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.

Like leaves fall from the trees in Autumn, it seems every year some chairman in the Premier League wants to try and get the Old Firm into it. This time Phil Gartside, the Bolton Chairman once again tried to get the League to agree to invite Rangers and Celtic in to the fold. Thankfully, the request has been voted down. It was described as “not desirable or viable”.

To say this constant speculation regarding the potential involvement of the Old Firm is becoming as tedious as the often mooted European Super League. Gartside, for all his bluster about strengthening the league and increasing the international presence of it, is simply thinking about cash. Adding the Old Firm would add nothing to the league at all and irrevocably damage the Scottish game. Coupled with a request to add a second Premier League simply smacks of self preservation on the Bolton chairman’s behalf and nothing more.

Most English Premier league fans don’t want them, but we get used to our feelings and opinions being completely over ridden when the influence of cash comes in to the equation. Coupled when you see how poorly the Old Firm cope with European football, you have to question what the point would be of adding two poor sides to the mix.

Of course, Rangers and Celtic are desperate for the cash, but Scottish football is its own worst enemy. It has always astounded me how a league with 42 clubs has 4 divisions and they play each other a minimum of 3 times a season. They then split in to play offs with the top half and bottom half playing each other. What a dull and uninteresting format.

Why they don’t have two leagues and play home and away like virtually every other league in the world astounds me. Yet, the answer is obvious when you look into it. Whilst the other Scottish Premier League sides shout down how much power Rangers and Celtic have, they enjoy the additional revenue that potentially two home games against them brings them in. So the league stays unfairly balanced, they all complain about it but continue to keep the status quo.

People like Phil Gartside are so far removed from what fans really want, that they keep bringing these daft ideas to the table. I also read that he wanted an Irish franchise adding as well, which reminded me of the time Wimbledon were thinking of moving to Dublin and ended up moving to Milton Keynes instead, a shameful decision by the authorities to this day.It took MK Dons 7 years to stop using Wimbledons history and correctly allow AFC Wimbledon to have the rights to their real history. I can’t wish anything but the worst of luck to MK Dons for as long as they exist, but that’s another story.

Whilst the idea of franchise sport is nothing new to American fans, to the British it is unthinkable. Quite how they would cope if their team moved such as the Raiders and the Rams moving cities twice would be interesting to see but unthinkable in British sport.It’s certainly not unusual for NFL teams to move, I must admit after a ten year hiatus from NFL, I was stunned to see how many new sides were in the league when I started watching it again in 2003. Unfortunately, The Redskins still can’t beat anyone, so somethings never change.

Also, the recent incidents with trouble involving Rangers fans in Manchester has certainly poisoned most English fans to the idea of welcoming the Ibrox faithful on a regular basis.It would be like a red rag to a bull for some of the more unsavory supporters of Premierships sides. The issues of sectarian chanting, and the potential for major trouble is a real concern. Of course not all the fans partake in such behavior, but it is still there and that is an additional concern.

Rangers and Celtic need to stop courting the Premier League and concentrate on fixing the problems they face in their own back yard. With no Scottish teams at any level in the English football pyramid, the last one, Gretna, showed just how strong Scottish football was, leaving the 7th tier of English football and romping all the way to Scottish Premier League in 3 seasons. Now if that doesn’t concern the Scottish Football Association, nothing will. Scrap the 4 league system, scrap the top/bottom play offs. Have two leagues, 3 up and 3 down and see how quickly the money spreads through the game more.

Vinnie Jones will be the next guest on the EPL Talk Podcast. If you have any questions you’d like host Johnathan Starling to ask him on air, please post them in the comments with your name, and we’ll pick out the best ones to ask the former Wimbledon player.

Jones is an accomplished actor and footballer. As a footballer, he was part of the ‘Crazy Gang’ at Wimbledon which famously won the FA Cup in 1988. He also played for Leeds United, Sheffield united, Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers. In international football, he earned nine caps for Wales and even captained the side.

He made his feature film debut in “Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels.” And has appeared in many other memorable roles in films such as “Snatch,” “X-Men,” “Swordfish,” “Gone In Sixty Seconds” and many more.

Please submit your questions before Thursday, January 29 at 5pm ET.

Newcastle United has named Joe Kinnear as their interim manager until the end of October.

Newcastle Executive Director Dennis Wise must have had his grubby hands involved in the appointment of Kinnear. The Irishman managed Wimbledon from 1992 to 1999. But while Kinnear never managed Wise at Wimbledon, there’s undoubtedly a close connection between him and Wise — and Newcastle fans won’t be satisfied with the appointment.

“The fans will be disappointed, I understand that, but I can’t do anything about it,” said Kinnear. “I will just be doing my very best because I am desperate to get back into the game. I will be going up to Newcastle on Monday and will pick the team from then. It is a big challenge but one I am really looking forward to.”

Former Newcastle and Wimbledon defender Warren Barton will make his Fox Soccer Channel debut this Saturday as analyst for Fox Soccer Match Day.

If you had the pleasure of watching Newcastle shine in the late 90s under Kevin Keegan, you’ll no doubt remember the probing runs by Barton down the wing where he was an integral part of the Toon’s success. During his time at Newcastle, Barton made his England debut in the infamous match that was abandoned due to hooliganism.

These are just a few of the topics that we cover with Barton in an exclusive interview. Play it via your browser below or download it from iTunes for your convenience.

[display_podcast]

U.S. TV network Fox Soccer Channel will feature a new co-host and analyst for its Fox Soccer Match Day beginning Saturday, August 16, when former Wimbledon, Newcastle United and England defender Warren Barton joins the network.

At Wimbledon, Barton made 180 appearances during the club’s hugely successful period from 1990 to 1995 when he played on the same side as other team members such as Vinnie Jones, Dennis Wise, John Fashanu and Lawrie Sanchez. When Barton moved from Wimbledon to Newcastle, he became the most expensive defender in English football at that time.

Barton’s broadcast experience has included work for ITV in England.

Last season, Fox Soccer Match Day featured Andy Houlihan from Sky Sports. EPL Talk has now learned that Houlihan has a full-time position with National Public Radio (NPR) and will not be involved with Fox Soccer Channel in a presenter role this season.

The new season of Fox Soccer Match Day is scheduled to debut on Saturday, August 16 at 9:30am ET/6:30am PT.

It’s been years since I last watched a Wimbledon men’s singles tennis final on TV. By luck, it was one of the most extraordinary finals ever as Rafael Nadal narrowly defeated Roger Federer in five sets.

As a sports fan who spends the vast majority of his time watching soccer matches, there were a couple of aspects about the Wimbledon coverage that thoroughly impressed me.

First, it was a joy to listen to Wimbledon radio coverage over the internet from BBC Five Live. I’m so sick of the BBC blocking me from listening to their radio coverage of the Premier League, Champions League and international football matches due to rights restrictions.

Radio coverage of matches, especially from the BBC, adds so much drama to sports whether it’s Wimbledon or Premier League matches. Presumably Wimbledon hasn’t broken up the internet radio rights to their tennis matches so that the BBC doesn’t have to block the radio coverage for listeners outside the United Kingdom.

Second, it’s an absolute joy to see how the stodgy sport of tennis has used advances in technology to improve the game. While it’s not new to Wimbledon (it was introduced over twelve months ago), this was the first time I had a chance to watch the Hawk-Eye electronic review of controversial calls.

The way it works is simple. If a player wants to challenge a call that he believes was incorrect, a computerized animation of the call is shown on the electronic scoreboard within 30 seconds for the chair umpire, players, crowd and TV audience all to watch it live to see whether the call was correct or not.

The beauty of the technology is that it doesn’t interfere with the game because it’s so quick, it removes the controversy by proving to everyone whether a ball was in or out and it takes the pressure off the chair umpire.

While sports such as cricket and tennis are stereotypically perceived as being stodgy, conservative and behind the times, the reality is that soccer is the sport that is reluctant to change and more rooted in tradition for tradition’s sake. It’s time for soccer to grow up and for FIFA to begin using technology where it’s needed most. Let’s start with whether a ball has crossed a goal-line or not and then take it from there.

Here’s a video to show how impressive the Hawk-Eye technology is:

[display_podcast]