A very thin gruel today, both in terms of punditry and rumours. But there’s some rare brilliance from the good folks at the Oxford Internet Institute, who used Twitter to track where supporters of different clubs actually live and find out if the fanbase of Salford’s finest was actually concentrated in Surrey. It was a good [...]

It’s a pretty sedate Monday following a weekend dominated by international friendlies and frenetic spinning of tales in the rumour mills, facilitated by Twitter. It’s becoming ever harder to sift the real from the surreal as Twitter appears to be populated by people with too much time on their hands, many who are either socially dysfunctional, barely [...]

So the manager with the best-ever winning percentage in the history of the Three Lions quits after twice steering them to qualification in major tournaments. He does after comments backing his low-rent captain (who led a revolt against him in England’s last major tournament)  were torqued right out of context by a pack of witless, [...]

Today’s links take us to Italy, where James Horncastle welcomes the return of Fiorentina’s Stefan Jovetic, who should cause the Three Lions all sorts of bother this evening in Montenegro. Elsewhere, Horncastle reports Pablo Osvaldo is impressing Cesare Prandelli but causing anti-immigrant politicians to froth at the mouth. What with Italy staring down the barrel [...]

You have to admire somebody with the stones to suggest that the people who can hire and fire you should read your autobiography so they can “learn something about football.” That’s the brilliance of Louis van Gaal, master tactician on the field. Off the field, well not so much. Raphael Honigstein lists the sins of [...]

It’s the first day of April, which usually marks the unofficial start for Arsenal’s title chase to begin to fade. Most of the world ignores this, obviously, and instead practices innocent little japes. The august journals of record continue this practice of trying to “punk” their readers. And it’s mildly irritating.
Why would the BBC publish [...]

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put in a decent shift on Saturday against United, showing a deft touch, decent vision and sizzling pace. Even before this, there were plenty of pundits offering the 17-year-old midfielder advice, with Chris Cox suggesting he should ignore the overtures of Arsenal and Manchester United.
Dominic Fitfield, meanwhile, sees Oxlade-Chamberlain as the latest success [...]

Looking for Eric? Guardian toothsucker-in-chief Paul Hayward theorizes why Eric Cantona is in New York trying to resurrect the Cosmos.
Gabriele Marcotti credits Hernanes and Cristian Ledesma with reviving the slumbering Roman giants Lazio.
Jonathan Fadugba questions why Samuel Eto’o has not made FIFAPro’s World XI in recent years to less successful strikers.
And finally, in homage to [...]

There’s really nothing fresh for links as the usual suspects appear to have knocked off early for Christmas. It has not, mind you, stopped the rumour mill, probably because most agents are heathen bastards. I kid, of course, and if any of them are reading this, extend them — and the rest of you — [...]

Friday
Buried at the bottom of When Saturday Comes’ round-up of the press reaction in France to the friendly win was this little gem.
“If you wondered where Blanc’s widely ridiculed predecessor was on the day of the game, L’Equipe provided the answer. They tracked down Raymond Domenech to a small town south-west of Paris, where he [...]