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|"Can I update my entry at 2.20pm by stating that the Italian-owned hotel in Kazan is called the Hotel Giuseppe?" asks Colin Ward. "I don't know how I ever forgot that, what with the solid stereotyping its name implies. It's a genuinely nice place though, perfect for an visiting Irish football fan. I do hope my recommendation doesn't contravene any advertising code in Guardian Towers. If it's of any concern, let me assure you I'm very much an unpaid (and slimmer, less female) version of Judith Chalmers."
Newcastle United have confirmed that Joey Barton has signed for Queen's Park Rangers on a four-year deal.
"Some tremendous answers coming in for the Cyril Kinnear in Get Carter question in this week's Knowledge," tweets my colleague John Ashdown, who is a study of concentration sitting across the desk from me, breaking news like a cowboy breaking wild horses, while wearing a navy blue Mustang t-shirt that's seen better days.
I'm not using a vuvuzela to illustrate this snippet because it's Harry Redknapp who's talking, but simply because it's one of a wide range of new icons I've discovered exist and have yet to use. so now seems as good a time as any. Harry's been entertaining his chums from the press today, telling them that he things Manchester City's squad is now superior to that of European Champions Barcelona.
They don't have Messi but man for man, they certainly have a stronger squad than Barcelona. They have two men in every position who are top-class players. You look at that forward line now and they have [Sergio] Aguero, [Carlos] Tevez, [Edin] Dzeko, [David] Silva - it's amazing. Then you have players like [Mario] Balotelli, who can't get in the team along with [Emmanuel] Adebayor, [Craig] Bellamy and [Roque] Santa Cruz. It's an amazing array of players they have."
I need to go and get a cup of tea, so here's something to keep you amused while I'm away. "Seeing as this afternoon is dragging like a zombie's foot, there's only one thing to do - watch nine minutes of a 1989 episode of The Krypton Factor," writes Ben Stokes. "The Art of Noise theme music, Gordon Burns' helmet-hair … classic." He's not wrong.
"I reckon Spurs currently have 16 midfielders who could easily be in their first team," writes Norval Scott, before listing all 16 of them. "Bale, Huddlestone, Lennon, Jenas, Van der Vaart, Palacios, Modric, Bassong, Kranjcar, Rose, Livermore, Sandro, Bentley, Pienaar, Falque, dos Santos. With the potential Parker/Cole/Diarra signings - has Harry's addiction finally spiralled out of control?" Finally? Finally?
NEWSFLASH! Bolton have signed defender Dedryck Boyata on a season-long loan from Manchester City, the Reebok Stadium club have confirmed.
Ed Chamberlin from Sky Sports: "Fav stat: Bolton's last League win at Anfield came in same month that Marilyn Monroe married baseball player Joe DiMaggio (Jan 1954) #LFC"
4.04pm: Meanwhile in Scotland, Rangers club jester-turned manager Ally McCoist has been talking in the wake his team's Europa League elimination at the hands of Slovenian side Maribor last night, in an attempt to gee his players up ahead of this weekend's SPL skirmish with Aberdeen.
This club has had many highs over the years and also many lows. You probably find out more about people when you have the lows. I don't have any doubt that the boys in the dressing room will bounce back in terms of the performance and their desire to get a result against Aberdeen.
That's what we have to do, anything else is not an option. We just have to regroup and look forward to the Aberdeen game, which will be a difficult game, and give it our best shot. Thursday night's game was a disappointment but, as I said to the lads in the dressing room, it's about how you handle that disappointment. Life would be pretty boring if it was a bed of roses all the time. It's a rollercoaster and we took a bit of a dip last night and it was a sore one. But we've got a real opportunity to regroup and get ready for Aberdeen.
This from Kevin McCarra: "I notice Sir Alex's appreciation of Arsene Wenger," he writes. "It's very courteous but also suggests that Arsenal are not being treated as quite such a danger at the moment. Makes you a bit nostalgic for the uproar and
pizza hurling of days gone by. Never mind those clubs any way. This week belongs to Shamrock Rovers. Instant folklore created in Belgrade."
3.47pm: The unconfirmed murmur around the office is that Joey Barton has finally inked a deal with Queen's Park Rangers. Will bring you more information as soon as we have it, or as soon as Joey finds the appropriate Nietszchean quote with which to accompany the announcement of this latest development in his career on Twitter.
3.43pm: Oh, right ... sorry, you want more detail on those talks, do you? Right, over to you Big Sam ...
I am not in talks [personally] with them but there is some dialogue going on at the moment. That is all I am aware of. As in terms of what level it is at, I certainly know that a deal has not been struck by any way, shape or form at this moment in time about Scott Parker. Whether he is here on Wednesday depends on whether someone reaches the owners' valuation.
So now you know - there is some dialogue going on but a deal has not been struck by any way shape or form at this moment in time about Scott Parker.
NEWSFLASH: Tottenham are in talks with West Ham over the potential transfer of midfielder Scott Parker, Hammers manager Sam Allardyce has confirmed.
3.33pm: I spent this morning writing this blog about Irish side Shamrock Rovers' heroic win over Partisan Belgrade to qualify for the group stages of the Europa League, and since finishing it, Rovers chairman Jonathan Roche has been reflecting on an "unbelievable" couple of days after seeing his side drawn with Tottenham Hotspur, Rubin Kazan and PAOK Salonika.
Last night was a historic occasion for us and to top it off like this, it hasn't quite soaked in. It's been an unbelievable two days. Six years ago we were relegated, then the fans took over the club. We won the league for first time in 16 years last season and hopefully this shows people that we play a good style of football. It's not really about the money but it's the whole razzmatazz and the whole profile of the football club. Hopefully we can do ourselves justice.
[Tottenham] is the big glamour tie and the one everyone picked out. [Moving games to the Aviva Stadium] will be an option for all the ties. I don't think you can switch but we will sit down with our association and see what the best thing is for ourselves. We would hope to use our ground because it is our home ground and that's where we will try our best to actually play. It might need a few adjustments but we will hopefully work on that first.
3.30pm: The Football Supporters Federation are running a poll to see which English side will go furthest in this season's Europa League. You could do a lot worse than cast your vote, then spend a while perusing their site to see all the good work they do and perhaps join up.
Good afternoon all. Barry Glendenning here, to replace Scott Murray who's had to go off due to lack of Banter Blog fitness. I can think of no better way of getting my shift rolling than by bringing you the exciting news that Newcastle manager has taken time out from preparing his side for Sunday afternoon's match against Fulham to tell reporters that despite being in charge of a squad that - for the moment at least - still boasts Joey Barton amongst its number, he loves his job.
" I just look forward to the training ground and the matches, and everything else is tough. But I love it. Obviously, we are in a period now when fans are looking for the board to bring in players to replace the ones we have lost, as I am. My job is to put pressure on the board for the fans to try to get these guys over the line, and that's what I am trying to do. My job is to put in front of the board here three to four options I think will take the club forward, and I have done that. Now it's a matter for the people who do the finance here to get them over the line, and I'm not involved in that."
3pm: NEWSFLASH!!! Here comes Baz!
2.50pm: Running out of icons now. A vuvuzela. "David Moyes statement at 2.10pm doesn't really stack up," writes Andrew Brown. "Plenty of teams that made it to the Euro Vase groups are from leagues that generate far less income than the SPL. He can't honestly say that teams from Ireland, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark to name but five leagues are wealthier than Rangers and Celtic or pay better so they attract better players." No. Fair point. But even so, that doesn't change the fact that Po' Neil and Ally still don't have two brass bawbees to rub together. Fans of English clubs are very lucky. At least until the whole deck of cards crashes to the ground, which it must do at some point. We live in the decadent last days.
2.40pm: Another email, another excuse to rummage around the toy box full of icons. A speech bubble. That'll do. "Interesting suggestion on fixing Scottish Fitba, Scott," writes Ryan Dunne. "As a fan of the Glorious Glasgow Rangers, I for one wouldn't object to going back to the days of a bigger league - it might be fun to have some new diddy teams to hump at Ibrox! And I do hope that non Old Firm fans recognise that what interest Scottish fitba has would collapse if the Old Firm left (diddy teams don't exactly fill their stadiums when playing each other). Aside from which it would be (not least morally) ludicrous for a team to claim to be 'champions' of Scottish Football if they only won because the two best teams left and went elsewhere! That said, if the goal is more TV money then perhaps MORE, not less Old Firm games are the answer?" I fear that'd be the big sticking point. You'd hope everyone would play the longer game - a more competitive (and therefore interesting) league should eventually diminish the desperate dependency on the Old Firm, if not totally eradicate it - but I doubt anyone can be bothered.
2.30pm: In the wake of Colin Ward's travelogue, and in the interests of balance, some pro-London propaganda:
All together now: "I gotta to Piccadilly / Got to pick a dilly of a day to do it..." Written by Carry On's Jim Dale, incidentally.
2.20pm: "As an Irishman living in north London, can I take the opportunity to issue some travel advice to Shamrock Rovers fans?" asks Colin Ward. Sure thing, as it gives me a chance to rummage around the icon box. Hee heeee! "I've had the good fortunate to visit Kazan, and so recommend to all Shams fans that they should avoid Tottenham (for many reasons) and start planning a visit to Russia. Kazan's kremlin, about 200 yards across the Volga from Rubin's stadium, is a Unesco World Heritage Site - you won't find many of those in Haringey. There's also a strange statue of a cat that the locals seem to think is worth getting one's photo taken in front of, though I wouldn't necessarily travel just for that. There's a great Italian-owned hotel in the city (the name escapes me) and the beer is good. Also Lenin went to university there: if that's not incentive enough for everyone associated with Shamrock Rovers to get excited about, I don't know what is."
2.10pm: Here's David Moyes on the subject of Fitba, and the exit of the Old Firm and Hearts from Europe last night.
It is disappointing - no country would want that. But it is difficult for Scotland. They don't get the finances that we get down here. Sometimes we can sit down here and look up and say 'how bad is Scottish football?' But they get very little money put into their league and the teams can't buy the top players now.
That is why Walter Smith and Martin O'Neill getting Rangers and Celtic to cup finals was remarkable.
It has been a bad year for them but I'm sure they will bounce back - they are two massive clubs. Hearts are doing well and Dundee United are a strong side, so Scottish football will be fine.
Fixing Scottish football is easy, no? Just revert back to the old pre-1975 18-team First Division, so teams only have to play each of the Old Firm clubs twice a season rather than four times. That's the gap at the top slashed in half in one fell swoop. Clubs have more time and space to build decent teams without fear of relegation, and with hope of perhaps making a real impact at the top if they get it right.
I should stress that I haven't thought this through - Celtic were dominant in the decade before the new Premier Division, while Aberdeen and Dundee United made hay in the immediate aftermath of it - but things can't get much worse than they are now, can they, so why not give it a go.
2pm: Aston Villa defender Luke Young - who would be a Liverpool player these days had Roy Hodgson got his way last summer - is in talks over a possible move to Queens Park Rangers. The Rs are also still hoping the internet's Joey Barton will click on their "like" button, while tentative enquiries have been made regarding Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips.
1.55pm: Right, here we go. Chelsea's Luka Modric is named in the Tottenham squad for their game against Manchester City on Sunday. He's been out with a dodgy attitude hamstring, but he's back up and running, along with Jermaine Jenas and Alan Hutton, who have recovered from recent Achilles and knee injuries respectively. Their new loan signing Emmanuel Adebayor can kick back, though: he's unavailable to play against his parent club.
1.50pm: And if you thought those arrows were something else, take a look at this! A to-do list. Not bad, eh? Supreme irony, there, in pictographic form.
1.45pm: Nothing in the way of news to report, other than the fact that Paul Doyle has done one. At top speed. His empty chair is spinning around and round, sheets of paper are slowly wafting back down to the desk like feathers in an advertisement for fabric conditioner, and the exit door is clanking like the shutters on the windows of a haunted house. He'll be replaced, until Barry Glendenning comes along, by me, Scott Murray. Possibly the least interesting entry in the entire history of live blogs, but at least I've had the chance to use one of these little icons for the first time, so some good has come out of it. Pair of arrows there, eh? Wee pair of arrows.
As Shamrock Rovers shudder at the prospect of a trip to war-torn London, Arsene Wenger is attempting to bring some levity to the beleaguered city. Here's David Hytner from Arsenal's training ground. "Arsene Wenger swears blind that he has not offered a derisory £6m for Gary Cahill. 'It's not true,' he said. 'You can believe me or Phil Gartside. You are free, absolutely, to think what you want. I just tell you it's not right.' Follow-up question: Was the figure lower than £6m, then? 'You know me very well,' Wenger replied. Much laughter."
Here are the Europa League groups in full:
Group A: Spurs, Rubin, PAOK, Shamrock Rovers
B: Copenhagen, Standard Liege, Hannover, Vorskla
C: PSV, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Rapid Bucharest, Legia Warsaw
D: Sporting Lisbon, Lazio, Zurich, Vaslui
E: Dynamo Kyiv, Besiktas, Stoke, Maccabi Tel Aviv,
F: PSG, Athletic Bilbao, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava
G: AZ Alkmaar, Matalist, Austria Wien, Malmo
H: Braga, Club Brugge, Birmingham, Maribor
I: Atletico Madrid, Udinese, Rennes, Sion (or possibly Celtic?)
J: Schalke, Steaua, Maccabi Haifa, AEK Larnaca
K: Twente, Fulham, Odense, Wisla Krakow
L: Anderlecht, AEK, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sturm Graz
Stoke's group is now complete: they will face Dynamo Kyiv, Besiktas, and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Shamrock Rovers will grace Group A, featuring Rubin Kazan, PAOK and Spurs! Pity Robbie Keane has left White Hart Lane, he could have played against his hometown club, which may well be one of the few he didn't support as a lad.
Maribor, conquerors of Rangers, are the final team in Birmingham's group.
Some nice trips for Birmingham fans, who, depending on how the fixtures are arranged, could get to visit group rivals Braga and Club Brugge. Delightful trip for Braga and Brugge fans too, obviously.
Odense have been added to Fulham's group, along with Twente
Ouch! That's a nasty draw for Stoke: they're in with Dynamo Kyiv and Besiktas.
There are different ways to multi-task: while Uefa chooses to mix making the Europa League draw with needless chuntering and gimmickery, we here at the live blog intersperse our coverage of that same draw with reports from training grounds across England (and needless chuntering, mostly thanks to some clowns intent on crowding out the wiser posters below the line). Loiuse Taylor knows what's going on at Newcastle and here's a quick dispatch from her as we await news of Birmingham, Stoke and Shamrock Rovers' first European group opponents:
There is much talk of the need to spend money at Newcastle and Alan Pardew clearly needs two or three new players to reinforce his squad but further buys may be superfluous as a few
members of Peter Beardsley's development squad could soon be in the first team. Haris Vuckic and Sammy Ameobi - who scored a fine winner - impressed hugely after coming off the bench in the narrow Carling Cup win at Scunthorpe last night and their are also high hopes for Mehdi Abeid."
Martin Jol will get a free trip back to his homeland after Fulham are cast into the group in which the top seeds are FC Twente.
Tottenham are joined in their group by Russian slicksters Rubin Kazan. A dicey enough assignment.
Looks like Louis Saha is not fit enough to play for Everton tomorrow (I will clip this for further use throughout the season). He has jsut tweeted: "I had better mornings. Gutted." Meanwhile, Uefa has assigned all of the top seeds to their groups. Spurs are in Group A, That will mean something when other teams are placed there too.
As we ponder the reality of Shamrock Rovers consorting with the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain, Udinese, Fulham and Stoke, we should recall that five years ago they were homeless, bankrupt and the on the brink of extinction. Yes, reaching the Europa League group stages really is glorious.
Just before we devote our full attention to the Europa League draw, have a squint at this piece in which Michael Platini explains that football's in a spot of bother. Below is an extract:
The Uefa president, Michel Platini, said on Friday that the warning lights were flashing and he fears for the future of professional football if the game does not urgently clean up its act.Platini, stressing that he was giving his personal view, told reporters in Monte Carlo in his traditional season-opening message: "I can see lots of red lights flashing and I am afraid for the future of football which is going pear-shaped in some areas."
He said he had no fear that the game would always be loved by millions, and would always be played in the street and parks, but was seriously concerned about the money flooding into the game and the viability of clubs to survive.
He said that Uefa's Financial Fair Play rules were vital in ensuring that some degree of accountability was introduced to the leading clubs, and although there had been some criticism of his insistence it was introduced, there was no turning back.
"There is no alternative," he said, "Clubs have to live within their means. But we are facing huge problems. Perhaps I am being alarmist, but we have to face up to match-fixing, corruption, illegal betting, violence on the pitch, racism and hooliganism.
"Of course there are many good qualities and values about football, but we ignore the problems at our peril."
He said the strikes in powerful soccer nations like Italy and Spain were symptomatic of real problems in the game at the highest level.
Right, here are the teams in the Europa League draw:
Pot 1: Spurs, PSV, Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Braga, Schalke, Dynamo kyiv, Paris Saint-Germain, FC Copenhagen, Az Alkmaar, Anderlecht, Twente.
Pot 2: Fulham, Besiktas, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Metalist, Standard Liege, Rubin, Club Brugge, AEK Athens, Steaua, Udinese, Athletic Bilbao, Lazio
Pot 3: Salzburg, Maccabi Haifa, Zurich, OB, Lokomotiv Moscow, PAOK, Birmingham, Stoke, Rennes, Austria Wien, Rapid Bucharest, Hannover
Pot 4: Vorskla, Wisla Krakow, Vaslui, Sion, Sturm Graz, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Slovan Bratislava, Legia Warsaw, Maribor, AEK LArnanaca, Malmo, SHAMROCK ROVERS
So, supporters of the bolded-up clubs, who would you fancy meeting?
Wondering exactly why the start of the Serie A season has been postponed? Paolo Bandini offers enlightenment:
Disappointing as it was to have the Serie A strike confirmed, it comes as not great surprise. It's been on the cards all summer, and the language used by the Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani last week, when he warned that teams were willing to "wait till December" if necessary, was indicative of an increasingly beligerent stance from the league's owners.
At issue is the new collective bargaining agreement – a contract between owners and players which sets out the terms of the latter's employment, which has been under negotiation for nearly a year. It seemed agreement had been reached when a strike was avoided last December, but eight months later the owners have yet to sign the contract that was drawn up in the wake of those negotiations. On Wednesday voted (by a margin of 18-2) against doing so.
The two main obstacles to an agreement are a new solidarity tax set to be introduced for Italy's highest earners – the owners want it to be made explicit that the players will bear the burden of this tax – but more crucially a dispute over the rights of a player to attend training.
In recent years there have been a number of high-profile cases of players – including Antonio Cassano at Sampdoria and Goran Pandev at Lazio – being frozen out of training over perceived misdemeanours. The players view this as a restraint of trade and as such had written a clause into the agreement to eliminate the practice. The owners, however, have rejected it, arguing nothing should impinge on the autonomy of their managers to do their job as they see fit.
The Italian Footballers' Association launched a last-ditch effort to rescue the first weekend's games this morning, with their president Damiano Tommasi suggesting that the two sides sign a temporary one-year deal to tide them over till next season, but the league has rejected that proposal. The international break ensures there will now be time for further discussions, but it is perhaps an indictment of both sides that these negotiations have been left until now, when the contract itself had been ready and signed by the players as early as May.
The Eruope league draw will be coming up any moment now, so it's the perfect time for League of Ireland fans to continue their claims for partial shares in the acclaim being rightly given to Sharmrock Rovers. "Further to Colin O'Brien at 10:43am and Hibernica at 10:26am about the lack of appreciation for St Patrick's Athletic, I'd like to point out that Irish teams have won two rounds in Europe (non-InterToto) only eight times in history," hollers John Owens. "St Pats have achieved it three times in the last 4 years, beating opposition from Latvia, Sweden, Malta, Russia, Iceland and Kazakhstan in the process. Last night was the first time Shamrock Rovers have done it. Good luck to them too."
Here's some more on Bolton's rejection of Arsenal's bid for Gary Cahill and Owen Coyle confirming that Marcos Alonson will be out injured for over a month. And here's a snippet of his view on Arsenal's offer:"The word derisory doesn't even cover it. When I make an offer for a player, I'd like to think in the right ball park, but this wasn't even close."
David Hytner is loitering with intent around Arsenal's training ground and here's how things are shaping up there: "Arsene Wenger is keeping it low-key at his press conference this afternoon, according to the official line or, according to the non-party line, he has thrown a strop at all the negative coverage and cancelled his newspaper briefings. He'll still hold his general conference and he should
be in decent spirits after Udinese on Wednesday night, despite his splitting selection headache for Old Trafford. I can't remember Arsenal being bigger underdogs ahead of one of the season's showpiece fixtures."
"In my opinion it seems pretty fair that Wenger started bidding for Cahill so low - its business, innit?" rollicks Henry Rudd-Clarke. "He's unlikely to go for £17m and Wenger knows that Bolton need the cash. Always should start bidding low and try to get the best deal in these situations. Add that to the fact that we just sold Clichy for £7mil with the same contract situation; he has lots of Champions League experience and is also a (more) regular international than Cahill. It's worth remembering the fact that Bolton aren't in the Champions League though - they can hold on to Cahill until January and he will still be regarded as an asset by Champions League clubs as he won't be cup-tied."
Right, it has just been confirmed that the Serie A will not in facat kick off tomorrow because the players are going on strike in protest against the authorities' refusal to recognise their new collective bargaining agreement. But you should still read this.
The Serie A season may or may not kick off this weekend and who better than Paolo Bandini to tell you why you should care?
Thanks to Andrew Fitchett for drawing our attention to Bolton chairman Phil Gartside's ingenious use of retweet to say what he really means: behold.
Joey Barton's thinking is almost complete. He's just been on Twitter to declare: "Going to have to make a decision today, its only fair to all parties." If you were Joey Barton, would you join QPR? I'm still slightly surprised he hasn't had an offer from a more established Premier League club. He'd be great at Stoke, for instance, salary permitting.
Here's James Dart's preview of the Football League weekend, including a summation of Plymouth's woes, players to watch and some surefire tips.
I'm linking to Jacob Steinberg's Small Talk with Pat Nevin again because I have now actually had a chance to read it and it's champion. Go on, have a gander.
David Hytner's been fraternising with Arsene Wenger this morning and tells us that Thomas Vermaelen remains a doubt for Arsenal's clash with Manchester United. And Wenger is confident of signing M'vila. A fine recruit he would be, too. He has a midfield presence beyond his 21 years and is a ball-winning midfield who can actually do more than just tap it to a more talent team-mate to create: his passing is swift and shrewd.
Here's a more complete report on Ferguson's denunciation of the FA.
"Nasty stuff from Hibernica!" fumes Colin O'Brien in reference to Hibernica's post at 10.23am. "A well done to Shelbourne, Cork and Derry for over-spending their way and no pat on the back to your neighbours and sometime rivals St Patrick's Athletic, who in recent years have taken on such giants of European Football as Elfsborg and Valletta FC in the name of the League of Ireland? Poor form."
My colleague James Dart has spotted a link to this site containing a counter-claim to Ferguson's affirmation that Manchester United are the most bountiful source of players for England.
"I'm interested to see what happens with the Europa League draw today what with two Midlands clubs involved," enthuses the Guardian's Midlands football guru, Stuart James. "I was at Birmingham last night to watch Chris Hughton's makeshift team completely outplay a very disappointing Nacional side. Nathan Redmond, a 17-year-old England youth international, was outstanding and could be one to watch this season. Anyway, realise you've already been on the line to Uefa this morning - did you ask whether there was any truth to the rumour circulating St Andrew's last night that Uefa would like Stoke to meet Birmingham in the final?" Yes, of course I asked them that and Michel Platini confirmed that that is precisely the sort of showpiece event that would bring the tournament out of the Champions League's shadow.
Those "harsh penalties" that Ferguson says Manchester United players received from the FA last season? Presumably he's referring to the lengthy ban Wayne Rooney got for thrusting his elbow into the face of Wigan's James McCarthy. Oh no, wait ...
Sir Alex Ferguson's in a good mood this morning. He may not want to explain why he finally lifted his ban on talking to the BBC but he has decided that now is the time to tell us what he really thinks of the FA, who, he apparently believes, are hellbent on persecuting Manchester United. "They treat us like shit," he thundered in reference to the various punishments United received last season. "One day they may realise this club produces more England players than any other," he added.
Scotland fights back! Might Celtic creep back into Europe? Consider this, from the AP agency:
Uefa says Swiss club FC Sion faces being kicked out of the Europa League for fielding ineligible players when it beat Scotland's Celtic in the playoff round.
Uefa says Celtic has lodged official protests that Sion breached a one-year FIFA transfer ban, which was originally imposed in 2008 but took effect in January.
Uefa President Michel Platini says Sion fielded its offseason signings "in clear violation of the ban."
Sion is included in today's group stage draw but Celtic could be reinstated.
Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino says its disciplinary committee will rule on Celtic's protest before the first match on Sept. 15.
First, Uefa is waiting for a Swiss civil court ruling on Sion's case.
"Congratulations to Shamrock Rovers," begins Hibernica, adding his voice to the melodious chorus, before offering this context. "I'm thrilled as a League of Ireland fan to see it happen but (only slightly) gutted as a Bohemians fan to see it happen to our greatest rivals. And I should also point out that over the last decade or so the results of League of Ireland teams in Europe improved significantly to the point where Rovers got a decent draw this season. So well done to the likes of Bohemians, Drogheda United, Shelbourne, Cork City and Derry City for helping Rovers get over the line."
Mancini says he tried to sign Nasri five years ago when he was at Inter. Silva, Aguerro and Nasri: it's a slinky front three and no mistake. And then there's Tevez, Dzeko, Balotelli, Yaya Touré, Johnson, Milner. Blackburn have their work cut out if they're to win the Champions League before that lot ...
Samir Nasri is speaking at Manchester City and after talking of how pleased he is to be there etc and so on, he address those reports about him slagging off Arsenal fans. "You got that wrong," he tells the hackery. "I never said Arsenal fans lack passion. I just said Manchester City fans are passionate .. and, like Cesc, I said that there is a difference between Highbury and the Emirates."
We've already seen Pat Sullivan's stunner in Shamrock Rovers' historic victory last night, now thank my colleague John Ashdown for sending the link to this gem for PSV: a sumptuous finish, and just reward for Jeremain Lens for staying on his feet.
Owen Coyle has confirmed that Arsenal did indeed make a bid for Gary Cahill but Bolton rejected it on the grounds that it was "way below our valuation" of the player.
What happened when will-o'-the wisp Scottish winger-turned-DJ-for-hire Pat Nevin met Fiver scribe Jacob Steinberg? The answer to that question and several even more ludicrous ones can be found here.
"I'm a Stoke City fan living in Bucharest," boasts Steve Clowes. "The Europa draw involves four groups of ten. I'm praying for my team to be drawn against a Romanian team. Rapid Bucharest is out as they've been put in the same pot as Stoke. That leaves FC Vaslui and Steaua. Steaua's colourful owner has assured fans that they will make the final in their home city. In the last round they played their home game in Cluj. I'm not sure where they will play their home games in this group stage. Can you shed any light on this matter?" The good people of Uefa tell me that Steaua will play their group games at the national Stadium in Bucharest. I also asked if they could arrange for Stoke to be sent there just for you, but the line went curiously dead straight after that ...
Thanks to mike65ie for posting this below, Pat Sullivan's stonking equaliser for Shamrock Rovers in Belgrade last night.
I've been told a precedent has been set whereby the drone in charge of this blog posts his/her Premier League predictions early doors. So here are mine, upon which I shall be placing no money.
Aston Villa 1-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wigan Athletic 2-0 QPR
Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Everton
Chelsea 1-0 Norwich City
Swansea City 1-1 Sunderland
Liverpool 2-1 Bolton Wanderers
Newcastle United 0-0 Fulham
Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Manchester City
West Brom 1-1 Stoke City
Manchester United 2-2 Arsenal
9.38pm: Any optimistic Norwich City fans had brought centreback Daniel Ayala into their team just in time for tomorrow's trip to Stamford Bridge should know that the club has just announced that he is out for two months following a knee injury.
9.36pm: "5pm today is the final deadline for the 'agreed' takeover of Plymouth Argyle: If that is not met, it is likely that the club will be liquidated," reminds Marc Woodward ominously.
9:27am: "Do we know if there is any truth to the 'Arsenal bid £6 million for Cahill' stories?" wonders Peter Thorn, . "It sounds depressingly Wengeresque for this Arsenal fan, but the tabloids are not exactly huge Wenger fans anyway. Chances of three new signings before deadline day? Very, very slim indeed." I don't know how much truth is in that but you can be sure Wenger will be asked about it today at his 12:30pm press conference and you'll learn of his reply right here, right then. But you're right about the reported fee: Wenger seems to have a habit of making bids that have little chance of being accepted.There's something charmingly quixotic about his insistence that the football market will eventually come around to his way of thinking, no? Mind you, he has just bid over £20m for Yann M'vila.
9:16pm: It's a Friday I'm in work, as the title to The Cure's famous hit wisely didn't go. Still, there is cause for cheer, for today we will bring you word from:
- Press conferences, including Samir Nasri's unveiling at Manchester City around 10am. Before that Alan Pardew and Sir Alex Ferguson will be holding their weekly addres and a short time after that Harry Redknapp will tell us the state of the Tottenham nation - and perhaps also elaborate on the comment he made after last night's match against Hearts, when he declared that Manchester City have "the best squad in the world, better even than Barcelona's." At around 11am David Moyes will convene with the hackery to tell us all about Everton's new signigns. What? oh.
- The Europa League draw, featuring not only the aforementioned Tottenham but also Fulham, Birmingham and the seemingly unstoppable Stoke. And no Scottish teams. And ONE IRISH TEAM - so hats off to Shamrock Rovers, valiant conquerors of Partizan Belgrade last night.
- Other stuff. Feel free to help set the agenda.
Good morning and welcome to our new weekly live football blog. We'll keep you up to date with all the latest fixture news ahead of this weekend's action, as well as breaking news and updates from the Premier League teams ahead of another round of matches. .
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/aug/26/football-live-blog-26-august
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