Whether it be the muddle of a midweek fixture or the sanctity of a Saturday, along with scores of intrepid fans nation-wide we set off, in our case to the principality.  As always there was that nagging tinge of trepidation mixed with an undercurrent of die-hard hope.  Gone are the days when I would seldom miss a game away.  I now find that since a change in the coach company, comfort has taken something of a back seat (so to speak).  Being somewhat long in the leg and even longer in the tooth I found that, like some wines, I do not travel well, especially on what appeared to be the school bus on occasions.  I was therefore more than pleased to note that in this instance the mode of transport was feted as “luxury” with the legend of “continental travel” blazoned along its side. [Read more...]

Claudio Ranieri’s Roma were unable to send out an early signal of their intentions to the rest of Serie A last night as they were held by Cesena at the Stadio Olimpico. The new boys to the league who featured Ghana’s Stephen Appiah in midfield, were well worth the point they took from last seasons’ Serie A runners-up. Neither of the Burdisso brothers featured for Roma with Gullermo warming the bench and Nicolas unavailable. It was still a very strong Roma lineup that took to the field and De Rossi, Perrotta, Pizarro and company were unable to find a way through. Cesena signed rarely seen goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri from Liverpool this transfer window, but boss Massimo Ficcadenti preferred to start Antonioli in goal on Saturday night, and he kept Totti and Vucinic out. [Read more...]

One thing a couple of weeks of play gives us is a bit of form to go on. But the fact that only two teams have one hundred per cent records so early in the campaign suggests that the top seven places are very much up for grabs. Only two teams are yet to get off the mark, and it is going to be very intersting to watch this division take shape in the coming weeks. [Read more...]

The past seven days has finally seen some big moves being made in the transfer market. It is no surprise that Manchester City have yet again been flexing their muscles with the signings of Mario Balotelli from Inter Milan and James Milner from Aston Villa. City have paid a reported £24m for Balotelli, who scored on his debut last night in the Europa League tie against Timisoara, with the same figure being quoted for the James Milner deal, which saw Stephen Ireland [Read more...]

After working so hard last season to finish fourth in the Premier League, Tottenham will be hoping that they can take a big step towards the group stages of the competition when they take on Swiss side Young Boys this evening in the first leg of the Champions League qualifying round. Young Boys finished second in the Swiss Super League last season and will be looking to prove the doubters wrong and get a positive result tonight to take with them to White Hart Lane next week. [Read more...]

There is a full programme of fixtures in the Blue Square Bet Premier League on Tuesday night (17 August). Ten sides are hoping to maintain their 100 per cent record with another ten hoping to get points on the board. York City and Crawley are two sides with lofty ambitions this season who are looking to bounce back from opening day defeats. Crawley were on the wrong end of a 1-0 at home to Grimsby Town and York went down to Kidderminster at Bootham Crescent. [Read more...]