Fulham Boss Hodgson Wants Europa League Final Postponed

With the Icelandic volancano rearing its ashy head over the weekend Eurpean air travelers are once again experiencing serious delays and restrictions. Fulam skipper Roy Hodgson has asked UEFA to postpone their Europa League final in Hamburg against Athletico Madrid on Wednesday unless the situation improves.

“If Madrid are also in that situation, UEFA should show some transigence, rather than the usual intransigence, and trying to find a solution which helps us both by postponing the game until we both can fly there,” Hodgon told ESPN Soccernet.

The ash cloud hovering over European airspace caused serious travel problems during the semi-final legs of the European Cups. With many blaming poor performances by Liverpool and Barcelona on lengthy travel times. Even if both clubs were to make it to Hamburg on time it would be nearly impossible for away supporters to attend with air travel shut down.

“You would be placing the game with thousands and thousands of English and Spanish fans not able to go, which I would say is another reason for UEFA to reconsider. It would be harsh, especially on a team like ours who have had to do it once already.”

Blackpool and Cardiff take early leads in Championship Playoffs

Charlie Adam’s penalty on the hour mark sealed a first-leg win for Blackpool in their clash with Nottingham Forest. Chris Cohen silenced the home fans with a volley in the 13th minute. But Keith Southern brought the Tangerines level in the 26th minute before Adam’s penalty gave the home side a victory. Forest will be disappointed with giving up an early lead but are only behind a goal.

In the other semi-final Cardiff nicked a 1-0 away victory against Leicester City. Peter Whittingham broke the deadlock 13 minutes from time with a stunning long-range free kick. The Bluebirds created the majority of the chances during the match and Leicester City is lucky to only be trailing 1-0 going into Wednesday’s matchup.

Grant might stay on as manager of Portsmouth

Avram Grant has told Pompey that he would like to remain manager of the embattled club, but only if he can focus on running the team. Constant scrutiny over the clubs finances have made Grant field questions about a host of issues not related to his team’s performance.

“If I can work like a manager of football, and only a manager of football and not like this year, when I needed to be a manager of football and many, many other things,” said Grant. “I don’t know if you know. I was a financial man, I was a lawyer, I was many other things. This I will not do one season more. I don’t think it is a good idea, not for me, not for the club.”

Grant has won admiration from the southern fans by staying at a club that faces questions on whether or not it will survive.

Brown may return as Hull City manager

After being unofficially sacked and replaced by Ian Dowie earlier in the season Phil Brown is still technically the manager of Hull City. Facing a big financial payout to Brown should Hull fire him, the Tigers simply put Brown on administrative leave and brought in Ian Dowie as a “football consultant.” This means that it’s very likely that Brown could be back managing the Tigers in the Championship next season.

Brown is fueling fire to those rumors by refusing to deny them. “I just want it to be honourable. If it’s closure then give me what I’m due and appreciate what I’ve done for the club in the last three and a half years. I’ve never heard of it before [a manager returning after being removed] but nothing in football surprises me,” said Brown.

Dowie managed only one win in eight games at the helm and the Tigers were relegated to the Championship with two games to spare.

Playoff Schedule For Premier League Promotion Set

Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion have already booked their tickets to the top flight next season but the EPL still has room for one more club. Teams that finished 3-6 will compete in a playoff for that final promotion spot in the Coca-Cola Championship Playoff. The fixtures have officially been announced and will follow the typical home-and-away format.

#3 Nottingham Forest vs. #6 Blackpool

First Leg: Saturday, May 8, at Blackpool, 12:45 GMT

Return Leg: Tuesday, May 11, at Nottingham Forest, 7:45 GMT

#4 Cardiff City vs. #5 Leicester City

First Leg: Sunday , May 9, at Leicester City, 1:15 GMT

Return Leg: Wednesday, May 12, at Cardiff City, 7:45 GMT

Rob McCuskey from our sister-site Championship Talk has an in-depth analysis of the matchups. Give it a read and tune in over the next two weeks to see who will be enjoying the riches of the EPL next season.

Chelsea Make £70 Million Bid For Torres

Chelsea Owner Roman Abramovich is looking to take advantage of the vunerable Liverpool FC and poach star-striker Fernando Torres on a reported £70 million fee, according to Sportsmail. Chelsea has been relatively quiet in the last few transfer windows while Manchester City and Real Madrid have gone on a spending spree. In 2006, Chelsea made an unsuccessful bid for Liverpool captain Stephen Gerrard but the recent turmoil at Anfield makes Torres seem a lot more accessible. Liverpool officials have said Torres is not for sale but Abramovich, a Russian billionaire, has very deep pockets and Torres is not satisfied at Anfield. The Spaniard  is currently working through an injury and his World Cup may be in jeopardy.

Capello Send Medical Personnel To Assess Ferdinand And Rooney

With about a month until the World Cup England fans are understandably concerned about the lingering health problems of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. Manager Fabio Capello has sent Dr. Ian Beasley, senior medical officer for the national team, to Manchester to assess the health of the two stars. The stop in Machester is only the first for Beasley, who will travel to all the EPL clubs to assess potential England players ahead of Capello’s announcement of his 30-man provisional roster. The 30-man provisional squad will compete against Mexico at Wembley on May 24 and against Japan in Austria on May 30.

Wenger Interested In Joe Hart

Aresnal’s goalkeeping troubles this season have been well documented with Manuel Almunia receiving a great deal of criticism for his play. Arsene Wenger is readying a bid for Birmingham keeper Joe Hart, who is on loan from Manchester City. Hart, who has impressed so much this season that he’s challenging for a ticket to South Africa with England, struggled for playing time at City but has been one of the cornerstone’s of Brimingham’s successful EPL campaign.  City are not likely to give up the keeper without a fight due to Shay Given’s long-term injury and lack of viable keeping options behind him. Arsenal have also been linked with Lyon and France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. It may come down to whether or not Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon makes the jump to Manchester City and the prognosis of Shay’s rehabilitation.

Fox Soccer Plus will feature Ligue Un and the Coca-Cola Championship as two of the rights it’s acquiring from Setanta Sports, according to a rumor from an industry insider.

The rumor is that the Championship and Ligue Un will be shown on Fox Soccer Plus in addition to the Premier League, FA Cup, Serie A and Champions League. A decision has yet to be finalized whether some Scottish Premier League and Russian Premier League matches will be shown on Fox Soccer Plus, although it seems doubtful as of press time.

That means that with Setanta US being acquired by Fox Soccer Channel and becoming Fox Soccer Plus, we will probably see the rights for the following leagues, cups and sports no longer available on US television (other than pay-per-view): Scottish FA Cup, Russian Premier League, CIS Cup, rugby, gaelic football and hurling. If so, the dark days I wrote about for some sports fans will come true on and after March 1.

If the rumor is true, the inclusion of Ligue Un and the Coca-Cola Championship on Fox Soccer Plus will be a smart move. The technically gifted and wide-open league in France is a joy to watch, while the Championship serves up some tasty matches featuring historic English clubs such as Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle United, Ipswich Town, Queens Park Rangers, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Derby, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Preston, Watford, West Bromwich Albion and others. Plus, next season, the Championship will feature Leeds United if they get promoted from League One.

This weekend sees the entrance of the Premiership and Championship clubs in to the F.A. Cup as the worlds oldest domestic cup competition continues in its 128th year. It’s one of those weekends that gets football fans excited, throwing up all kinds of memories for fans of every club from every level of the domestic game. For fans of all clubs, the F.A. Cup offers us all the chance to dream that this could be our year.

This weekend the fans of Barrow, York City Luton Town and Forest Green Rovers will be bursting with pride as the take on league opposition. Disappointingly for the fan in me, only four non-league sides have made it through to the third round this season but there are still some tasty ties for this years game.

Stoke City, Sunderland, Southampton and Notts County will be the clubs trying to avoid the ignominy of a defeat to a non-league side, but with all three of the bigger clubs at home, I don’t think we’ll see any shocks in those particular ties. There are several ties that are eye opening for several reasons though and of those, Manchester United entertaining Leeds on Sunday is the pick of round. Leeds’ fall down the leagues has been spectacular, but they currently sit on top of Division One, looking certainties to return to the Championship.

It’ll be interesting to see how this resumption of the cross pennine rivalry will be played out, with no love love lost between either side. Of the top four sides in the Premiership, Arsenal certainly have the most difficult tie, with a London derby trip to West Ham United on Sunday as well. Chelsea and Liverpool should make light work of Watford and Reading respectively whilst Tottenham should win easily against Peterborough United.

Overall though, the chances of any Premiership clubs getting knocked out by lower league opponents look slim to be honest but there are a couple of tricky ties. Portsmouth will be hoping Coventry City won’t bring their recent good form to Fratton Park, whilst Birmingham City face a dangerous trip to Nottingham Forest. Manchester City visit Middlesbrough who have been bang out of form since they sacked Gareth Southgate but should be too strong.

Of the other recently promoted sides, Burnley and Wolves both face potential banana skin games at Milton Keynes Dons and Tranmere Rovers and may view the match as a chance to give secondary players a run out. Bolton Wanderers fans will probably be viewing the clash with Lincoln City, now managed by Blackburn Rovers old boy Chris Sutton, with renewed optimism following Gary Megson’s sacking earlier today.

What ever happens, 3 Premiership clubs will be out of the competition no matter what with three all Premiership ties in the third round. Aston Villa welcome Blackburn Rovers, whilst Wigan will be trying to put tonight’s thrashing at Old Trafford out of their minds as Hull City visit the D.W. Stadium and Arsenal travelling to West Ham United.

Overall though, this isn’t really a weekend for shocks, but the F.A.Cup has a reputation for shocking you when you least expect it and that’s why it’s still the best cup competition in the world. Here’s to a great weekend of cup football before we get back to the Premiership.

Episodes two and three of The Third Half Podcast are now available. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to them, click on the player at the foot of this message to hear the episodes via your browser. Or, better yet, subscribe to the EPL Talk Podcast stream via iTunes where you’ll automatically get the EPL Talk Podcast and The Third Half as soon as a new episode is published.

Hosted and produced by Johnathan Starling, The Third Half is definitely recommended listening. As well as featuring raw opinions about the Premier League, which are refreshing to hear, Starling also covers the other major leagues such as the Championship, Major League Soccer, Serie A, La Liga and more.

Be sure to listen episode two followed by episode three below:

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Be sure to visit the whole network of our sites. Some of the interesting topics include:

• Kartik Krishnaiyer over at Major League Soccer Talk takes on a controversial topic that very few journalists are brave enough to write about and that’s the cozy relationship between the Mexican Federation and Major League Soccer. Krishnaiyer also discusses U.S. Soccer’s relationship with MLS. Very revealing indeed.
• Over at Champions League Talk, Lonnie Smetana has a roundup of the Champions League and UEFA Cup qualifying matches.
• Shakira Graham at Championship Talk has an article on the draw for the second round of the Carling Cup.
• At Bundesliga Talk, new columnist Double Pivot dissects his predictions for the Bundesliga season and surprises many by what team he’s picking for a third place finish.
• Kevin Walker at Serie A Talk discusses The Beast’s move to Roma. The Beast? — better known as Julio Baptista.
• What are the chances of HD coming to Fox Soccer Channel anytime soon? Ian Cahir at Soccer On Dish discusses the topic.