Good day to you all, hope this finds you well and full of the joys of football. Well, some of you, at least. Ok, I think that only applies to Hull fans.

Nevertheless it's an action packed podcast this week despite we're in the middle of the 45th international break of this season so far. Coming up on this show:

• We chat with OleOle's Harry Hotspur about what the hell is going on at Spurs, who sit bottom of the league after 7 games
• Luigi talks about Barcelona's demolition of Atletico Madrid and tells us about two players we should be keeping an eye on in La Liga this season
• Gabriele in Italy talks about Roma, Juventus and AC Milan and the poor starts they've made to the season

And there's the usual Premier League guff in there too, as well as some sensible words from Rio Ferdinand. No, really. The world's gone mad, I tell you.

Don't forget, you can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

And remember, your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or email podcast@oleole.com.

Enjoy.

Interim Newcastle manager spoke to the press in the North East yesterday. There's nothing like starting as you meant go on, and this was one of the opening gambits.

JK Which one is Simon Bird [Daily Mirror's north-east football writer]?

SB Me.

JK You're a cunt.

SB Thank you.

Awesome. Read on to get a load of the most awesome press conference I have ever heard of. 

Or if you fancy listening to the audio of Joe Kinnear's press conference rant click here.

Good day to you all, hope you've had a good week in football since the last one. I haven't really. I went to see Arsenal play Hull and we lost. To Hull. At home. And we were utterly poo.

Still, there was plenty of beer and rum to banish the memories. Although the beer and rum would have been nice during the game too.

On this week's podcast:

• Rob Styles and the penalty that wasn't
• Sol Campbell's abuse by Spurs fans
• A review of the midweek Champions League action
• Gabriele on a class of Inter fan that is making their voice heard after the derby defeat
• Luigi on the Barcelona derby and the trouble that happened at the game
• Fantasy Football update
• Plus our preview and predictions for this weekend's Premier League fixtures

Don't forget, you can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

And remember, your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or email podcast@oleole.com.

 

Hello to you all again. It's another week and another week in football. On this week's show:

• Midweek action from Spain, Italy and England (Carling Cup)
• Pogatetz on Possebon, Davies on Clichy. What's the difference?
• Which Spanish footballer is being stalked by a deaf boxer?
• Fantasy Football update
• Premier League preview and predictions as usual

Don't forget, you can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

And remember, your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or email podcast@oleole.com.

 

Good Thursday to you all. We're well and truly back into the thick of things now with league and European football to keep us entertained.

On this week's show:

• We discuss John Terry's red card. Hey, wait. Where the hell did that red card go? And has anyone seen Mark Halsey?
• Danny Guthrie's leg-breaking challenge on Craig Fagan and what sort of punishment he should get (but obviously won't).
• We look at the Champions League action from this week
• Gabriele tells us who wants to fill Jose Mourinho's mouth with cement in Italy. Gulp.
• Luigi talks about Barcelona and Valencia from sunny Spain
• Plus we have our Fantasy Football update, the results of last week's predictions and this week's look ahead to the Premier League fixtures.

Don't forget, you can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

And remember, your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or email podcast@oleole.com.

 

We know this because they've rescinded John Terry's red card against Man City last weekend. Yet again the FA undermines an official and protects the England captain.

I wonder will they investigate the provocative gestures Terry made to the City fans as he, eventually, made his way off the field? What am I saying? Of course they won't.

Seriously, what a pack of bottlers and once again Terry gets away with something that no foreign player would have.

It was bad news for Hull City and Craig Fagan after it was revealed yesterday that Danny Guthrie's savage hack left the Tigers' striker with a broken leg.

Hull boss Phil Brown says:

When you see that the end product is him putting a fellow pro in a cast, it's just not right. That's the horrible side of the game. I don't care what is going on at Newcastle, you cannot tolerate this.

He's right, of course, but what's interesting is the growing clamour for Guthrie to be banned for longer than the automatic 3 games he receives with his red card. Is it a case that football fans are not as tolerant as they were to serious thuggery like this?

I totally agree that a deliberate and cynical foul like the one Guthrie made should be punishable with more than a 3 game ban. It's something I've written about here before. Yet I don't remember as many people calling for Birmingham's Martin Taylor to be punished more heavily after his challenge pratically snapped Eduardo da Silva's leg in two. In fact, there were some in the media who thought it was just a good old fashioned 'British' tackle and Eduardo was unlucky. Taylor was a gentle giant who wouldn't hurt a fly. Perhaps people just aren't willing to put up with it anymore. 

The bottom line though is that two players have had their legs broken and once again we're faced with the ridiculous situation that such tackles are punished the same way as minor offences, like Aliadiere's slap last season. In fact, he got an extra game added meaning he served 4 matches for 'violent conduct', while Taylor served just 3 for breaking somebody's leg. It's absolute madness.

This incongruity just cannot continue. There simply must be a correlation between the seriousness of the incident and the ban that is handed out. I phoned the FA for a podcast after the Eduardo incident and they stated that they do have the power to impose larger bans, citing Ben Thatcher's elbow on Pedro Mendes as proof. If they can do it then why do they refuse most of the time, only acquiescing when media pressure becomes too intense?

I would go along with those who suggest Guthrie should be banned for as long as Fagan is out of the game. He may not have intended to break his leg but he certainly intended to hurt him. His frustration and temper got the better of him and it is unjust that he is free to play again after 3 matches when Fagan is set to miss 3 months. Why should Hull City be denied a player through no fault of their own?

Until the FA takes a positive stand on this and sends out the message to players that foul play which results in serious injury for a fellow pro will result in serious punishment for the perpetrator then these kinds of incidents will continue to mar the game. Football should be a physical game, it's part of what makes it great, but when players cross the line from physical to 'dirty' then the authorities should do something about it instead of sitting on their hands and hoping nobody kicks up too much of a fuss.

No doubt you've all been as tired as we have of the internationals but be tired no longer. They're over!

That doesn't stop us waffling about them a bit in this week's show with thoughts on a Theo Walcott inspired England, Ireland under Trappatoni and more.

We look ahead to the start of the Champions League next week, touch on the Rebrov comments, plus, as usual, we preview and predict the weekend Premier League fixtures, the most high profile of which is Liverpool v Man United. Does Tom think Liverpool will win? Is he cacking his pants because of Rafa's poor record against United? You'll just have to listen to find out. 

Don't forget, you can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

Don't forget your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com.

 

The podcast is called The Week in Football and what a week it's been.

On this week's show we discuss:

• Berbatov's transfer to United and ask why is nobody highlighting the blatant breach of the rules by Man United. We also ask how can Daniel Levy call for a review of the transfer system when he's happy to accept a pay off to not make an official complaint.
• Manchester City - now the wealthiest football in the world. Reaction to that and Robinho transfer with City fan and editor of Bitter and Blue, Danny Pugsley.
• Luigi in Spain tells us about poor opening days in La Liga for both Barcelona and Real Madrid and gives us a Spanish perspective on the Robinho transfer
• The rest of the deadline day transfers
• The start of the World Cup qualifying campaigns in Europe and for the home nations
• Fantasy Football. Is Tom still in the lead or has someone caught him up and passed him out?
• Plus you can see a picture of our brand new studio. Not in the actual podcast itself, of course, we haven't yet managed to provide pictures in an aural format but you know what I mean.

Don't forget, you can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

Don't forget your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com.

 

Happy Thursday one and all, welcome to a new Week in Football.

On this week's show Tom reckons Liverpool hit rock bottom as they struggled against Standard Liege, we look at all the Champions League action as the qualifiers for the group stage are finalised, Gabriele previews the new Serie A season, we look at the upcoming fixtures in La Liga and of course the Premier League.

Don't forget, there's still time to join our Week in Football fantasy league. Simply sign up, choose a team from the English Premier League then join our mini-league. Details are:

League name: weekinfootballprem

Password: podcast

And while you'll be eligible for the overall prizes there'll be a special Week in Football prize for the winner of our mini-league. More info on fantasy football here.

You can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

Don't forget your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com.