And inevitably, here come the silly bets - 50-1 Merseyside Cup final, fair enough, but isn't it a bit unfair to compare it with the novelty bets?
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Alan Birchenall MBE! No, really! Alan Birchenall MBE!
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Special message for anyone who made their way here from our mention in TV Cream Creamguide's Review of the year:

Well, nice of them, clearly, but we'd also recommend you look at It's Up For Grabs Now, being relaunched in the new year - honest - and every one of you must also subscribe to football on TV at-a-glance guide Armchair Football, because without that this wouldn't be here, and also we're increasingly pissed off that no-one's joining the list
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Taribo West for Barry Town - one we suspect we'll be filing under 'Asprilla/Darlington' next week
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Toast the new year with Crazy Horse - but always remember that if you're using bottles and metal caps, then a crown capper is also necessary
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From www.nufc.com:

Breaking news of Laurent Robert storming into the press room to remonstrate with The Chronicle's Alan Oliver over recent articles written in the paper.

Robert strode into the press room in full kit (minus shirt) and confronted Oliver. Although the winger was prevented from landing a firm blow on the scribe by birthday boys Lomana LuaLua and Kieron Dyer, the journalist's face was marked and he lost the cup of tea he was holding at the time. We think Robert took aim but was off-target.... Typical.

Apparently the main article that Robert took exception to was written by John Gibson but the Frenchman was also upset at the 3/10 given to him by Oliver for the performance at Bolton.

Olly is happy to let the matter lie and shake hands with the player and has no intention of making a formal complaint. The Chairman, Freddy Shepherd who is out of the country, has been informed and Robert is likely to be reprimanded by the club for what can best be described as a lack of professionalism.

We await Olly's merit marks for the Frenchman with interest....

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Rotherham special, part 2 - look for the reason why a Rotherham goal when 3-0 down was ruled out. Was a cricket umpire refereeing?
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Rotherham penalty spots dug up, from the file marked 'er, why?'
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Can we not pass a law against piss-poor year ahead pieces, especially ones with three jokes endlessly rewritten, as here?
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Steven Wells, please fuck off - and Guardian, sling your endless smug bouts of oneupmanship over that still unfunny alleged American reaction to the World Cup success, here clearly added by a sub-ed who has the order to cram it in wherever possible on his wall (just under 'make reference to David Brent at all times'), out with him
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"He cleaned Beckham's boots - now he's a postman!" Yeah, er, Neil Webb did a few other things in football too
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Hold on, when did the BBC allow Mellor to become voice of the fans again? We like how Mellor suggests Bosnich should be sacked not because of his drugs test results but because of how much he earns - kind of the Jimmy Hill approach
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BBCi briefly prove that Venables is the miracle worker everyone says he is:


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Italy v South Korea referee to make arse of self on Italian TV - 'Stupido Hotel'? Noel Edmonds' influence continues to spread
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Happy Christmas to all our readers. You've all done very well.

Elsewhere, ah, that's what happened to Lee Bradbury, is it? Not the biggest comedown from recent goalscoring infamy, of course - we read yesterday that Guy Whittingham is now at Newport (IoW)
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Man Utd players aren't allowed to drive Ferraris due to their legs/the pedals arrangement, so that's Kieron's dream move out
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Some people just don't appreciate their place in history. Wayne Hatswell, for instance
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Diego Simeone takes against asereje, ja de, je de jebe, tu de jebere seibiunouva, majavi an de bugui an de buididipi
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Richard Wright plans his family around football - "given a yellow card", needless to say
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Yes, yes, but what were Celtic doing in Newcastle anyway?
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Do they have to find the sex in everything? - and why don't German players train as normal over the break?
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"Ray Stubbs was raised amongst a background of music"
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OK, so we keep neglecting the blog. So sue us. Anyway...

1988 World Cup? It'd be FIFA getting stressed thinking they'd missed something if that was the case
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Someone's just mailed the Football Quotes page to correct a quote - they said it, but I'd attributed it to someone else. Nice of him.
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Arsenal keeper playing in Belgium attacks fan, so he's learning from the examples of his team-mates even though he's playing nowhere near them
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No wonder Dudek had difficulty if he had to pass the ball naturally as well as saving it:


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Bloody hell, have you seen Muzzy Izzet's goal from yesterday?
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