At the moment Defoe is the top striker in England (statistically that is , but I would swap him for Henry).
If you like this sort of thing this may be of intererest (it’s by Ian Ridley chairman of Weymouth about their season, and features the match you mention), from Sunday’s Observer.
Well so much for my slim hope>>>>>
Manchester United and Arsenal have been drawn to face each other in the FA Cup semi-finals.
Sunderland will face either Tranmere or Millwall in the other semi-final, with ties to be played on Sunday 4 April.
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson pitted the country’s two footballing powerhouses against each other when he made the draw at FA headquarters.
The draw also means that there may be a Nationwide team competing in Europe next season.
Arsenal and Manchester United will now face each other on consecutive weekends, with the pair due to play in the Premiership on 28 March. >>>>>>
I have also read that the Filth will NOT be presented with the Championship if they win it at White Hart Lane on the day. Worries about possible violence apparently. More of a racing certainty I would have thought.
Does anyone know if this is true:
I have been told that UEFA have a rule that only top division clubs can play in the UEFA cup - ie Sunderland/TRanmere/Milwall wouldn’t get the place no matter what.
Is this true? I am quite looking forward to Milwall in Europe (especially against the turks).
not as far as i can tell. looks to me like they’ve got confused by this line on the website (bolding mine):
I’ve just spent half hour reading the official rules and regs for the competition, and there is nothing in it about the ineligibility of non top-division clubs.
I did find out that its UEFA who pays for the winner’s name to be engraved on the cup though, not the club itself 
…Oldham’s new manager is set to be named tomorrow. Clear favourite is Brian Talbot, formerly of Rushden & Diamonds, who resigned from them yesterday. The Supporters’ Trust has now purchased a 3% shareholding in the club and arranged for a director to sit on the board of the new company, Oldham Athletic Association Football Club (2004) Ltd.
L_C,
The UEFA Cup draw is snooker/wimbledon-like with Celtic being 20/1 to complete a fairly improbable series of victories to win it.
The Champs League draw will have no restrictions on teams from the same country playing each other. It will also be like the snooker.
i thought it was a bit odd, however nothing that comes out of Zurich suprises me. Not even cuckoo clocks.
I’m pretty sure that a few years ago a non premier league (maybe even a non old First Division) team wouldn’t qualify for the UEFA Cup if they won the League/Milk/Worthington/Poundland Cup…
Has anyone started a rumour about Ferguson going to Chelsea yet? Kenyon’s there, the money is almost unlimited, the Anti-Father Christmas has gone, the Paddies are closing in at MU…
Meanwhile… back at a perrenial mid-table club in North London, one of the World’s Greatest Football Managers is sworn to secrecy as he prepares to take over the reins this summer.
Haven’t heard much fom Lennie Lawrence recently…
They’re giving Christian Gross another shot at the job then.
You may have seen our next manager last night. He was running up and down the touchline having just beaten Taggart and Surrey Utd. At least that’s where the smart money is.
However if he wins the European cup he may find other opportunities opening up I suspect.
Maybe it will stop Clive bloody Tilldsley going on and on about last minute winners.
How about Sven to Man Utd in the summer? Looks possible.
In other news: Bloody Dean Bloody Richards. What has happened to him? This time last year he was an outside chance for an England cap, now he’s a liability. And he’s got a face like an arse.
Thanks for the link to that article, Owl. Good stuff !
manwithaplan, I didn’t know that. Don’t think it affects my reluctance to gamble on either competition, though. Still, worth keeping an eye on . . .
On Mourinho:
He and O’Neill are obviously the stand-out candidates, and I’d actually prefer Maurinho on the evidence of what we’ve seen (from last season’s UEFA Cup onwards). Just seems absolutely perfect from Spurs pov, and probably his as well – if he can but see it; both are at just that point when they’re reday for each other . .
On Spurs last night:
Spurs lost the second half last night – just for a change. I sometimes feel we need to be three goals clear going into the break to off-set Pleat getting given a tactical lesson, together with his ill-considered substitutions.
As for Richards, who knows ? Is it the injury that sapping his confidence or has he just lost it entirely . . .
The Linesman?..
(Whatever happened to 'Referee’s Assistant?)
Celtic 1-0 Barcelona 
the quarters
porto v lyon
real madrid v monaco
chelsea v arsenal
milan v deportivo
semifinal draw coming up
semifinal draw
real madrid or monaco v chelsea or arsenal
porto or lyon v milan or deportivo
Well then.
Most likely either a Madrid/Milan final or an Arsenal/Milan final, which Milan will probably win.
How much did we pay for Steve Finnan again? 1-1 at home is a terrible result in the UEFA Cup. Liverpool must now score in Marseille; something they rarely do against a team sitting back except with a great amount of huffing and puffing.
Celtic well placed; don’t get complacent at the Nou Camp!
Here’s a tricky one:- Would you rather lose 4-3 in a “goalfest” edge of your seat game or win 1-0 with an 86th minute own goal. I’m not sure.
Our next game is against Man Utd with a point to prove. we need to be at least 4-0 up at half time to stand a chance.
THings are desperate at Liverpool, the UEFA cup is looking unlikely (only 5th will do). Will Houllier see out the season? Any thoughts Mr Meat?
And what about the cricket eh?
Over the past decade, I have become used to LFC having thoroughly frustrating patches of atrocious form entailing draws and losses to mediocre teams. They used to be, say, a month at November and a few crucial defeats in spring, which left us just too far off the lead to make a title run-in realistic.
Now those patches last entire seasons.
What the hell happened to the team which finished second two years ago? The personnel are almost identical. If anything, Steven Gerrard is an even better player.
If there is one who represents Liverpool’s fall, it is surely Michael Owen. Where once he could steal games, he has become a liability: arguably losing games we might otherwise have won without him. I believe his penalty success is amongst the lowest of any regular top-flight taker ever, and his transfer valuation has plummeted. If he has a storming Eur04, and a big foreign club throws £25M in, I believe it might be too tempting to ignore - like Robbie Fowler, selling at great profit before a permanent dip in effectiveness might prove sound business.
Houllier will indeed see out the season, and should it become clear that the season will be an utter failure I believe he will be man enough to advise on a successor and resign/retire/move upstairs. However, it is becoming more and more difficult to believe that he will ever have Wenger-esque success.
Believe me Mr Meat, it doesn’t take long to turn a good team into a mediocre one and then into a crap one. I’ve seen it first hand (although we never had the level of sucess that LFC had).
I think there are a couple of things wrong at LFC, from an outsider’s point of view.
Firstly you’ve got a squad full of foreign crap. If you add up what you paid for all these non-entities you could have bought some decent players. As I have said “Pongolle?- you’re having a laugh”. Get rid of the lot of 'em, on frees if necessary. What’s your youth situation like, they can’t be worse?
Secondly; you’ve stuck with Houllier too long by far. The next managerial appointment is absolutely crucial for you, but given what Houllier has left behind it’s not that attractive a job anymore. Also Newcastle, Chelsea, England and possibly even Man Utd will be in competition for the best talent (and a small club in N London) plus other national teams. You should have got O’Neil at the beginning of this season.
As For Owen; take the cash. He’s bound to leave eventually, so make sure you get full value, don’t have a Campbell situation on your hands.
And I’ve said before that an in form, injury-free core of Kirkland, Hyypia, Henchoz, Finnan, Riise, Kewell, Hamman, Gerrard and Owen is no “crap” at all, with a nice home/foreign balance. But yes, those two further places (supporting striker and right midfield) are a problem, and it is where £21M has been squandered on Heskey and Diouf. It looks like Emile is on his way, replaced by Djibbril Cisse for £13M in summer, and so it is to be hoped that Diouf comes good, and soon.
As for the “Pongolle et al”, well, the only reason you have seen these guys this season is because of so many injuries, and I would offer that they are not spectacularly more expensive than other squad players elsewhere. (Incidentally, they are the promising youth: Pongolle and Le Tallec were signed from Le Havre as 16-year olds for about £1.3M each).
I also understand your antiHoulliarity, but you must understand the Scouse mindset; loyalty above all. The manager embodies the club, and to criticise him publicly is Not The Liverpool Way. That said, I agree that he is googling his eyes at the sack.