A while ago Celtic and Rangers released a joint album of players' favourite songs, and those that remember the compilation including Frank Sinclair and Matt Jansen singing will barely forget it. Now comes Chelsea Players Top 20, out tomorrow and supposedly the start of a series. So, who are the new Simply Reds?

Kelis - Milkshake (Shaun Wright-Phillips)
Luther Vandross - So Amazing (John Terry)
Stone Roses - Fools Gold (Ricardo Carvalho)
Jay Z - Hard Knock Life (Michael Essien)
Mylo - In My Arms (Paulo Ferreria)
Spandau Ballet - Gold (Joe Cole)
Marvin Gaye - Lets Get it On (Robert Huth)
Usher - You Make Me Wanna (Lenny Pidgley)
KC & Jo Jo - All My Life (Eidur Gudjohnsen)
Groove Armada - I See You Baby (Carlo Cudicini)
Aailyah - Back & Forth (Didier Drogba)
R Kelly - I Believe I Can Fly (Petr Cech)
Lionel Richie - Stuck On You (Frank Lampard)
Christy Moore - Joxter Goes To Stuttgart (Damien Duff)
Jamiroquai - Seven Days in Sunny June (Hernan Crespo)
Kings Of Leon - California Waiting (Asier Del Horno)
Toni Braxton - You’re Makin’ Me High (Geremi)
Blu Cantrell - Breathe (Lassana Diarra)
Europe - The Final Countdown (Arjen Robben)
Bryan Adams - Run To You (Jose Mourinho)

So, what can we learn? Well, that English players still have a lot to learn from some of our European imports; that some musical fashions never change and the commercial end of R&B is now as ingrained as Phil Collins once was; and that we're never going round Arjen's for the night.
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Great comedy action shots of our time


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Frank Lampard broke the Premiership record for consecutive appearances today. The last game he missed was on September 30th 2001 at Fulham, and
Here's why. Whatever did become of Slavisa Jokanovic?

A slightly more feted foreigner is Juninho, who's been assessing what he learned in Europe now he's back in Brazil.
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Clearly the complaints about shifting fixture days due to TV requirements and the like don't apply in the same way in Zimbabwe, where two clubs are demanding to play on a certain day every week, both for religious reasons but not citing the same day. One, Amazulu, who we have to assume don't play in brightly coloured hemmed tops and run out to Too Good To Be Forgotten after all, have been thrown out of the league for refusing to play on Saturdays, a stance that won't see many migrating Man Utd fans turning up to support them.
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That'll stop football violence in its tracks - the Swiss boycott kebabs in protest over Turkey's post-match fight
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A reason finally found to watch the BBC's Score
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Because everyone hates Murdoch to the extent that they won't purchase or watch Sky Sports - right - the news that Sky's monopoly of Premiership rights is no more has been a cause for enjoyment in some areas. Well, maybe for these eighteen months. As it is, Sky with their billions to throw about will probably pick up five of the six seperate packages, or 115 games, with the rest quite possibly heading to a cable provider that will be out of reach for most - Setanta are known to be lining up a big bid, NTL have shown interest and we doubt the other national range cable providers wouldn't mind - or indeed a specialist broadband service. Will this really be in the public interest? (Or worse, ITV or Five.) Do football trustees remember ITV Digital well enough?

Also, what form will these packages take? Last time the rights were up for auction it was for four packages of differing sizes and grades, but the EC have been satisfied that these six will be of equal standing, presumably meaning the three biggest fixtures will be spread across them and after that it's hobson's choice with the smaller clubs - hey! - potentially right down the pecking order. To be fair worse has been predicted in the past, but the football broadcasting landscape can be so sudden in its modus operandi that maybe we shouldn't be too optimistic of a fairer deal.
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Alpay being responsible for a fight in the tunnel after a major qualifier? You'd think he'd have learnt by now.
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Croatian finds God, renounces foul play. We've got some literature somewhere from the UK Christians In Sport organisation and their leading footballing advocate - this is a few years old, mind - was Gavin Peacock, so it's not easy to see anyone that might disprove this theory unless you know better. We're not so sure how well his confession that he could have saved his team from losing crucial games had he still been a hard man will go down, but it's one for Rio Ferdinand to think about.
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Nothing before now has us more welcoming to the prospect of Sam Allardyce possibly becoming England manager than Paul Ince reckoning Glenn Hoddle should be given another go. Yes, the same Glenn Hoddle who's barely managing Wolves at the moment. Difficult to know where to start in critiquing these Ince quotes - how about the blase statement that "if Becks hadn't got sent off or Sol's goal had stood and we’d won (against Argentina, obviously), he’d probably still be England manager now", somehow imagining Campbell's goal being disallowed was in any way seen as controversial at the time. Indeed had England won that second round game "I felt we'd have gone on to win the World Cup", being as they would only have faced a relatively rampant Holland in the quarter-finals, Brazil in the semis and France in the final. Hoddle's real world credentials are apparently "He's made a comment and ended up getting sacked for that. Sven can go and do all his misdemeanours and still be in the job", which somehow assumes the Ulrika and Faria affairs actually offended England fans as badly as a direct criticism of all disabled people would rather than acted as a sideshow. Does Ince really think nobody has any memory of the wording of that Times interview?

Also, where's the idea that Sven's replacement should be part-time come from? Peter Taylor resigned his position as England coach in 2001 because he felt it was getting in the way of his club duties - assuming the next England manager is obliged to be offered a similar package to Eriksson's current salary, how would people feel if they then decided that if it was alright by them he'd prefer to carry on with his club duties too?
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And a big welcome back for tiny top-down play as the Sensible Soccer franchise gears up for a return
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How angry can someone genuinely get about being overlooked for a Manager Of The Month award? Maybe Boston will lose their next three games out of sympathy.
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