Quote of the Weekend

"The people who run this game, sometimes I think they just don't understand joy, and sharing"

- Andy Gray after Fabregas was booked for running into the crowd to celebrate his equaliser at Anfield.

The Wisdom of Jews

Hats off to Israeli amateur side Hapoel Kiryat Shalom for putting the "Wisdom of Crowds" theory into practice by getting the fans to pick the team.

More in The Times

In the same way that I joined the Labour Party in 2005...

... I may well buy a Chelsea shirt with Drogba on the back in 2007.

Also, I suddenly desperately want a subscription to France Football. Or even better, a French girlfriend to translate France Football to me while lazily lying in bed wearing an France No12 shirt.


UPDATE!

I am definitely getting a Drogba shirt.

Non-story of the Week

... is of course "Mourinho for England", a drum that the Times in particular has been banging despite the virtual impossibility of such an occurrence. It started earlier this week with the headline "Mourinho could be next England manager" - naturally I clicked the link (thereby adding a unique visit to the TimesOnline's web statistics, on which they base their advertising rates), eager to see whether the Special One had indeed been spotted lunching near Soho Square with Twatty Barwick. In fact, the Times hack had managed to wring 300 words out of the fact that Mourinho's leaving settlement with Chelsea does not legally prevent him from managing the England side, even though it does prevent him from working in the Premiership. So in other words, Mourinho "could", in the strictest sense of the word, be the next England manager. Thanks boys.

Not content to let a juicy non-story lie, the Times are at it again today with a piece headlined "FA to make reluctant Mourinho prime target". Again, once the punter has clicked the link and boosted ad sales, there is another weak article that produces not one shred of evidence that anyone at the FA is seriously considering Jose for the job, let alone making him the prime target. Instead, it says that he would be "a hugely popular choice", speculates that if McClaren goes, there will be "a clamour for the Portuguese to take over", without identifying the source of this clamour, which is , of course, The Times itself.

You call this cold?

Sky are playing up the cold weather in Moscow, even making Hoddle and Redknapp wear stupid scarves in the booth. However, BBC weather paints a different picture. A minimum of 8 degrees Celsius! That is slightly parky.

NB When I was in Moscow it was -25C so nerr.

This isn't your kid's sports day, Wrighty

When will the BBC clamp down on all England half-time coverage starting off with some limp banter about Wrighty Jnr.?

...also known as Steaua, Roş-Albaştrii or Militarii

Are FC Steaua Bucureşti the first team to have their kit designed by children? The names are even written in comic sans.

I should be ashamed of myself

I couldn't really hear the radio, but I overheard the words "Steven Gerrard" and "broken leg".

When I saw this headline, though, I was so relieved.

So relieved that a small child has broken his leg. Terrible.