As Neuchatel Xamax Turns

Or doesn’t turn, rather.

This club is something else, and it’s all down to Bulat Chagaev, Chechen rebel hell bent on destroying tiny little football clubs from quaint Swiss cities. Despite showing up appearing as though he had bags of cash, and making some signings indicating money was on the way, it’s been nothing but a complete trainwreck: a disaster while everyone rubbernecks from …

Photo: The Early Candidate

This is likely to end up on some end of the year Best Of lists for football photos and the like, along with someone in the Bundesliga making a nice tackle and John Terry barking orders in the rain soaked evening.

Afghan boys play football in sunset in Mazar-i-Shraif on January 10, 2012. Football is one of the most popular games in Afghanistan and is played on dusty dry ground more …

Berba For President

There are lots of things which are either rigged, not taken seriously or both in football. FIFA qualifies in general. So too does the electoral process in Bulgaria. (The footballing variety, obviously.)

The Bulgarian Player of the Year is something of a travshamockery, given that it’s Berba’s year after year, and justifiably so. However, he asked the kind people and journalists of …

Failed: Chickenpalooza 2011

Scheming for support and ticket sales is one of sport’s greatest traditions. Most of them take a more traditional route, such as standard marketing. None of those methods likely involve bringing Akon to Blackburn.

But give those chicken men some credit, because they tried to try. And clearly failed. Quite miserably it seems, since the news is leaking in December when it was hoped for …

Howler Files: Watch The Ball Into The Glove

Fiftieth second or so.

Vaslui’s Lithuanian keeper Vytautas Cerniauskas was posed with the basic task of catching a bounder in front of net, requiring little or no effort. His execution was, shall we say faulty, which then sparked two over done reactions: the opposition’s coach, celebrating like his boys just recreated Argentina’s team movement from 2006, and Cerniauskas himself, who …

Football’s Not Hard Enough, Ergo…Footdoubleball

This may not be new – its eureka! moment was supposedly around 2008 – but it’s new around here, and just like the elderly when posed with something new, it makes no damn sense. Well, it does make some sense, the concept is easy, but it’s rather confusing and the likelihood it was invented by the acetaminophen industry to cause the ail for which they provide the elixir is growing …

Real Madrid Meets A California Girl

Normally, the lack of awareness of the modern footballer would be pilloried, particularly at a big club with big egos like Real, but what person sees a line of people standing at a path and decides to hop the wall anyway? How is that in any way a bright idea? Clearly UCLA has admissions standards issues.

Though it is nice the boys from Real kept on driving.

[ 101gg ] …

Some Refreshing Summer Candor

As ever, all too many politically correct, don’t-muss-up-the-carpet type of tip-toeing through the wonderful landmine fields that are pressers and interviews. Fortunately it’s the summer, when egos can swell and transfer moves can be made with the slight utterance of a few words.

Fernando Gago and Thomas Muller know of what we speak.

Lady Gago has seemingly been on both the block and …

Waste Lots Of Money On Grass

No, not an anti-drug campaign, though it could be. (In 1972.)

The cause is seemingly just, so undeniably, this isn’t a terrible thing, but judging by the £161,000 pricetag currently sitting on this charitable auction piece with 6 days remaining, you’d have to be an idiot to buy it simply for the purposes of buying it.

Blackburn is digging up their pitch this summer, and so someone …

Daily Dose: May 11th, 2011.

E:60 spot on the keeper who doesn’t like to keep ‘em.

Not rollin’. ( Left Back In The Changing Room )

The other part of Venice. ( EFW )

Qatar beat them at their own currency. ( Dirty Tackle )

Ronaldo scores. You knew that. ( La Liga Loca )

Barca spends money. You also knew that. ( The Spoiler )

Loyalty award up for grabs. ( WSC )

Archer’s bow alert. ( Back Page …

Daily Dose: April 26th, 2011.

Mario exacts his revenge .

It’ll never end. ( Studs Up )

Sweden and Cyprus. ( The Best Eleven )

Those sneaky Spanish ballboys. ( ESPN )

EPL Blog awards. ( EPL Talk )

People are mean, dgibbo28 edition. ( Guardian )

Relegation is childish. ( Umbro Twitter )

What can you do for me. ( Surreal Football )

Does anyone actually have a job? ( The Fundesliga )

…

Daily Dose: April 25th, 2011.

Hotel Ternana. ( The Score )

The Black Army. ( EFW )

Why this will never see the light of day… ( Football Fashion )

The unheralded. ( Footballing World )

Ugly times in Argentina. ( AP )

Fernando’s miracle. ( Dirty Tackle )

Asking the important question. ( Has Fernando Torres Scored For Chelsea )

…

Balotelli Blows Raspberries

Italy is playing Slovenia today in a rather important qualifier. Mario Balotelli may not be everyone’s cup of tea – is he anyone’s, really? – but he is undoubtedly one of the most talented athletes in the game, much less available to Cesare Prandelli.

However, he (and Daniele De Rossi) will not be there for disciplinary reasons. Basically: behave yourself on the pitch for club, or …

Daily Dose: March 23rd, 2011.

Just the worst teammate.

[ Dirty Tackle ]

Sepp’s FIFA twilight is in his hands. ( The DA )

Platini for prez (FIFA prez). ( AP )

The problem with Galatasaray. ( Scouting Romania )

A Polish derby. ( EFW )

Like a foreign language or something. ( Studs Up )

Looming June football. ( La Liga Loca )

…

Mario Balotelli: Yet Another Undercover Ninja

More ninja theatrics in the world of football, this from another boy well-known for his ways on the wrong side of acceptable, Mario Balotelli. His first mistake was the inability to put on his bib, a task mastered by even the most unskilled of ninjas.

This failure fresh in mind, Mario then went into overkill ninja move with a double abdomen-leg kick, which saw him earn a red card. …