AHEAD OF THE GAME
Alpha mail. The only truly useful football e-mail
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Thursday, November 1, 2007. 1600 BST
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The news in 60 seconds
TERRY 'OBSCENE'
Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, has ensured that we all know who he is by branding John Terry's salary "obscene". He also goes on to criticise the bonuses awarded to City bankers, corporate fat cats and Government ministers. Or not.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article2786375.ece
BRUISED RICHARDS
Micah Richards, who was carried off on a stretcher during Manchester City's Carling Cup victory over Bolton Wanderers, has suffered bruised ligaments but no "long-term damage". It raises the possibility that he will be fit for England's crucial qualifier against Croatia in three weeks' time.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/euro_2008/article2785186.ece
ENGLAND GO IT ALONE
Brian Barwick has ruled out a combined bid between England and the other home nations for the 2018 World Cup. England will go it alone. "But there is no complacency whatsoever and no arrogance," the FA chief executive said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2786355.ece
IS FOOTBALL COMING HOME?
Everything else you need to know about the FA's World Cup bid. From when the bidding process starts to how and who England will need to schmooze. Martin Samuel, Matt Dickinson and Richard Caborn, the former Sports Minister, tell you everything that matters - except who will win the bid.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2781507.ece
RETURN OF NEVILLE
More good news for England. Gary Neville will make his long-awaited return from injury for Manchester United in the Carling Cup tonight. The right back has been out since March with ankle, calf and thigh injuries.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article2786313.ece
FULSOME FERGUSON
Sir Alex Ferguson has predictably declared that the title is still a four-horse race before Manchester United's Supertastic Saturday Showdown with Arsenal. Less predictably, he's compared The Special One to Brian Little, the former Tranmere Rovers and Hull City manager.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article2784922.ece
LAMPARD CONTRACT HITCH
The future of Frank Lampard is still hanging by a string as thin as the midfield player's skin. The Chelsea star, who scored a hat-trick in the Carling Cup last night, is out of contract in 18 months' time and Avram Grant says he is wrangling over money.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article2785805.ece
BOOTHROYD AWARD
Aidy Boothroyd has been named manager of the month after guiding Watford to the top of the Fizzy-Pop Championship. Roberto Martinez of Swansea City and Paul The Guv'nor Ince of MK Dons won the League One and Two awards respectively.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article2786830.ece
TAYLOR'S TUMBLE
Peter Taylor is dropping through leagues faster than anyone since Leeds United. After stints at Leicester City, Hull City and Crystal Palace, Taylor is the new manager of Blue Square Premier team Stevenage Borough. How long before the former England caretaker is really wielding a broom and fixing dodgy locks on the school bus? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2785794.ece
JOL TO PSV
Martin Jol will get his chance to manage a Champions League club after all. The Dutchman couldn't take Tottenham into the top tier of European football but PSV are already in it and they want to offer him a job. We gather he'll get only £1 million a year but we don't know how much he'll pay for meals until someone sends us a copy of his payslip.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article2781464.ece
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* It's free and you can still enter
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* http://www.timesonline.co.uk/playthegame
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If you've got another couple of minutes
PEACE BID
A joint bid so audacious that it makes the hoopla over England's 2018 campaign seem as hollow as a super model's stomach. Or at least so it appears at first glance. This YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqIA4_Wy4Cc) suggests that the FA will be facing stiff competition from a joint bid by Israel and Palestine, conjuring images of Kofi Annan speaking at the opening ceremony and players abandoning their kit in exchange for blue helmets and flak jackets to play in the Gaza Strip. It would be a bit like Roy Keane and Alfe Inge Haaland sharing a pint, but with a lot more significance.
Sadly, after further investigation and although it would have made our disappointed parents pleased to think we were actually doing a proper journalist's job, we can't bring you news of a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process.
After detailed research - you call it surfing - AOTG discovered that goal2018.org, the official website for the bid, also claims that Paris Hilton is supporting the joint bid and that Jose Mourinho and Pierluigi Collina want to be Israel manager. Call us cynical - and bearing in mind that the bidding process for 2018 has yet to open - we suspect it may be a spoof, albeit an incredibly clever and complicated one. The site has been created by the Dandylion Group, a Tel-Aviv based collective of film-makers who according to its website aim to "create internet content that is entertaining yet thought-provoking". A spokesman from Fifa said that it had not had any official contact about such a bid.
Which is probably just as well, if a little sad, because if England can't even agree to a joint bid with Wales and Scotland, what chance would this bid have?
SNOOP BECKS
News of another unlikely union. The gangsta rappa Snoop Dogg is hoping to team up with David Beckham to make a movie (and AOTG has heard all about the videos Snoop likes to make). He says that he has been friends with Snoop Becks for years and has been getting the former England captain to give his kids football lessons. "He is terrific with my kids and they had a great time as he taught them how to shoot and score the perfect goal," he said. "That's a partnership you never thought you would see - Snoop and Beckham."
AOTG supposes that Beckham hasn't had much else to do since signing for LA Galaxy, although Snoop says that their friendship is the real thing.
"I love soccer just as he loves hip-hop. He hasn't asked me to teach his kids how to rap yet - but I'm there if he ever needs it," Snoop volunteered. Doesn't he realise it's Posh that needs the singing lessons?
CAMERA TRAP
Marcelo Zalayeta, the Napoli striker, has had a two-match ban for diving overturned after television evidence showed he had been clipped by a Juventus defender last weekend. That was after he had been banned in the first place because of TV evidence. Considering that the Italian FA has used TV evidence twice in one instance - admittedly to no great effect - it makes the FA's insistence that Fifa won't let it introduce video evidence sound as convincing as Mucca's heart-rending suggestion that she's been treated worse than Princess Diana, the McCanns, Menzies Campbell and Joey Barton.
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10-1
Odds on Jose Mourinho being England manager at the 2018 World Cup. The Neville brothers are 100-1. (Paddy Power)
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A quickie before you go, sir?
THE REAL DEAL
A taste of the task awaiting Ronald Koeman. Real Madrid put five past Valencia as they prove that they are fast becoming the team to watch in La Liga. Based on this form, Valencia are fast becoming about as popular as bacon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY-h54psuJk
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>>>>>THE TUB-THUMPING TABLOID CAMPAIGN<<<<<
Cleaner Becks in for a pinny - The Sun
What you need to know: 1) David Beckham is so obsessed with being tidy that he colour codes his fridge and wears a pinny to vacuum. 2) Skeletal Spice said: "Even our fridge is colour coded. If he does the cleaning he vacuums in straight lines - in a pinny. If anyone walks around after he's done it, he gets funny." 3) AOTG bets it still looks better than that sarong.
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In TheGame
Tony Evans reveals the top 25 in of the 50 moments that shaped the Soul of Liverpool. From the American buyout to Heysel Stadium, a definitive list of the club's defining moments.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2778185.ece
Martin Samuel is so pleased to have a satisfied customer he wants to have him stuffed. Our Chief Football Correspondent has rubbished suggestions that the Premier League should turn itself into a transatlantic travesty by playing in the US and (some of) you agree.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2007/10/the-debate-nfl-.html
Walter Gammie , our non-League expert, on an unexpected voice behind the rising fortunes of Harrogate Railway.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2007/11/the-power-of-po.html
On this week's Game Podcast , Guillem Balague offers his unique insight into Juande Ramos, a man he knows well, while Tim Sherwood gives his view on the shambles at his old club. Bill Edgar weighs in with a Michael Owen stat that may not please his legion of fans while Alyson Rudd steps up gamely for some Quick Hits...
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2007/10/rijkaard-parlou.html
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>>>>>THE RIVALS<<<<<
* Juan's won one! - The Sun
* Hat-trick & treat - Daily Mirror
* Lampard to the rescue - Daily Express
* England boldly go for 2018 - The Daily Telegraph
* England launch World Cup bid as favourite - The Guardian
* England in £12m bid to bring home World Cup - The Independent
* Frank-tastic - Daily Mail
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Joe Bloggs' Soapbox
If the bid is successful, at least the England team won't have the problem of qualifying, which is normally such an obstacle. Let's just hope, whoever the players are in 2018, they wear the England shirt with a great deal more pride than the current 'mob'.
R. P. Dixon from London looks for mob justice
Send your opinions and comments to sport@timesonline.co.uk
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Tomorrow's news today
- Shearer says Arsenal are good to watch but no good for England
- Roy Keane takes adventurous approach to team bonding
And expect...
John Terry to give Gerry Sutcliffe a foul-mouthed, expletive-ridden explanation of the word "obscene"
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