BST on Tuesday, May 13.

If you want to win one of the two pairs of tickets, just leave a comment with the answer to the question below (along with your email address). Winners will be contacted by email on Sunday. The winners will be randomly selected from the comments. The deadline to submit your answer is midnight ET on Saturday, May 10.

Question: What club did Fabregas play for before Arsenal?

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Let’s hope that I’m On Setanta Sports creator Mario Rosenstock is madly rewriting the script for the final episode of the season. That’s because the British press is reporting that “It” (aka Sven-Goran Eriksson) is interested in becoming the next manager of Chelsea if Avram Grant is sacked.

We’ll have to wait until Sunday to see The Special One’s reaction.

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It has been a day of introductions here at EPL Talk, so let me be the latest to say hello to all of you. I am honored to be joining the site alongside all the new members, and I would like to thank The Gaffer for the opportunity to write here.

Now to the big news. ESPN announced it’s broadcasting plans for Euro 2008 today. First, like with U2 during World Cup 2006, a single artist has been tapped by the network to provide all the music of the tournament. In this case, it will be the English band Coldplay, who will be releasing a new album on June 12th. So, if you are not a fan, start getting ready now, as you’ll be hearing a lot of them.

Second, and more importantly, is the schedule itself. The blog Awful Announcing have already broken it down by day (with one correction: the Turkey v Czech Republic match on June 15th will be on ESPN Classic, not ESPN2). So, how many matches will each network get? The bulk of them (17 of 31) will be airing on ESPN2, seven will be showing on ESPN, five will be on ESPN Classic, and two matches (a quarterfinal and the final) will be airing on ABC. ESPN also announced that, before the final, ABC will be showing an MLS matchup between the Los Angeles Galaxy and D.C. United at noon eastern. For those of you with HD, 26 of the 31 matches will be available in high definition on either ESPN, ESPN2, or ABC HD; ESPN Classic matches will only be available in standard definition. ESPN 360, the network’s online video service, will show all matches except the two on ABC, and ESPN Deportes will be providing Spanish-language coverage of all matches. Finally, ESPN Classic will show a half-hour highlight program during every evening of the tournament just in case you miss something.

The last announcement is one that should interest historical fans of the game; each weeknight from May 26th to June 5th, ESPN Classic will be showing each of the last nine Euro final matches.  From West Germany’s three straight final appearances between 1972 and 1980 to Greece’s shocking victory over the hosting Portugese in 2004, you’ll get to see them all before this year’s tournament.

I’m glad to see the powers at ESPN have shown a willingness to put the final on ABC, but I do have to wonder if the lack of additional matches on that network will hamper it’s viewership.  It’s also good to see that most matches will be available in HD.  Overall, I would say I’m happy with the schedule announced today.  Now all that’s left is for the tournament to begin.

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Until the latest football bonanza kicks off with Switzerland versus the Czech Republic in Basel. It’s going to be quite odd here in the UK with no home nations competiting in a tournament for the first time since USA 94 but everyone I’ve talked to is really looking forward to it without the numbing pangs of expectation that usually accompany our ultimately glorious failures.

Everyone seems content to choose a team to follow and I think the international nature of league football these days allows people to know so much more about the competiting nations to give us far more knowledge as neutrals than ever before. I’m really looking forward to it as USA 94 saw some marvellous matches that didn’t really get the publicity they deserved, especially Romania’s 3-2 victory over Argentina and Bulgaria beating the defending champions Germany 2-1. If we get two games as good as those too, I’ll be very happy.

I’m really grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the site and hope you find my posts interesting and informative and don’t dwell on my bad jokes too much. If you’ve any suggestions for me or questions or general chit chat, please feel free to post.

So I’m going to start the ball rolling with my potential winners. Romania. They’ve quietly crept through a group that included Bulgaria and finished top above Holland. Two out of the last four tournaments have been won by rank outsiders and I’d love to see it happen again. They’re coming with no illusions or expectations and play an expansive fluid game that will suit the group of death. France, Italy and the Netherlands will do well not to undestimate them and no-one thinks they’ll qualify from the group let alone win it! So I’ve put my marker down and expect ridicule by the bucket load.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope I can do the site justice.

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For those of you who are unaware, Trix and Flix are the mascots of Euro 2008.  While clicking through the tournament’s homepage for a few hours the other day, I came across these two lovable characters in an animated music video featuring the musical stylings of Shaggy.  Yes, Shaggy.  I’m not quite sure how he ties into European soccer, but he has “teamed up” with the mascots to help them “spread their passion to parts of the world they cannot visit in person.”  Fantastic.

 On a much more serious note, we are 30 days away from the opening game between Switzerland and the Czech Republic in Basel.  I’ll be blogging about the tournament this summer and I hope to be as informative and entertaining as possible.

 As I mentioned earlier, I spent several hours on the tournament’s website - which is quite possible as it’s packed with all kinds of info.  The site is very visually appealing and can definitely keep you interested.  You can even look at the design of every team bus as well as their fan-selected slogan.  For example, Turkey’s bus reads “Would the passion of Turkey fit into this bus?”  Interesting question. 

BTW - a huge thanks to The Gaffer for the opportunity to write on this great site - I hope I do it justice.  Please send me any tips or suggestions. 

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except he’s not.

Well, hello there!

I’d like to thank The Gaffer for letting me out of the cage and onto the Interwebs as a new helper with this little venture. I’ll try not to make a fool out of him or myself (if I can make sure to tag things correctly). As for other people, well, we’ll see what happens.

I’d like to start with something from Fox Football Fone-in this week.
[Read more →]

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BBC and ITV have teamed together to launch a free digital TV service called FreeSat, which will offer its programming in high-definition (HD) including Champions League, FA Cup and England internationals.

While the service will be available for free, a one-time fee of £200 will be required for equipment and installation. You will also need an HD TV.

The digital channel will be in direct competition to Sky, which offers HD programming with a subscription fee.

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Middlesbrough has unveiled their new home shirt for the 08/09 season, and Boro fans should be pleased. An important part of Middlesbrough’s history has returned: The white band across the middle of Boro’s shirt, which has long been a feature of their home shirt that made their football club unique.

According to the Middlesbrough web site, the new shirt is manufactured by Errea and will be worn for the first time at their home match this Sunday against Manchester City.

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The earliest known photograph of the England football team has been discovered in a library in Derby. The team picture from 1876 features ten footballers and one referee. The eleventh player missed the photocall.

The photograph was taken of the team that was to play Scotland on April 4, 1876. It was to be England’s fifth international match ever.

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So you have your prized collection of football programmes gathering dust or old football shirts that don’t fit anymore stuck in a closet somewhere. They have sentimental value to you, but in the world of collecting football memorabilia, they’re practically worthless.

Enter the world of the serious collector.

This week, Sotheby’s is hosting an auction of sporting memorabilia (May 7-8 at Sotheby’s Olympia saleroom). One of the items available for bidding includes a rare 1938 Football League scroll found in the bottom of a cupboard and kindly donated by football historian and author Simon Inglis.

Other rare items include:

• Frank Lampard’s right boot
• England international cap from 1889
• Aston Villa FA Cup winners medal from 1895
• Phil Neal’s England shirt from the 1982 World Cup
• Ray Clemence’s goalkeeping jersey from the 1977 European Cup tie versus St. Etienne
• David Beckham’s Manchester United jersey from the 1999 FA Cup Final
• And more than 1,000 other fascinating sporting collectibles.

Browsing through the collection, it’s plausible that some footballers (or their families) may have fallen on tough times financially, which is why many of their treasured items are for sale to the public. For example, former Spurs and England international Maurice Norman has a massive collection of his memorabilia for sale through the auction. Liverpool legend Phil Neal has more than 20 items for sale including a Manager of the Month plate, Liverpool shirts and more.

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The latest episode of the