Czech Out

Boy, could Sam Allardyce spot a centre-half!

Giuliani Goes

And endorses John McCain, denounced by Mitt Romney as a liberal and a democrat!

He must have been talking about this.

Between The Lines

How is it that the self-same hacks now spewing out Keegan in Crisis and Toon in Relegation Scrap headlines were, only two games and one defeat ago, screaming about the absurdity of sacking a manager with the team safe in mid-table and in absolutely no danger of going down?

You'd almost think they had a hidden agenda...

Italian Politics

Is like a game of musical chairs in which none of the seats leave the middle of the room. Everything seems to move but nothing ever changes. As if by magic, even that hoary old fraud Andreotti has popped back out from the arras of near-death.

Tactical Nous

"Arsenal are a great passing team. We must make sure we pass the ball better than them."

According to the ubiquitous club insider that was the sum total of Kevin Keegan's Arsenal pre-match teamtalk. This is, by all accounts, a 'bad thing'. A few weeks ago, when we had a manager noted for his tactical acumen, the instructions would have been to sit on the edge of our own penalty area, hoof the ball up the pitch towards the one static target, and let the wingers run like hell after it before it comes bouncing straight back.

Funnily enough, that didn't seem to work very well either.

Woodgate Signs For Spurs

Apparently, they bought him to play alongside Ledley King. The apposite phrase is wishful thinking. And then some.

It's Plain To See

Dennis Wise as director of football? It might work, I suppose, especially if we get someone like Tony Adams - or even Stuart Pearce - in as assistant manager. It's a surprise, though: Wise has never exactly been what you'd call popular on Tyneside.

Or anywhere else, come to think of it.

When All Else Fails

A sneaky bit of coercion usually does the trick. Are there any depths of duplicity to which this government would not sink?

The Honoured Society

It wasn't until after I finished reading In Sicily that I realised Norman Lewis was into his nineties when he wrote it, travelling round the arid old Mafia strongholds of the interior in a beaten-up Fiat. Cyril Connolly once said Lewis' writing style could make even a lorry seem interesting. He wasn't wrong.

Dolphin Hotel Endorses Obama

Well, everyone else is at it. Unfortunately, I don't have a vote in this election, and knowing my track record he'll only go and get knocked out by Hereford on a muddy pitch in the next round.