Reuters Soccer Blog

Soccer Break Friday – Time to say goodbye

Blackburn Rovers. Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wigan Athletic. Blackpool. Birmingham City. Five teams, two must go. Who will it be?

Nervy times ahead then for these five Premier League strugglers. Sunday will be traumatic and full of twists.

Blackpool striker DJ Campbell has been relegated before, and is apparently scaring the living daylights out of his teammates with his tales of the dreaded drop.

More Blackpool now, and manager Ian Holloway’s take on things. They are a colourful bunch the Tangerines, and they’ve given all the top teams a run for their money this season. Do you want to see them relegated?

Over to the FIFA scandal latest, and do you agree with this blog? Are you in favour of the FA’s abstaining from the voting on the FIFA presidency?

Sensationally, read on for news that Qatar could be stripped of the right to host the 2022 World Cup. Now that would shake the game up.

Finally, remember Paolo Di Canio, he of the ultimate bit of sportsmanship but who also pushed a referee? Well, he could be back in the English game.

Soccer Break Tuesday – Blatter unbeatable?

Short and sweet today. Is Sepp Blatter really “unbeatable” ahead of the June 1 election for the FIFA presidency?

It would appear so, though under his leadership the sport’s governing body has come under fire for alleged corruption.

That said, you have to admire his workrate. He is no ordinary 75-year-old.

Some transfer speculation now, and with Ligue 1 leaders Lille set to all but clinch the title on Wednesday will they be agitated by rumours that star man Eden Hazard could leave?

And how about Everton’s Leighton Baines to Manchester City for 25 million pounds? Money is no obstacle for the Manchester side as they prepare to sail into uncharted waters in the Champions League next season.

This article says City need to focus on actually winning trophies, not annoying fierce city rivals United and trying solely to beat them.

Finally, a piece on what relegation means to teams leaving the top flight. West Ham United went down last Sunday, and two more clubs will follow suit next Sunday. Who are you backing to stay up?

Soccer Break Tuesday – corrupt game?

Dominating football news on Tuesday are the allegations by David Triesman to a UK parliamentary inquiry that several FIFA executive committee members asked for favours in return for their votes for England’s 2018 World Cup bid.

Startling stuff, especially with the FIFA presidential election less than a month away and a third of the 24-man executive committee having been accused of corruption.

Current chief Sepp Blatter sought to distance himself from the committee on Tuesday. Rival Mohamed bin Hammam has been campaigning by pledging transparency and technology. Who do you want to clean up the game?

Click here for a timeline of events that have rocked FIFA over the past year.

Back to the pitch, and Liverpool’s blistering late-season form has got everyone talking after their 5-2 destruction of Fulham.

Not that Fulham are being ignored mind you, goalscoring midfielder Clint Dempsey very much a transfer target this summer.

More off pitch drama now and France coach Laurent Blanc has been cleared of racial discrimination.

Soccer Break Tuesday – Champions League week special

Enjoy. That we will. Cristiano Ronaldo is back for Real Madrid and Gareth Bale for Tottenham Hotspur as four teams prepare for their biggest games this season in the Champions League quarter-final first legs on Tuesday.

Spurs forward Rafael van der Vaart is returning to the Bernabeu and would clearly love to make an impact on his old side.

Also in action is Spaniard Raul, pictured, with Schalke 04 at holders Inter Milan. The Italians will be out for revenge following their UEFA Cup final loss in 1997.

Back to domestic football, and Wayne Rooney’s possible two-match ban for swearing on camera is all over the internet and the papers. Manchester United have until later on Tuesday to respond. Can you see the striker being let off?

Euro Football Zone takes a look at that infamous match for two reasons. One, how far Nani has come this season and two, are West Ham United too good to be relegated from the Premier League?

On a more cheerful note, read here for a look at the progress being made in Poland as they strive to be ready to host Euro 2012.

Finally, check out this video of a 16-year-old Scottish girl whose skills are wowing the football world.

Soccer Break Friday

The first day of the fourth month means April fools day, so we would really love to hear from you if there are any dubious stories doing the rounds.

Here are some. Frank Lampard’s ‘goal that never was’ at the World Cup is to be finally given. Ronaldo will start playing for Spain. And here is a list of five other classics from the past.

How about Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho for Manchester United? Or do you agree that West Ham United would have been in the hunt for Europe bar refereeing decisions?

Back to this weekend, and the title races in Spain and Italy are really hotting up as our previews will tell you. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund are still well clear but need to steady the ship.

Breaking news on Friday was the joint announcement by FIFA and UEFA that Bosnia were being suspended from international competition. Stay tuned for more including a chat with the Bosnia coach.

Finally the latest on Chad Ochocinco as the debate rages on…can athletes successfully transfer their skills in one sport to another?

Kevin Fylan adds: All betting fans, please also check out the latest edition of our sports spreads show on Insider: Click here for our lightning look at the Premier League programme and the cricket World Cup final.

from Left field:

West Ham given Olympic stadium nod but can soccer co-exist with track and field?

So now we know: Premier League soccer club West Ham United will take over the Olympic Stadium in London following the 2012 Games, assuming there are no late objections from the British government or the city's mayor.

The decision will be greeted with relief by many fans of the rival bidders Tottenham Hotspur for one simple reason -- soccer does not generally co-exist very well with athletics.

As far as I know there are just two football league clubs in England who play at a stadium incorporating a running track -- Brighton and Rotherham, though happy to be corrected if there are more -- and none in the top tier Premier League.

There are still some around Europe, but a bit of digging around by our reporters this morning suggests a general discontent with the situation.

Certainly, Bayern Munich fans were delighted to see their team move out of the Olympic Stadium and into the Allianz Arena, purpose built for the 2006 World Cup. Hertha Berlin play their games at Germany's other Olympic Stadium and from my own experience there the atmosphere is never great.

The problem soccer fans usually come back to again and again is that the running track puts too much distance between the fans and the pitch, destroying the atmosphere and making the ground a more comfortable place for the opposition to play.

So if West Ham are to preserve the Olympic legacy London promised they may have to make fans unhappy in the process. We shall see. Can't wait to see a game there post-London 2012 in any case.

from Left field:

Upton Olympic Park – surely a “no brainer”?

West Ham United fans are probably more worried about what league they will be playing in next season than what stadium they will occupy in 2013 but their new owners' plan to move to the Olympic Stadium certainly bears examination.

Nervously hovering above the relegation zone, West Ham are under the fresh new ownership of David Gold and David Sullivan and if their previous owners dismissed the idea of the three-mile move to Olympic Park, the new men have been quick to bring the issue back to the table.

They announced a potential bid in association with the local Newham council to move in after the Games, keeping the running track and a potential capacity of 55,000.

Newham's mayor Robin Wales described it as "no brainer" and it is hard to argue.

Crystal Palace might be a bit tatty with dire transport links but as the country's current leading athletics venue it is full to a 20,000-capacity once, possibly twice a year.

The idea of having another, admittedly world class, athletics venue a few miles away when London will still host only one or two major annual meetings plus, potentially, a world or European championships every decade if they are lucky, looks like an outrageous waste of money.

English clubs have never taken to the idea of playing in big stadiums with pitches surrounded by running tracks, despite the prevalence of that arrangement throughout Europe, but this looks like an opportunity too good to miss for West Ham.

Portsmouth’s woes unlikely to slow Premier League’s journey to oblivion

There is something of the boy who cried wolf about Portsmouth’s appearance in the High Court this week as fans were warned that the 112-year old club was within hours of going out of business.

In the last 20 years or so literally dozens of English league clubs have gone into administration, some more than once, but how many have actually folded?

A few points docked here, a new holding company set up there and within no time the same “club” with the same players are still doing their thing in the same stadium.

And even those that have disappeard since the Second World War – Accrington Stanley, Aldershot and Maidstone – resurrected themselves down the line and after moving through the minor leagues, are now back plying their trade in the professional league or high in the pyramid.

Portsmouth will be back in court next month when they will have to prove that they can come up with some quick money to satisfy Revenue and Customs officials who say the club owes around 12 million pounds in various unpaid taxes.

Many leading names in and around the game have expressed shock that a Premier League club, FA Cup winners less than two years ago and on the receiving end of countless millions of pounds of TV money, could get into such a mess.

West Ham shock as Englishmen buy Premier League club!

Londoners David Sullivan and David Gold have bucked a growing trend in England’s Premier League by taking control of 50 percent of West Ham United.

It returned a club steeped in the tradition of the English game to home ownership after an ill-fated three years of foreign control that has left the club deep in debt.

While West Ham are still half-owned by Icelandic bank Straumur, Sullivan and Gold are confident they can attract local investors to help the club back on its feet and in the words of Sullivan “return it to the fans”.

It will be music to the ears of detractors, who have watched half of the Premier League’s clubs sold to overseas owners — a state of affairs that has been criticised by UEFA President Michel Platini.

One only has to look at the mess at Portsmouth and the debts carried by American-owned Manchester United and Liverpool to see that Platini has a point.

Sullivan and Gold, who ran a reasonably tight ship at Birmingham City for 16 years, re-building the club before selling to Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung last year, face a huge challenge at West Ham.

But far from promising instant miracles and fancy signings, they are determined to stabilise the club on and off the field and then eventually move to London’s 2012 Olympic Stadium which they believe would allow them to offer tickets that local fans can actually afford.

UPDATE:Warm yourselves up with our hot predictions league

MONDAY UPDATE: Well the cold weather only put pay to Wigan v Bolton in the end so I guess we’ll have to count the points for that game whenever it’s rescheduled (that will be a nightmare to remember and a challenge for my maths).

Below are the updated scores for the panel, who thanks purely to luck had a better weekend than usual despite there being one game less! Simon Evans guessed right that City boss Mark Hughes wouldn’t last til Xmas Eve, but in reality the decision to sack him had been taken long before the game. Given the festive spirit, Simon can have the dubious bonus point.

Season’s greetings to all, I reckon we’ll have to skip the Boxing Day fixtures given panel members and contributors will be too full of brussel sprouts and brandy butter to file their predictions but we’ll see.

Reuters Soccer blog panel: Patrick Johnston 172, Paul Radford 160, Mitch Phillips 154, Neil Maidment 136, Simon Evans 125, Mike Collett 126, Mark Meadows 126, Kevin Fylan 126, Julien Pretot 120, Miles Evans 107, Martyn Herman 95, Asia Sports Desk 93, Sonia Oxley 56, Justin Palmer 41 – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - ORIGINAL POST: I’m freezing at the top of a mountain watching skiing in northern Italy (where in fact the natives all speak German) and I hear it’s shivering cold in the UK and other parts of Europe too.

What better way to warm ourselves up than our Premier League predictions competition. Admittedly our panel have not exactly been red hot of late (see the midweek matches) but some of our outside contributors have outshone us all.

Not an obvious standout game this weekend but I guess Gianfranco Zola’s struggling West Ham against his former side Chelsea is an interesting one so we’ll make that our double pointer. Remember, one point for a correct result and five for getting the score spot on.