While the first forty-five minutes on Sunday were not kind to Manchester United in their hopes of winning the title, one thing was completely unexpected… If you were watching the game on Fox Soccer Plus, Manchester United’s game hadn’t even kicked off before Chelsea took a 1-0 lead thanks to the strike of Anelka.

That’s right, for viewers on Fox Soccer Plus, the Manchester United/Stoke City match on the final day of the season did not kick off live. According to readers, the kickoff didn’t occur until roughly seven minutes after the game had kicked off online at FoxSoccer.tv. EPL Talk reader Civrock tweeted his astonishment and displeasure at the delay, to which Jamie Trecker responded, “I have no idea what is going on, and I’m not going to defend it, to be frank.” According to schedule, a Serie A match was played and there was no run over past the 11 am kickoff to the Premier League match. Meanwhile, the match was being shown live on FoxSoccer.tv

I have to give Jamie Trecker a little bit of credit here. He knew Fox Soccer International had screwed up in a major way and, in situations like this, there is no reason to attempt and defend the actions of his employer. After rushing Fox Soccer Plus into existence after Setanta Sports went away, it’s been a major uphill battle getting the a la carte channel on the same number of platforms that Setanta Sports was on in the first place. It has also been an even bigger uphill battle to get subscribers for the channel.

After today, expect plenty of fans to remember this moment and be extremely hesitant to subscribe to any add-ons from Fox Soccer International. While there have been many problems with Fox Soccer’s online product, some of those issues were starting to be worked out. However, it’s a case of too little to late for many people to give the product a second chance (that implies that people gave it a chance in the first place). I would expect many of the same people to now not give Fox Soccer Plus a chance should the opportunity arise to subscribe.

What are your thoughts on Fox Soccer Plus’s final day debacle? Let us know in the comments below.

Editor’s note: Fox Soccer Plus cut their commercials short at half-time and was able to play the second half live so that it was in sync with the FoxSoccer.tv coverage as well as Chelsea’s demolition of Wigan Athletic.

It’s that time of the year when we start dreaming about soccer presents, so EPL Talk wants to get in the spirit by giving you a few chances to get your own soccer goodies including a Fox Soccer Channel bag packed with soccer merchandise and a copy of Jamie Trecker’s latest book about the World Cup, Love And Blood.

But first I want to let you know about a few exciting announcements:

1. EPL Talk has launched its own predictions game. Registration is complimentary and you get several chances to win prizes throughout the year. Join the EPL Talk Predictor today!
2. If you’re looking for last minute shopping ideas, the EPL Talk Shop offers the widest selection in the United States of home, away and third jerseys for all 20 Premier League clubs. Whether you live in North America or the United Kingdom, check out our full selection today at the EPL Talk Shop. Plus, for EPL Talk readers, get a 15% discount on all merchandise from Subside Sports.
3. If you enjoy EPL Talk, be sure to vote for us in the 2008 Soccerlens Awards. EPL Talk is nominated for the Best British Blog as well as Best Football Podcast. It only takes 30 seconds to vote and no registration is required. Please give us a vote today in the Best British Blog section and the Best Football Podcast section.

Okay, now here comes the part where you can find out how to get your hands on one of the prizes: 

1. Fox Soccer Channel bag To win the official bag, which is not available in stores and comes packed with a Fox Soccer Channel scarf, FSC water bottle, Adidas cleats bag, inflatable FSC ball, and Fox Soccer Channel baseball cap, all you have to do is e-mail thegaffer[at]epltalk[dot]com between now and midnight Thursday, December 11th and name one other blog that is competing against EPL Talk in the Best British Blog category. Read number three above to learn how you can find the answer.
2. Love And Blood by Jamie Trecker To win the book, which recounts Trecker’s journey throughout World Cup 2006 as a journalist, just e-mail thegaffer@epltalk.com between now and midnight Thursday, December 11th and name one other podcast that is competing against EPL Talk in the Best Football Podcast category mentioned under number three above.

The winners will be announced on the EPL Talk Blog on Friday, December 12th.

It’s a really busy but exciting time in the Premier League right now, and the same is true at EPL Talk HQ — where Hurricane Fay, now Tropical Storm Fay, is bringing a ton of rain, wind and tornadoes on us.

While we’re trying to stay dry and safe, there’s a few important updates I’d like to make you aware of:

1. BBC World News Interview. I’m scheduled to be interviewed by BBC World News at 12:45pm GMT/8:45am ET/1:45pm UK time tomorrow, Wednesday, August 20. I’ll be featured on a show called “My Games,” where the topic of discussion will be how to spot future Olympic stars. I’ll be interviewed by Adnan Nawaz. More information about BBC World News can be found here. The TV news channel is carried around the world but is typically hard to find on U.S. satellite and cable providers.
2. Yahoo Buzz. At the foot of each article, you’ll see a new button labeled ‘Buzz up!’ It’s a relatively new feature from Yahoo and works very similarly to Digg which is where they copied the idea from. If you enjoy reading the articles at EPL Talk, please click on the ‘Buzz up!’ buttons so the EPL Talk stories can go up the charts at Yahoo Buzz.
3. Setanta Sports. The Irish broadcaster has added a new feature to its website where football fans can share their opinions by uploading videos that are 90 seconds or less. I’ve posted the first one here. As a way to encourage you to post a video, the next person who gets their video published on that page will receive a choice of one of two books: “Love & Blood” by Jamie Trecker or “Bloody Confused” by Chuck Culpepper. Post your video today at http://www.bubbletestimonial.com/profile.php?id=91671375
4. New Footer. It’s usually pretty difficult to get excited about a footer, but the new one that we’ve added near the bottom of this page features all of the different categories of topics that we cover at EPL Talk. Here’s a really useful way of seeing what articles we have. Just click on any of the links to find articles pertaining to that topic.
5. New Milestone. A couple of weeks ago, EPL Talk published its 2,000th article. Three thousand here we come!