It's Up For Grabs Now

2007-01-09T12:55:00.000Z

It's Up For Grabs Now is dead. We're over here

2006-11-24T17:40:00.000Z

Very early in the new year. Promise.

2006-05-29T12:34:00.000Z

We had to do it, didn't we - Finals Fantasy, our World Cup blog, is now open.

2006-05-22T21:27:00.000Z

Armchair Football subscribers: you've not missed the season review, we had problems over the weekend so will be sending it alongside this Thursday's normal mailout.

2006-05-22T16:45:00.000Z

Presumably because he might as well, St Etienne's Bob Stanley (the music St Etienne, yes) is hosting a season of football documentaries at the Barbican in London over three days in June. Excellent stuff it looks too, with 5th June featuring The Saturday Men (West Brom, 1963) and the Brian Clough Calendar Special in which Austin Mitchell hosts a right Cloughie tear-up with Don Revie after his departure from Leeds; on 6th June the extraordinary Leyton Orient - Yours For A Fiver ("I can hear a man in there with a voice like mine Monday!") and John Boorman's 1964 Swindon study Six Days to Saturday; and on 7th June the North Korea 1966 documentary The Game of Their Lives and a 1964 ITV World In Action on Stanley Matthews.

2006-05-15T16:53:00.000Z

Of course the subject wasn't to know, as she's Swedish, but is it really wise to kick off on a plane with Danny Mills in close attention?

2006-05-13T13:01:00.000Z

The FA Cup Final on the BBC - as it happened

13:00 A very old style introduction with clips of final goals from previous years, cutting off at Ray Parlour's, before Gary joins us outside Wembley. We see, and as further illustration we get revoiced footage of the Wembley-opening West Ham 1923 final victory. Turns out Lineker was at the Millennium Stadium all along. Who knew? The usual selection of clips from Liverpool and West Ham final wins follows before Gary introduces his first guests. Usually they're people who won't be coming back to the TV studio later, which was what many would hope of Mark Lawrenson and Ian Wright, still looking out of the window at every opportunity. "We used to come on at about nine o'clock in the morning" Gary laughs, having introduced them as people with "an obvious connection" to the two clubs. Ian Wright at West Ham? Oh, first club you connect him with. They debate the day and the chances, Wright revealing that Pardew would "put lemon in his hair", shrugging off a horrible shake on the two-shot camera, among shots from outside - "some of them think Rafa Benitez is Mexican!"

13:08 Ah, there's some sort of Road To The Millennium Stadium this year, is there? No, it's following Chasetown during and after their near-shock against Oldham in the first round, finishing with a useless Alan Sugar cameo. Back in the studio Gary points out that Ian is sitting right in front of the BBC ovular logo and it looks like "probably the least deserved halo". The teams have already arrived, which ruins a lot of the traditional build-up for us, Gary pointing out Pardew's "pink number, the sort of thing you would wear, Wrighty".

13:15 "Some of this season's unforgettable FA Cup moments" sounds ominous, but in fact it's a Match Of The Day 2-styled, Chiles-voiced Top Ten, unfortunately played dead straight for the most part. Someone with slightly better West Ham connections, Sir Trevor Brooking, replaces Wright in the studio, wearing an FA Cup pin badge and dismissing the reaction to his headed goal as "a bit of fun". Gary points out he's not got the club tie on, Trevor reassuring us that he has badges and ribbons on his bag. Well, that's a lot of help. He also assures that neither he nor Brian Barwick will celebrate goals, which is begging for a cutaway shot or hundred.

13:26 Garth interviews Ricardo Villa, seemingly because he can.

13:34 That seemed a long time. John Motson reports from pitchside, pointing out that not only did the two meet in the 1981 League Cup final but Alan Hansen scored the winner. Gary still asks for a "stat of the day", the best he can immediately come up with being that West Ham's chairman's family were in the crowd for the 1923 final. Jimmy Tarbuck turns up in the studio, surely his first final visit since ITV abandoned his matchday bar, to talk about Bill Shankly and call Gerard Houllier an "autocrat". Brilliantly, he mentions the 1987 pre-game celebrity match (against Sir David's Tottenham Frostspurs, lest we forget).

13:42 Here's fun as attempts are made to link West Ham to their surroundings with the aid of Ray Winstone, Billy Bragg (taped at a recent gig at Barking, and who seems to have Winstone commenting on his interview), Billy Bonds, Alan Taylor, Paul Allen and Edward Hellaby ('West Ham fan since 1915') talking about Billie The White Horse again. Nobody seems to know how come they sing I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles, which seems right somehow.

13:53 As we get the first banners of the final Phill Jupitus shows up, his punditry predictive skills being about as good as expected. His badinage with Tarby is curtailed by a shot of Chris Evans being denied access without a ticket and wanly explaining "I left it on my helicopter". Should he not have some sort of BBC universal pass?

13:58 Gary's "great result for Grimsby there" can't help sounding patronising given the circumstances it's being broadcast from, but there you go. Adrian finishes off his round-up before Gary introduces the day's panel, "a bunch of has-beens now Shearer's retired" - he's between Hansen and Wright as the independent option.

14:08 Adrian's back to tell us about how we can rate the players during the game. Well, that's not going to be helpful. Mark Bright gets to chat to Nigel Reo-Coker in a well appointed home, not his own, with introductory Walt Whitman poetry, which seems to be putting a touch too much levity on things, even if he does talk up Sun Tzu's The Art of War and reveal he accidentally swore at Sven. Everyone wants a great game. Yeah, they always say that.

14:18 "Rafa the gaffer" talks to Steve Wilson, after which Hansen assesses "the dark days are over", which leads to some chat about Peter Crouch.

14:27 It took them this long to mention the 1990 semi-final? Jonathan Pearce bases his Pardew chat at a pavement cafe and we get to see his suit measurement, a televisual entertainment that we thought had died out with the cup final single. Gary mentions his "heavyweight questions" afterwards. Of course we get the goal again as "it's always worth seeing a goal that Hansen's at fault for", Hansen blaming "zonal defence". Shearer makes a very strange noise, like a high pitched 'yippee', in amusement.

14:37 Steven Gerrard's turn to talk to Ivan Gaskell, referring to the white suits and seemingly claiming he needs to make sure "the microphones are at a consistent level" in his captaincy role. Gary asks Ian if he's "the sort of player you'd want your son to play alongside". He doesn't bite, luckily.

14:44 To the commentators, and as commentators get their own cutaway these days it allows us to speculate on who the unidentified woman in a headset next to them is. Abide With Me is delivered competitively by Lesley Garrett and a woman in a small top, backed, apparently, by "the Royal Band of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers", slightly ruined when a big fan close-up shot moves wildly just as the director cuts to it. Michael Ball, Prince William, etc etc etc. "He's big enough to play centre back, isn't he?" is Lawrenson's verdict on the royal guest of honour while Motson drifts into Brian Barwick's collection of antique Liverpool programmes before adding a hasty "don't try and burgle his house, by the way". Ohhhh?

15:00 "We're not going to see Roberto Di Matteo's record broken this year" Motson concedes fifty seconds in, as he probably will every year. Lawro claims Crouch is nicknamed "coathanger" without expanding while Motson attempts to make a rhyme out of "lecture for Fletcher" before both fail to think of punchline when Lawro mentions Cisse's different coloured boots. Fair to say there's not a great deal happening until...

15:20 "It's an own goal! It's an own goal!" Yeah, alright. Carragher puts it in with his standing foot and West Ham are one up. We're still wondering whether Lawro's "there I was thinking Scaloni might be the weakest link" is supposed to be a joke.

15:26 OK, we've seen it now.

15:27 "Fumble by Reina and has Dean Ashton got it? Yes he has!" You can't help thinking Liverpool are bringing this upon themselves...

15:32 ...but that from Cisse was brought about by themselves, everyone seemingly surprised despite it having been on the cards since the second goal, particularly a tight call on Peter Crouch. "They'll need a ruler in the studio at half time on those two decisions" Motson ponders, perhaps not aware of graphics developments, eventually working out that Cisse is comfortably onside from a slo-mo.

15:47 As we hear Motson put his mike down Gary concedes "we've been crying out for a great cup final, and we might just have one". Hansen thinks similarly but Wright is more circumspect, conceding "it must be great, if you're a neutral".

15:51 How did it take this long for anyone to refer to last season's Champions League final? Shearer finally wakes up, declaring "there's no such thing as nearly onside, Alan, you're either offside or you're not". That must be a private thing.

15:55 Just time to announce April Goal Of The Month, and "the winner was Alan Shearer's old mate Craig Bellamy". In case we didn't get it Gary back-announced with the message "Alan's just sending him a text to congratulate". Luckily Shearer can be heard joining in the laughs. Gary then goes through the user ratings but runs out of impetus halfway through the explanation - "text 81010... you can read the rest for yourself."

16:03 Full marks to Motson for spotting Kewell's injury, no marks to Lawro for thinking aloud "we all know what happened the last time he went off in a final" and Motson elucidating for the hard of thinking.

16:12 "Gerrarrrrrd! It's 2-2!" Motson does make a habit of elongating his surname, doesn't he? Lawrenson is surprised as "Liverpool messed the freak, er, free kick up a little". Well, Crouch did help set it up. Motson points out that "Steven Gerrard has scored in his last five cup finals. I have to be honest and say one of them was an own goal..." Well, yes.

16:22 "Ashton's in the centre, so is Harew...oh, it's gone straight in! Would you believe it?" Even Pardew seems stunned into silence. And, wouldn't you have guessed, "Liverpool know all about making it 3-3..." It's like Tyldesley around here.

16:25 "John? Alonso's signalling to the bench." They're certainly earning their keep in the box, although as Motson claims Crouch departing by predicted by "our reporter" it does raise a few questions. They're enjoying it nonetheless, Lawro enthusing "I want extra time here, I don't want this to end."

16:40 It's time for Motson to start asking the difficult questions. "Now, would you have taken Crouch off?" Lawro somewhat ruins the moment by beginning his response "yes, I think I would". As Motson starts worrying about Steven Gerrard's fitness the other end of the natural stamina scale gets ready, and again with the Tyldesley refracting, or possibly Pearce, as Motson thinks "it's ready, steady Teddy", a few minutes later seemingly genuinely shocked - "Oh! His first touch is handball!" Motson reckons "It's one of the best cup finals I've been involved in", although surely his involvement is relatively decorative. Notably he deems it "very sporting of Scaloni to put the ball back there", to which Lawro points out that "of course Liverpool have to get the ball back". Well, surely that won't matter now.

16:48 "Oh, it's four minut...GERRARD!" So much for that injury. Motson immediately labels it "surely the best cup final of modern times" and then ruins it by calling it "like Istanbul all over again". We've got that particular picture now.

16:52 "West Ham must feel the cup has been stolen from their lips" is Motson's curious verdict, presumably thinking of those photos of players sipping champagne/milk from the trophy, as we go "into over...into extra time". Reckoning rightly that "you and I have probably deserved a break" he hands back to the studio, where Gary admits "we were going to have a Goal Of The Season competition later, but I think we'll have to scrap it". Hansen is effusive, calling it "one of the great games I've ever seen" topped when Gerrard "hit one from about 75 yards". Shearer claims "someone needs to get hold of my legs, I've got cramp watching it" while Wright reckons "they should make a film out of it". Steady on. There's the usual self-referencing - "Ian, can you remember the last time a replay finished 3-3?" "There's not many who score two in a final like that".

16:57 Motson's full of the smaller details today, spotting two coin tosses at the start of extra time, one for penalties, and claiming "I know a man who had a bet on West Ham before the third round at 40-1". Not Ricky George, was it? Lawro has upgraded his opinion to "the best Cup final I've ever witnessed", Motson sticking with "the best since the 50s" as we enter what Lawro calls "regulation time". He's found his favourite, claiming "the more I see of Benayoun the more I think of Devonshire" "Interesting comparison, Mark..." is all Motson can say.

17:14 While everyone keeps a tally on numbers down some amusement is gleaned from the big bandage around Cisse's leg, firstly how it doesn't go with his day-glo boots and secondly when the physio claims it's merely cramp. "It's like a battlefield there" Lawro overstates, Motson wondering if with Harewood unable to stand and many others feeling their legs giving way under them "we'll have to send Alan Shearer down to take one". Bit late to put him on the team sheet now. Motson briefly wonders at a West Ham free kick "you don't think Sheringham will...", to which Lawro ascertains "if he does I'll throw myself off the balcony". He doesn't.

17:29 "Someone's missed it - it's hit the post... I don't believe Harewood put that wide" Motson screams before Lawro reminds him that he'd written his fitness off himself, which Motty admits on the replay. "Off the post, how close can you come to winning the cup?" he wonders, which is a moot point, before finally after 119 minutes pulling out the worldwide audience gambit. Name some station that are showing it, then.

17:32 The managers "need to get the pen and paper out" as, as Gary inevitably puts it, "3-3 and a penalty shoot out. Where have we heard that before?" Ian goes oddly Carribbean accented, demanding "look at Shaka, man! He's ready for this, man!", before Alan offers an almost wan "good luck, boys". As Gary quips, "You wait 124 years for one and then two come together..."

17:37 "Now the scene switches, or stays, here in Cardiff" Motson declares, and after two saves Sheringham appears to be the fastest man on the pitch when celebrating. "Alan Wiley's writing the score down on a red card, would you believe" says the ever, um, alert Motson.

17:40 "Oh, it's a poor penalty! It's a poor penalty!"

17:41 "If he doesn't score from this Liverpool have won the cup... They have won the cup!"

17:42 As Anton Ferdinand produces the image by collapsing to the floor and requiring three people to pick him up, Garth gives it the traditional overquestioning to Gerrard, who inevitably declares it "a dream day". Ivan Gaskell meanwhile makes for Reo-Coker, although attention is diverted by the officials hugging right behind him. All that's left is for Gary and the team to attempt to whisk through the entire game in two minutes flat and introduce a closing montage set to - but of course! - Hoppipolla of Cardiff's Cup final tradition, and we can all start getting our breath back.

2006-05-10T17:26:00.000Z

FIFA have released the slogans that will be on the sides of the team buses during the World Cup, as voted for on their website. Some of them, you'll be surprised to learn, are deeply questionable:

Argentina - "Get up, Argentina are on the move"
Hint: don't put "get up" in the slogan for a South American country. "Go to ground", possibly

Costa Rica - "Our army is the team, our weapon is the ball. Let's go to Germany and give it our all"
Not that football should be officially connected with violence

France – "Liberté, egalité, Jules Rimet"
Dreams of pre-1970 football rather than friendship? Sounds about right

Germany - "We are football"
No you aren't

Korea Republic - "Never-ending legend, united Korea"
Although the North being a seperate international entity that didn't qualify spoils that image a bit

Spain – "Spain. One country, one goal"
That's our money off Raul or David Villa as Golden Boot winner

Switzerland – "2006, it's Swiss o'clock"
We hope to god this is knowing irony

Ukraine – "With our support, Ukraine cannot fail to win!"
Is that legally binding?

2006-05-08T19:29:00.000Z

Fair to say we were wrong, then.

Well, 18 out of 23 wrong. Ledley King, who had a similar injury to Rooney's but appears to have spent two weeks longer on crutches, is out and Phil Neville's form dipped, but otherwise it's the obvious three of Wright-Phillips, Defoe and Bent, at least two of whom Eriksson is on the record as stating he would like to see at the World Cup, we got wrong as the man who a lot of people criticised for having no invention in his teams seems to have discovered a live and let die streak while picking a squad for a tournament that most agree is England's best chance of silverware in years, the time when one might expect a little prudence.

Of the five we missed you can at least see the logic of the defensively minded two, Owen Hargreaves - who must have something going for him given he's a regular for Bayern Munich and by all accounts has been playing very well of late, but appears to be the most hated man in Britain - being able to fill in at the back, although Jermaine Jenas for King is a brave one unless Sven has absolute faith in his central defensive options. Then we get to the two uncapped players and the one whose international experience comes to 29 minutes fifteen months ago. Even if he hadn't had every single paper behind his claims on Sunday Nigel Reo-Coker seemed closer to international recognition than Aaron Lennon, surely Shaun Wright-Phillips, for all his lack of consistent play, is a more worrying option for opposing full backs than the onepaced Downing and... well, we can see the value in having opposing teams scared by the fact that just because Rooney and/or Owen is/are out doesn't mean England can't put forward a scarily quick teenager, but it's odd to think that Arsene Wenger might well have convinced Eriksson to put him in the squad when he can't convince himself to put him in Arsenal's first team. He's only ever played three times for their reserves, albeit scoring twice and going off injured after 17 minutes in the third. The idea has germinated with many that Sven might change to 4-5-1, but one international innovation at a time, and anyway Crouch surely cannot play up front on his own, as Benitez eventually realised.

At least there's a perceived dearth in good international defenders these days, eh?

2006-05-02T20:59:00.000Z

We've been meaning to make semi-serious comment on here for a few days but various other things have beaten us. Perhaps tomorrow. In the meantime, what the hell are these?

2006-04-30T22:42:00.000Z

There's a shock awaiting for Ghana, who are planning a World Cup warm-up in England against Jamaica. They can't get a London ground because none of them are prepared so soon after the end of the domestic season, so they've moved it to Leicester - according to AllAfrica.com, however, they can't get the Walkers Stadium, but "Filbert Street, the old football ground for Leicester Football Club was only secured because the rugby team also uses the ground and the rugby league has just begun." Which is interesting, given Filbert Street is now student flats, there isn't a rugby league club in the city and the nearby Welford Road rugby union ground is in the closing stages of its season.

2006-04-29T21:44:00.000Z

Forgot this was still up, but can it really be ten years ago to the day?

2006-04-27T16:12:00.000Z

We've sold our birthright down the Amazon to a nation of 180 million favela dwellers and carnival dancers who spend half their lives in scorching heat!

2006-04-24T17:14:00.000Z

Sandy Brown, Jamie Pollock, Wayne Hatswell... welcome to your classic own goal club Bury's Chris Brass

2006-04-18T18:35:00.000Z

True, they don't have the all encompassing nature of yore thanks to assorted rights issues, but Panini's World Cup sticker book is on the way and, ladies and gentlemen - alright, gentlemen alone - we have a World Cup countdown on.

2006-04-16T08:38:00.000Z

There's still 22 days until the final squads for the World Cup have to be announced, let alone the 54 until it actually starts (and by the way, thanks to everyone who expressed an interest in our World Cup blog - we've now got as many people as we need and will get in touch again very soon), and already Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago have named their preliminary squads. An opportune time, then, to revisit the squad we picked for England last October and see how it needs changing...

Robinson, Kirkland, James, Neville G, Young, Cole A, Bridge, Terry, Ferdinand, Campbell, Carragher, King, Lampard, Gerrard, Parker, Beckham, Wright-Phillips, Cole J, Downing, Owen, Rooney, Defoe, Johnson

To get the easy replacements over with first, Chris Kirkland's long-term broken finger injury means he'll lose his place in the pre-match ball throwing to Robert Green, Andy Johnson is scoring again but surely won't impress at high enough a level to force his way past Crouch or Defoe, and our dark horse Scott Parker is out for the season. In defence there's an actual injury crisis brewing as Sol Campbell's return looked assured until he broke his nose but that shouldn't keep him out for the rest of the season - indeed, word is he might be back next weekend - unlike Ashley Cole, who's played about an hour's worth of first team football since October. Arsene Wenger says he'll be ready for the end of the season and Sven looks like giving his first team regulars leeway with regard to injuries, but he has a readymade replacement in Wayne Bridge now he's getting regular games. Both will probably go, which leaves open a potential two places. Jamie Carragher will surely get the nod for one as much for his adaptability as his scintillating form, but Luke Young has injured ankle ligaments, although Alan Curbishley is optimistic. Might Sven go with the trusted utility man Phil Neville (who, oddly for a 52 cap man, has never been in a World Cup finals squad)? Given injuries elsewhere, don't rule it out.

The trouble with naming what we've always had down as seven midfielders is the first four pick themselves and then it's perm any one from a whole host of options. Of the three we picked out one's more than likely out, Stewart Downing hasn't recovered his earlier form after injury yet and Shaun Wright-Phillips is likely to go despite not enough first team chances this season. Who else, then? Most probables - Dawson, Lennon, Nolan, Reo-Coker - won't go simply for lack of experience, which leaves the rapidly becoming highly unpopular Jermaine Jenas, Kieran Richardson who can deputise on the left but doesn't play a lot, Owen Hargreaves who must be of some worth as he's been highly rated for his regular performances in a title-winning side for a few years now but nobody in England trusts in the slightest (clearly Hugo Boss haven't been concentrating) and Michael Carrick, who's most likely to go of these few in case King needs to slip back into defence. As for the other position, if we assume Owen, Rooney, Crouch, Defoe is the first choice strikeforce, might Sven look at the injury situation and gamble on a fifth striker, almost certainly Darren Bent, instead of reinforcing a midfield that as it is can call on two anchors, three wingers and two playmakers? You have to say it's an angle worth pursuing and Eriksson has made noises in the direction of having plenty of attacking options, which would finally makes the squad...

Robinson, James, Green, Neville G, Neville P, Cole A, Bridge, Terry, King, Ferdinand, Campbell, Carragher, Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, Cole J, Wright-Phillips, Carrick, Owen, Rooney, Crouch, Defoe, Bent

And may St George go with them. While we're about it, did this really ever look like a World Cup winning squad in 2002?

Seaman, Martyn, James, Mills, Cole A, Bridge, Ferdinand, Campbell, Brown, Keown, Southgate, Sinclair, Beckham, Scholes, Hargreaves, Cole J, Butt, Dyer, Fowler, Owen, Heskey, Sheringham, Vassell

They say the past is a foreign country, but it does seem like much longer since Keown, Southgate and Fowler were in an England squad - indeed the former won his last cap in a warm-up game and Fowler as a sub in the second round game against Denmark. Gerrard was injured during the warm-up games, Lampard plain not picked despite having already been capped. Still, though, let's recall how against Argentina Hargreaves was replaced through injury by Trevor Sinclair and give thanks for how much stronger the squad has got in the four years since.

2006-04-03T16:50:00.000Z

Is the first Liverpool-Newcastle 4-3 really ten years ago? Can we safely tell our anecdote of deciding the first fifteen minutes were expendable and hence missing three goals now?

Sad to relate, however, that the elderly, flat capped Newcastle fan who turned up in close-up during every live game at St James' Park during those couple of years has long passed on.

2006-04-03T16:11:00.000Z

We're now within ten weeks of the World Cup finals getting underway. No, they probably won't be all that, but it's the anticipation and magnitude that's important. As some of you will know, two summers ago we blogged Euro 2004 under the title Lisbonic Plague, where we analysed every last live TV game from a broadcasting perspective, pointed out the newsworthy absurdities and received displeased messages from one of the people behind that TalkSport-sponsored, Dexys-inspired Come On England record. It's still up, look!

This year we're doing something very similar, as in reviewing every last scrap of live coverage and commenting as we go rather than annoying the musicians on unofficial England anthems. This time we hope to take a more analytical, reactive bent as befits the situation while still knowing how to take the piss out of everything that moves and plenty that doesn't. What'll be different this time around is that we're planning a collaborative approach, hiring a number of intelligent, knowledgeable, even like-minded writers willing to put the effort in throughout the thirty days of the finals and who'll be invited to add comments and entries wherever they see fit. This is where you come in, as we'd like names to be put forward to fill
out the ranks, whether yourself or someone you could suggest within reason. Being able to watch the afternoon kickoffs is preferable but not necessary. Having a good standard of English and a keen sense of humour is.

So, how does it sound? Tell us: upforgrabsnow@btinternet.com Of the very few replies we're expecting we'll take a look, ask around our own leads just
in case and then come back to you well in advance of the blog launch date in late May with instructions and ideas.

2006-04-02T13:04:00.000Z

Apart from getting direct post linking to work, which we've been aiming for for a while now and never quite worked out, we've made a pledge to ourselves to post here more often, which might well be good news even if it's just linking to video of Chris Waddle at Marseille. It's left out that run he made through the entire Milan team in a European Cup game before being tackled ten yards out after rounding the keeper, mind.

2006-04-01T11:54:00.000Z

Sir Bobby Robson: "would a foreign coach do any better than Alan Curbishley at Charlton?"

At the start of the day, Charlton were in the bottom half of the table having failed to win away in ten league games or anywhere in five of the last seven. Mind if we come back to you on that?

2006-03-20T20:05:00.000Z

While we're in a feisty mood, wasn't it the G14 who went along with UEFA taking the second group stage out of the Champions League after their own managers complained of the wear on players?

In fact, why haven't the G14 ever acknowledged that none of their own fans actually like the concept?

2006-03-20T11:27:00.000Z

Question to all pundits: how do you know Mike Dean couldn't see Drogba's handball, given there was nobody between him and the incident when the ball veered off from about the point Drogba's arm was at? Did Sky implant a video camera between his eyes?And when you say there's no way the assistant could have spotted it either despite, as Dean has said, immediately using the now common electronic messaging device, are you calling him a liar in public, a legally actionable offence?

Oh, and why didn't you make this fuss when Xabi Alonso was sent off last weekend for a foul neither official saw?

2006-03-19T23:37:00.000Z

The traditionalist, or fatalist if you like, in us was heartened by whispers of the possible return of England B internationals. A curious, almost amorphous idea, the B team appears about every eight games to participate in two second string internationals and then goes back into hibernation. For instance, in 1998 England B played their first representative friendlies in four years, and this is how they looked. Remember, had the prevailing wind changed some of these players might have made it into Hoddle's 22 for France:

10/2/98 England B 1 Chile B 2
Kevin Pressman, Kieron Dyer (Steve Guppy), Jason Wilcox (Jamie Carragher), Riccardo Scimeca, Dominic Matteo, Gareth Hall, Ray Parlour (Scott Murray), Nigel Quashie (Frank Lampard), Darren Huckerby, Paul Merson, Emile Heskey
You forget how highly rated Chile were at this time, beating the seniors 2-0 at Wembley the following day - what did happen to Marcelo Salas? Played at the Hawthorns, Merson captained, Peter Taylor coached, Heskey scored the late consolation.

21/4/98 England B 4 Russia B 1
Ian Walker, Steve Watson (John Curtis), Carl Serrant, Darren Williams, Wayne Quinn, Trevor Sinclair (Kieron Dyer), Darren Anderton (Lee Hendrie), Nick Barmby (David Johnson), Les Ferdinand (Kevin Phillips), Jamie Carragher, Matt Le Tissier
Le Tiss famously scored a hat-trick here at Loftus Road (Sir Les got the other) but continued to be ignored by Glenn Hoddle. He was useless when he did play for England, we didn't miss much. Oh, and if you thought Oldham's Carl Serrant winning representative honours was unlikely, bear in mind Alan Rogers, Darren Holloway (a lot of players called Darren, weren't there?), Michael Clegg and Matt Jansen were also in the squad.

2006-03-19T01:44:00.000Z

February 2005: Hunter Davies pours scorn on Wayne Rooney's book deal

March 2005: Hunter Davies is announced as Wayne Rooney's ghostwriter

2006-03-11T20:04:00.000Z

From this week's pile of scraps: Arsenal remind us all of the years of Spurs/Judaism references, Martin Dahlin comes back to haunt Blackburn and Kerlon's 'seal dribble', which we think we've linked to before but in a much more fiddly fashion.