Sam ‘Big Sam’ Allardyce once opined that top English Premier League clubs would havechasedhim vigorously had his name sounded Italian – an obvious tongue-in-cheekreference to the dearth of English men at the helm of affairs of top English clubs.

His argument wasn’t farfetched, opining that if he could get the results he got despite the small budgets and being under the whims of bigger fishes, who had what it took to pluck vital players off your team with the caprice of an interest and stroke of a pen; then it was only logical he would achieve far more success if given the chance at a bigger club where he wouldn’t have to worry about tight budgets and every other ugly duckling that befall small clubs.

Only the English national team offered reasonable chance to men of English origin to be in charge of a team brimming with talent. With the FA’s sacking of Roy Hodgson and the media-drums of Big Sam’s name, the 62-year old took the opportunity with both hands. Continue reading →

Barcelona take on Real Sociedad hoping to recover from an astronomical slip in form, which is threatening to end the season on a premature note.

The 2-0 loss against Malaga came about in surprising circumstances. Just when it seemed that Barcelona would be able to return to winning ways with the Champions League, the team suffered a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Juventus. This quarter-final first leg result places the club at a serious disadvantage in terms of being able to reach thesemifinals. Last season, the club made an exit at a similar stage.

The game against Real Sociedad will be extremely tough for the Catalan club, who will be without Neymar for the game. The Brazilian striker is suspended for the match and he will be huge miss even though he has only scored nine league goals this season. Continue reading →

Joey Barton is a controversial football player that has had a history of being involved in legal issues due to his own actions and this has seen the English performer having to spent time in jail back in 2008 after being entangled in a street fight.

Fast forward to 2012 and Joey Barton received a 12 matches long suspension due to making a number of violent actions during a game in the Premier League. It’s 2017 now and Joey Barton is still involved in legal problems which could lead up to the 34 year old English player either returning to jail, being suspended once again or having to pay a fine.

The latest dispute that Joey Barton is being involved with is in relation to him placing over 1,200 bets on matches or tournaments in the span of around 10 years. Continue reading →