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.

Who will feel the effect most if they relegated to the Championship?

With West Bromwich Albion’s fate sealed last week we can now prepare ourselves for a dramatic conclusion to the Premier League season on Sunday. The neutral (including yours truly) will relish it and will want to see as many twists and turns as possible. Anyone supporters involved will have struggled to sleep for a week.

We all have our own predictions as to who will go down and what the sequence of results to will be. What I wondered is what effect will relegation have on the clubs involved.

West Bromwich Albion – 31 points (already relegated)

Even the most biased of Baggies supporters could not have been surprised about the clubs fate this season. However there seems relatively little for the Hawthorns club to worry about. Brom perenially spend within their limits upon promotion and Tony Mowbray has followed similiar traits. Signings that broke the £1 Million mark included: Scott Carson (£3.5 million), Marek Cech (£1.4 million) ,Luke moore (£3 million), Zuiverloon (3.2 million) , Valero (4.7 million), Aboulaye Meitie (£2 million) and Roman bednar at  £2.3 million.

Not taking into account players that left that Hawthorns, the Throstles have forked out around £20 million. No doubt a  few of the above will leave to recoup some of this. It is also likely that some contracts will include a drop in wages upon relegation ,West Brom should be relatively comfortble providing they spend their parachute monies wisely next season and offload a few big-earners.

Middlesbrough – 32 points

Although ‘Boro are technically £85 million in debt, the vast majority is owed to chairman Steve Gibson – which is the equivalent of owing your Dad 200 quid. Conisdering Gibson’s patience with Gareth Southgate it seems highly unlikey he will let the club suffer. However should ‘Boro suffer the drop (and it seems likely they will) they will have to get wheeling and dealing quickly. One of the first names out of the door will be Alfonso Alves, who was signed for a fee rumoured to be £12.7 million and one shudders to think what kind of wages the Brazillian is on at the Riverside. After breaking his foot against in the relegation six-pointer against Newcastle and a poor goals return for the club, ‘Boro may have to brace themselves for a big financial loss. The other big name out of the door, and the one Middlesbrough will miss most from an on-field perspective is Stewart Downing. A host of clubs will have relished the prospect of Boro’s demise in order to sign Downing and it is thought that Spurs will lead the chase after keeping tabs on the winger for considerable time. Boro will be hoping for auction fever from rival clubs in order to raise as much cash as possible. It will come as no surprise that Tuncay and David Wheater will also raise the eyebrow for a host of clubs, with Robert Huth also likely to be the subject of some interest.

Should Middlesborough fail to survive, the winds of change are likely to blow through this cold part of the country including the possibility of a new manager.  With numerous players likely to leave and taking into account the squads lack of experience, ’Boro may well have to be happy with a season of stability next season rather than a promotion charge.

Newcastle – 34 Points

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. There may have been talks of a conspiracy theory in regard to the strength of Manchester United’s team selection at Hull. But based on perfomances alone, Newcastle are where they deserve to be. If Newcastle are relegated we will witness a real exodus from St James Park, which in turn demonstrates the extent of the problems the Magpies will face. The list of players likely to leave include: Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Obamfemi Martins, Damien Duff, Alan Smith, Nicky Butt, Jose Enrique, Geremi, Gutierrez and possibly Steven Taylor. If things continue in the trational ways of the Tyneside soap-opera then you wouldn’t rule out yet further changes at either boardroom or management level. Chairman Mike Ashley has been ostracised from the club before and if he cannot either persuade Shearer to take the job permanently and/or the Toon don’t get off to a flyer in the championship he knows showing his face in the Sir John Hall stand would be a tad unwise.

Newcastle will have to do their best to wheel and deal as early as possible in order to get the new players to gel as a unit early in the forthcoming season. The first thing they need to do is oust Joe Kinnear from his role, he isn’t physically fit to do job, and if the club are indeed relegated the job starts the minute the final whistle is sounded on Sunday. Although sacking managers isn’t a sign of stability, do any of us genuinely think that Kinnear would stay in the job until the end of next season – fit or not? With expectations and pressure form the fans likley to be huge and the club not in the best of health financially, relegation would hit United very, very hard.

Hull City - 35 Points

And to think the start Hull City had. The Tigers are clawing on for dear life in the Premier League and require one last roar this Sunday to ensure survival. Hull are likely to face a considerably weakened Manchester United team on Sunday which may give them half a chance of stealing a point. Whether any of that will come to fruition is another matter. Should Hull find themselves with an instant return to the Championship you would feel that financially the club will not suffer to the degree some of their rivals will. City were desperately unlucky to lose Jimmy Bullard so quickly after his £5 million move from Fulham and could find him leaving the club sooner rather than later at a cut-price fee.  Bernard Mendy and Andy Dawson will also have attracted some attention, Giovvani’s early season exploits may tempt a rival club into a gamble. Hull however – are sound financially, have a good boardroom and a good manager in Phil Brown. Providing they can keep the nucleus of the squad together City should be stable and will look to try and bounce back at the first attempt.

Sunderland – 36  Points

The fans and players alike pleaded for the board to give Ricky Sbragia the managers job on a permanent basis, the phrase ‘be careful what you wish for’ now springs to mind. Should Sunderland fail to beat Chelsea in Guus Hiddink’s last league game in charge, the Mackems may need another black cat in the dressing room for luck. The club would appear financially sound given the money they have spent in the last few seasons however I would still expect a few to leave. Sunderland shouldn’t really be in this trouble given what they have spent over the last couple of seasons. If the club are confined to the Championship, it is likely they will look to offload the wages of Steed Malbranque and Craig Gordon. I cannot see Kenwyne Jones staying at the Stadium of Light, particularly with Tottenham knocking on Niall Quinn’s door. Kieran Richardson and Anton Ferdinand will attract offers and no doubt the pair pick up a fair size wage packet each too. This being said, Ellis short is now linked to a buy out of the club followed by a change of manager and a £200 million transfer kitty – if Sunderland stay up and we are to beleive the tabloids.

Well its one of those strange things that football sometimes conjures up some little nugget that makes you check the facts fully before you really believe it could be true For example, Liverpool never lost when Ian Rush scored until the League Cup final of 1987 against Arsenal. 145 games Liverpool went without losing when Ian Rush scored, a truly remarkable run by any standard.

Yet another little nugget may bring a crumb of comfort to those hard pressed Middlesbrough fans fighting to keep positive at the foot of the Premiership and facing a daunting task on Sunday of travelling to the Emirate Stadium to face Arsenal. Arsene Wenger has yet to beat Gareth Southgate since he became the manager of Middlesbrough. In the 5 games they’ve played since he took over in June 2006 his record reads 4 draws and 1 win over Arsenal, which is some going to be fair.

Now when you’re facing relegation, it’s things like that which can give you a little bit more belief that you can still achieve the impossible, still reach for the stars when everyone around you tells you that your place is in the gutter. Now, by any stretch of the imagination, if Middlesbrough do survive it’ll be by the skin of their teeth but a point at the Emirates at least helps immensely. The two teams directly above them in the table have tough home games to deal with on the Saturday, with Hull City entertaining Liverpool and Blackburn facing up to Wigan Athletic. Two away wins would certainly put a spring in the step of the Smoggies come Sunday morning.

Yet surely Arsenal will have too much for them won’t they? Don’t be too sure about it, if they’re going to slip up, this could be the game for Middlesbrough to take advantage of. A tough, bruising encounter against Chelsea last Saturday followed by that barnstorming mess of a game last night at Anfield would be bad enough, but to follow it up with a Champions League semi final? That’s tough by anyone’s standards, especially an Arsenal team missing important players all over the pitch.Is Wenger really going to risk more injuries with the only trophy still available to him so tantalisingly close?

With Middlesbrough sandwiched in the middle it could be the perfect fixture for the under fire Southgate, I mean what have they got to lose? Everyone’s tipped them to go down, but they could really spring a surprise on Arsene Wengers team. I know, I know, he could play the kids again, but they can sometimes get frozen in the headlights as this seasons Carling Cup showed. Fabulously swashbuckling against Sheffield United and Wigan in the early rounds, they came unstuck at Burnley in the Quarter Finals.

The full weeks rest won’t have done Boro any harm either, especially on the back of the last two games which has seen them pick up 4 precious points, and probably would have been six if it wasn’t for a certain Mark Schwarzer last Saturday. In fact they only have to look at Fulham last season to see what can be achieved with a bit of luck and some spirit. Whilst there’s no doubt it’ll be a tough order, it’s not impossible and come 3.15 on Sunday afternoon, things may seem a whole lot rosier at the Riverside Stadium.

Why can everyone else see Middlesbrough’s problems but Steve Gibson? Whilst his support for Southgate is edifying, it worries me that the Chairman seems so detached from the situation Boro are in by continuing to back Southgate over the evidence of results, performances and the fans. Yet by backing Southgate, Steve Gibson is in danger of losing the support of the fans at the Riverside.” The magic wand in our situation is not sacking Gareth Southgate, but if I was to sack Gareth Southgate at this stage, how would it help the situation” I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news Mr Gibson, but teams that sack managers tend to hit a real vein of form for the next 8 games. Middlesbrough only have 8 games left. Portsmouth have so far collected 8 in 5 matches after removing Tony Adams. That could be enough to save your Premiership status.

Before the last home game, Season ticket holders in the South East block were contacted to ask them not to make noise unless the team were attacking or stand up during games at the Riverside, a bizarre decision that had me scratching my head. When you’ve a stadium full of fans who aren’t happy with the manager and his tactics, pointing the finger of blame at fans smacks of desperation. Southgate himself had a go at the fans after the lucky draw against Portsmouth after they chanted “We’ve only got one player” highlighting Tuncay’s efforts in comparison to his team mates.

“Some chants were disrespectful. The crowd had a right to laud his efforts but we win and lose as a team, the other lads may not have been as eye catching but they made important saves, blocks and interceptions” Continuing on his blame shifting, Southgate claimed it was “Hurtful to some of the other players, We survive as a club and a town by pulling together.”

It comes to something when a football manager tries to put such positive spin on Middlesbrough’s dire run by accusing the fans of being disrespectful and upsetting players. It reminds me of Steve Mclaren’s hellish period in charge of England, when he consistently tried to spin dreadful performances, such as drawing away in Israel and at home to Macedonia as good results. Southgate must be living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks the fans can have the wool pulled over their eyes by being blamed for a run that has seen them pick up just 10 points in 18 games.Tony Adams was sacked by Portsmouth after collecting 13 points in 16 games. Make of that what you will.

The fans want to know how can they beat Liverpool but lose to Stoke and I can’t explain it. Fair enough, the win against Liverpool was fortunate, as the Reds had chance after chance after chance and just couldn’t score and that win is the only reason they’re not joint bottom of the Premiership with West Brom. I honestly can’t see Middlesbrough getting the two wins they need to even get of the bottom 3 in their next 4 matches with tough trips to Bolton and Arsenal, they need maximum points in home games against Hull City and Fulham.

West Brom look dead and buried unless they hit title winning form and the trap door is opening under Middlesbrough. With Gibson refusing to act now, it looks as if Boro are destined to join them unless a footballing miracle occurs. Yet, with relegation a real possibility, is Gibson going to remove Southgate in the Summer? Relegation would see them lose Downing, Tuncay and probably O’Neill to remove all the flair and guile that the side currently have. What quality of player can Southgate attract to the Riverside? His transfer record doesn’t hold much hope for anyone of genuine quality joining Boro whilst he’s in charge. Afonso Alves looks a worse buy every game he plays, a white elephant that cost £12 million pounds. A promotion charge under Southgate looks as far away as Michael Owen staying at Newcastle United.

Sometimes a Chairmans support for a manager can be positive, but sometimes it can smack of sheer bloody mindedness and unfortunately for Middesbrough fans, Steve Gibson’s stance falls into the latter. For Middlesbrough’s fans, the chairman needs to stop hoping for something to happen and keep Middlesbrough in Premiership, unfortunately without Gareth Southgate, otherwise I fear the Boro are doomed.

On Friday, during my game previews, Sam wondered how Wigan could score? Today, Chelsea gave us an answer, complacency. For much of Wigan’s trip to Stamford Bridge, it was Chelsea on the back foot.

Completely against the run of play, John Terry put Chelsea ahead twenty-five minutes in. Before that, Chelsea saw Wigan have five near misses and two saved off the line. It was definitely not the opening twenty minutes Chelsea were looking for, but it did serve as a reminder that it hasn’t been easy for the Blues since Hiddink was appointed temporary manager.

After Terry’s opener, Chelsea had plenty of first half chances to put the game away but simply didn’t do the job. The second half saw Wigan return to the ascendancy but doing very little to get the equalizer. However it was after Michael Mancienne’s substitution for Ricardo Quaresma that Wigan found an equalizer they deserved. It certainly helped that Olivier Kapo had to get past  Anelka and that the space Mancienne was covering from his left back roll was the location Kapo ended up in, a slow roller all that was required to beat Petr Cech. It may have been the first goal Chelsea have allowed under Guus Hiddink, but Chelsea’s second half performance only matched those of the previous two outings.

Now to the big point of contention, Chelsea’s game winner. Michael Ballack’s flick on just inside the penalty area was a weak one, Lampard’s header didn’t exactly have that much pace on it. However the looking effort had just enough on it to be Chris Kirkland and the Chelsea celebrations ensued. But live something didn’t look right to the situation, replay confirmed how jobbed out Wigan can feel.

Getting a closer view of the game winner, look carefully at Frank Lampard and former Chelsea defender Mario Melchiot. There was just enough of a push to take Melchiot out of the play, and to have the goal disallowed. Yes you may argue that it was a weak push and that Melchiot should have went up stronger to head the ball clear, I’m having none of that. Letter of the law states that goal should be disallowed and Steve Bruce has every right to be upset about it.

Wigan deserved at least a share of the spoils and would have got them had Lampard’s goal been correctly disallowed. While Chelsea got three points out of this, Wigan again exposed Chelsea’s lack of a killer attitude in the second half, and it was only after Wigan equalized did they wake up and get a game winner. While all Chelsea is doing is fighting for second place, and are currently in second place, they have to start playing better football in the second half. Yes Guus has ‘just got the result’, but if Wigan could crack Chelsea’s complacency, just about anyone could.

Other Thoughts From Today’s Action
Two jinxes couldn’t be broken today.
1) Wenger can’t do any complaining about Fulham ‘not playing football’ because Fulham out played Arsenal full stop. Until Arsenal prove otherwise, my predictions for their games will simply be 0-0.
2) As for Liverpool, make it eight years now they haven’t won at the Riverside. Despite the open Liverpool had, once Alonso’s own goal on the half hour they simply gave up the ghost. It was sad to see what happened to Liverpool in the second half. That said, that was a much needed three points Gareth Southgate needed and for the evening gets them out of the relegation zone.

I was simply wrong about the fight West Brom would have against Everton. However they just don’t have the class in front of goal to scare anyone. Sure Tim Howard had to do a little bit of work in the early kickoff, but he didn’t have much difficulty doing his job.

Chelsea’s first leg clash with Juventus is all about one man, Claudio Ranieri. The manager who was first fired by Roman at Chelsea, after getting one season, knew he was a lame duck and insists the fact he didn’t give up shows the character he has. For a man who thinks he did ok, he certainly did alright by me…even if that meant heartbreak against Monaco in a Champions League semi-final and Arsenal in an FA Cup final.

Guus Hiddink’s first home match in charge of Chelsea has almost taken a back seat to Ranieri’s return. But Hididnk knows his place, win and win now. While Hiddink’s preparation for Juventus wasn’t exactly ideal, Guus says he won’t make excuses if there isn’t instant success.

Chelsea/Juve is an interesting tie for sure. Two sides who’s form have appeared to mirror each other will take the park Wednesday (2:45 pm ET ESPN2). This one all falls on which set of strikers decide to show up, and if John Terry doesn’t turn out to be the liability he has been of late. While Terry did have a half decent outing against Aston Villa, Ranieri will know his old players well, and which ones to quickly exploit.

That doesn’t mean the build up to the Real Madrid/Liverpool hasn’t been dull (Setanta Sports 2:45 pm). Let’s start with the Real Madrid president predicting a 5-1 aggregate victory. We then read that Rafael van der Vaart thinks Liverpool are scared of Real Madrid. Arjen Robben, he just wants revenge.

Rafa has an interesting dilemma ahead of him. Steven Gerrard is close to being fully fit, the question is will Rafa play him? I think that answer the most obvious answer of the year (yes). Fernando Torres is looking forward to making an impact in Madrid, after not  Alvaro Arbeloa has no regrets about his past and is looking to his future with Liverpool, Xavi Alonso is a bit worried about the threat Real Madrid pose.

Real Madrid come into this tie with Liverpool on fire, Liverpool just look ice cold. Rafa has always proved his sides can do the job over two legs, and with his contract still not signed, there is extra motivation. Of all the four ties between English clubs in this round of the Champions League, this could end up being the most entertaining to watch.

Other Stories
Martin O’Neill has left key players out of the side heading to Russia for Aston Villa’s second leg tie with CSKA Moscow. While I understand his wanting to have his side focused on qualifying for the Champions League, why do I get the sneaky feeling they may end up in the round of sixteen?

Darren Fletcher had a little more on his mind than he bargained for last night after it was revealed his house was robbed and his girlfriend held at knife point. I hope these bastards are caught and get exactly what they deserve.

Could AirAsia be Manchester United’s next kit sponsor?

Steve Bruce believes South Korean international Cho Won-hee will pay off for Wigan Athletic. If Bruce can keep him healthy, he might be right.

The Football League is not happy with Wembley Stadium. Reason being, that 2011 Champions League final…well it clashes with one of the dates the Football League had already booked for the playoff finals. Expect money to exchange hands on that one.

Joe Kinnear has been told to chill out after apparently spending more time worrying about Newcastle United than recovering from triple-bypass surgery.

Here’s an interesting way to apologize. Craig Bellamy says all Robinho has to do is ‘play his best‘. You first Craig.

Giofranco Zola disagrees with those who have devalued the FA Cup, insisting he wants to win the trophy as manager of West Ham. Gareth Southgate, doesn’t plan on sacrafacing the FA Cup just because they are in the relegation zone.

And Sam Allardyce says he will stick with Blackburn, even if they are relegated.

The firings of Tony Adams by Portsmouth and Big Phil Scolari by Chelsea brought the total number of clubs that have changed managers this season to seven, and the number of managerial changes to eight.  That turnover rate seems quite high and quickly cycling managers seldom leads to success.  

It would seem that managers deserve a longer chance to get it right, but in the current financial climate, teams can’t afford it.

In Pompey’s case, sacking Adams was simple.  His managing made them relegation candidates.  They won just two of his sixteen league games in charge, and haven’t won since Nov. 30.  They are just one point from relegation, with 24 points in 24 matches.

Adams did a decent job in the transfer window, given his budget.  He could not help the Diarra and Defoe sales, but brought in serviceable players, such as Gekas, Hayden Mullins, Pele, Pennant and Belhadj.  His club also played decently, barring their chronic defensive brainfarts.

Theoretically, they have one of the clichéd “too good to go down” squads.  But, given the club’s perilous finances, Portsmouth could not entrust their fate to Adams’ experienced hands.

Scolari’s departure was similar.  Chelsea have played abysmally the past few months, winning just four of 12 matches, never beating a team above 14^th in the table.  Once the title favorites, Chelsea look poised to battle with Arsenal for the fourth Champions League place.

Part of this was Scolari’s fault.  Teams discovered the focal point of Scolari’s tactics overlapping fullbacks.  Pinning Cole and Bosingwa back, exposed Chelsea’s mismatched midfield and poor forward creativity.  Routinely running up three to five goals initially, they last scored more than two on Nov. 15.  Scolari never adjusted his tactics, nor did he display the acumen to do so.

However, not everything revolved around Scolari.  He inherited a hodgepodge, lopsided outfit.  He never got the funding to overhaul the club, as it required.

Maybe Scolari could right Chelsea eventually, but missing the Champions League would be too costly to offer for experimentation.

A club that has shown the manager patience is Middlesbrough.  Southgate took over after his retirement in 2006.  He guided Boro to a 12^th place finish in his first season and a 13^th in his second.  The club has been marred by inconsistency.  Southgate’s only skill seems to be outfoxing Arsene Wenger.

This season, Middlesbrough are relegation favorites.  They have 22 points from 25 matches, winning just five.  They haven’t won in the league since Nov. 9.  They have mustered just three goals since Nov. 22.  Their January acquisition of Marlon King won’t be the tipping point.  There’s no reason to argue they will stay in the league.

Steve Gibson likes Gareth Southgate, and has patience with him.  But, that patience could cost him heavily, if the club drops to the Championship next season.

Perhaps, clubs lose faith in managers too early.  But, in the perilous financial world of topflight football, it’s hard to blame them.

These will be rapid fire after the fun day of news already discussed.

* Shawn Wright-Phillips receives a three match ban for the kick he gave Rory Delap. Delap is supporting SWP saying he deserved what he got after his tackle on him. And through all of this, Jose Bosingwa is just laughing that he got away with nothing.

* Monday was the 30th anniversary of the first million pound transfer, that of Trevor Francis.

* Edwin Van der Sar is getting bored about talking about the goalless record he currently has in England. Don’t blame him, I’m sure he’s getting tired of people telling him he’s that good.

* Speaking of Manchester United, Mike Phelan admits they are gunning for the quad.

* Steve Bruce admits he got the team selection all wrong against Fulham.

* Tim Howard is singing all of Jo’s praises. Let’s see how that feeling is towards the end of the loan move.

*  Tony Pulis hopes that Ricardo Fuller won’t have to miss the rest of this season due to his shoulder injury.

* I wonder how much hot water Gareth Southgate will be in after saying Middlesbrough are 85 million in debt? For a man who isn’t exactly safe in his position, that’s information I wouldn’t be letting the public in on.

* And finally, Eduardo is expected to play for Croatia on Wednesday. I am honestly amazed he is back this soon.

I wonder if Steve Bennett will be more careful with who he talk to in regards to his job.

Now I’ll be honest with everyone. When Jeffrey Hash linked me to this story earlier Sunday morning, I simply went “It’s the News of the World…why should I care?” What I read woke me up.

His revelations that players have asked to be booked so they could miss games I’ll admit I was shocked. However it did make me wonder who these people are? Who was the ‘top international Premier League player’ who wanted to go on a family vacation? Who was the player who wanted Christmas off? Who didn’t want to travel to a ground they didn’t like? Who was the ‘ace’ as the article says that Bennett calls ‘a cheating bastard’? It almost makes me want to go back through all the games and bookings he made to see if I could narrow down possible candidates, but that could take a while.

While the Premier League needs to have Steve Bennett identify these players (I’m sure the News of the World would love to make that video available to the Premier League), one does have to question why Bennett would take the bait so easily when told. Now yes this was at the bar after midnight at a UEFA referee’s course, but Graham Poll’s right. If you are involved in sport in England, you have to be careful of anything you say to anyone you don’t know all that well. There is always the strong possibility that who you are talking to is looking to do exactly what was done in this article. With that said though, I’m bet we start taking a closer look at cards because I don’t think this article will leave our consciousness for a while…if ever.

In the end, let’s hope this doesn’t kill Steve Bennett’s career.

Joe Kinnear’s weekend visit to hospital was not a distraction Newcastle United needed, even with the 3-2 away win against West Bromwich Albion. We all know of his prior health problems and a manager heading off to see the doctor instead of the match is not my idea of spending a Saturday. But credit to the grand kid for the commentary (why didn’t he just use the radio…beats me) and the players for responding in such a positive way.

Yea Joe checked out okay, but it does make you wonder if Kinnear is still cut out for the pressures of management, as the Independent questions. Newcastle United isn’t exactly the easiest of jobs due to the club’s location and the demanding expectations of the supporters. Joe hasn’t exactly set the world alight, but Newcastle seem determined to let Kinnear sink or swim with the side this season. Unlike what happened at Portsmouth, Newcastle should be commended for that. Even if it appears to be for money reasons.

Here’s to Kinnear getting well soon.

Other Stories
Few quick fire Manchester United stories. First off congrats to Edwin Van der Sar for breaking the British record for not conceding a goal. At least he’s right about the defense giving him a lot of help in that. Secondly, Carlos Tevez had his Bentley impounded because he didn’t have a full license. That sucks. And finally, Manchester United have had to warn youth clubs about a man pretending to be a Manchester United scout who happens to be a pedophile. I hope they catch that bastard and he gets what’s coming to him.

I wonder if Chelsea fans want Avram Grant back after pulling out the same tricks they did to the manager from last season? Chelsea fans listen up…YOU’RE NOT GETTING JOSE BACK! And it’s nice to see Ray Wilkins take a page out of the Gary Megson playbook.

Giofranco Zola with the manager speak saying he wouldn’t leave West Ham for Chelsea. He’s right, I don’t think Chelsea would take him and frankly it’s too eerily similar to the whole Alan Shearer situation from last season for my own tastes.

And finally, Gareth Southgate vows to fight on as Middlesbrough manager and says he won’t quit. That maybe true, but with Adams sacking, could we see a couple more rash sackings between clubs at the bottom? I honestly hope not.

On Wednesday night, Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate became incensed when Man City’s Shaun Wright-Phillips dived to win a foul. After the dimunitive star was substituted, Southgate and Wright-Phillips got into a verbal spat that resulted in SWP giving the two-fingered salute to Southgate.

Now, SWP may face a FA charge of bringing the game into disrepute.

Some of you may be wondering, what’s the big deal about what Subbuteo’s Shaun Wright-Phillips did, right? Let me tell you.

Giving someone the two fingers is definitely a huge cultural difference between the United States and United Kingdom. In the United States, it’s used quite often when someone wants to non-verbally communicate the number two. “Dude, how many times have the Phillies won the World Series?” And the two fingers would go up, especially if the dude had his mouth full and was eating a philly cheesesteak.

In the United Kingdom, it means f**k you and has the same meaning as the preferred American one-finger salute.

Being British and living in the United States, I can’t tell how you how many times Americans have unknowingly raised two fingers in my face, with palm pointed inward, and I’ve had to try to keep my composure. I’ve had professors do it to my face. I’ve had bosses do it, without knowing what they were non-verbally saying to me. Oftentimes, I’ve felt like jumping out and telling them to stop as what they’re doing is offensive. But because they don’t realize what they’re doing, I internalize those feelings and shrug them off.

Until now.

While SWP’s gesture to Southgate was in poor form, it did allow me to teach some Americans a lesson about when not to use the two fingered salute. Interestingly, Winston Churchill used in during early periods of World War II to convey victory, but soon changed it to have the palm pointed outward instead of inward. Nowadays, the V sign with palm pointed outward communicates peace.

The story of how the V sign originated is fascinating. Check out the passage about bowfinger on Wikipedia.

One more story about the V sign. I admit, I’ve used it myself to show my anger at Americans before. Sometimes I’ve done it without thinking. Only afterwards do I suddenly realize that they must have been wondering what an idiot I was, non-verbally communicating the number two again and again. “Two, what?” they must have been wondering. But I’ve also done the two finger salutes to Americans when I want to vent but I knowingly don’t want them to know exactly what I’m communicating. It happens quite often for me during road rage incidents. The last thing I want to do is cause the driver to ram me off the road or pull out a gun, so a lovely two-fingered salute diffuses the situation, makes me feel good and gives me a wry smile.

In the case of Shaun Wright-Phillips giving the V sign gesture to Gareth Southgate, both gentlemen knew what the salute meant, so it’s only right that the FA look into the situation. If the referee reported it as an incident, then SWP may find himself being fined or, worse, banned. It all seems a bit harmless to me, but in some ways the FA needs to step in to send a message that this type of behavior shouldn’t be allowed week-in week-out in the league.

For the rest of us, though, we can spend our weekend giving the V sign to friends or strangers. If you’re American, you just have to hope that the other bloke isn’t reading this blog or isn’t a connoisseur of British hand gestures. You have been warned.