Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today - in no particular order of priority.

The news today is that we finally signed David Rozehnal from PSG for around £3M - announced late yesterday afternoon. Also reports today that Edmilson wants £80K/week at Newcastle - and we analyze that story.

Also Sam is adding to his back-room staff with news that Steve Round will be coming as Assistant Manager and ex-Bolton staff Mike Forde and Mark Taylor will be arriving shortly.

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During the season, we always talked about why this was a completely wrecked campaign. We’ve experienced all those Murphy’s laws in just one season. I’ve just grouped below the major reasons in my opinion, that have resulted in Chelsea ending up 6 points lesser than Man Utd.

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Over the past week many Arsenal fans have been shocked to hear that their ‘greatest ever’ was sold for the ‘miserable’ fee of £16.1m. Meanwhile the rest of England was equally shocked to hear that former Charlton striker Darren Bent commanded a higher transfer fee (£16.5m) than the Arsenal legend.

And although it is obvious that Tottenham have been ripped off by Charlton, it might not be as outrageous as many people think that Darren Bent cost more than Thierry Henry. In truth there are many factors that might just make Bent a more valuable player than Henry.

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On Monday I asked everyone who they thought was the Premiership’s greatest player ever.

There were plenty of varied responses, but the votes centered around a handful of players (I’ve listed them below). Some very interesting observations were made as well - one of the key ones being that any such list is ’striker-heavy’ because we tend to under-rate defensive players.

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Buy your Manchester United 07/08 Home Kit here.

Update: More pics and kit video links at the end.

It’s official folks.

We finally have the official pictures (and video) from Manchester United showcasing the new 2007/2008 home kit (available from 1st August and United will start playing in it from the Far East tour end-July).

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My good friend Chris Toy, owner of Caught Offside (the blog that brings you the world of football bare naked with a pinch of salt) has sold his soul to Sportingo in exchange for a chance at footballing immortality.

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Last Sunday, Team USA was a champion. How quickly things can change. Argentina and the United States played a very even first half, but the best team eventually came out on top. And they did it in a big way, scoring 3 beautiful goals to put away the United States 4-1.

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Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today - in no particular order of priority.

The news today is that Sam Allardyce is having multiple troubles with the release clauses in Owen’s and Martins’ contracts. There is also an exclusive in the Sun that Manchester United are after Michael in a part exchange deal with Alan Smith. We are now very wary of the Sun exclusives.

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After the unveiling of their 07/08 home kit (a triebute to the 1903 season), Fulham have continued the tradition by bringing out a black and red striped away shirt for the coming season.

The black and red strip is homage to the 74/75 side that reached the FA Cup final.

I like the away kit more than the home kit - although that’s not saying much considering that the Fulham home kit is all white.

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Sponsored by Puma, the new Coventry City 07/08 home shirt is supposed to be an exercise in ultra-modern design and latest cutting edge technology.

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Sweet justice? Reality bites?

Tottenham get Bent for 16.5 mil, Liverpool are reported to have agreed a 27m deal with Atletico Madrid for Fernando Torres.

For two clubs who have roundly berated the top two sides in the Premiership for ‘buying’ the title, what will they say now?

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If you haven’t already, go on and sign up for OFM.

I think I’ve finally figured out how to win in OFM (online football manager).

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The big news yesterday (painfully fabricated pieced together using old quotes and selective memory) was that of Liverpool making their play for Fernando Torres, seemingly leaving rivals Man Utd in their wake.

Today’s grand news (after Capello’s ridiculous sacking and Coleman’s semi-ridiculous signing) is that Tottenham are close to getting Bent.

Considering that both clubs (Liverpool and Tottenham) will be spending top dollar (in terms of relative finances) on their respective targets, the big question is this:

Which club is getting the better deal?

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Just eleven days after winning their 30th Spanish league title, Real Madrid have announced that Fabio Capello will not continue as first team coach next season. Madrid’s board of directors met at lunchtime today to finalize their decision.

It is difficult to understand how any club can get rid of their manager/coach after winning the league, but apparently the move to oust Capello started weeks ago.

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Well I have to say its good that I’m suffering from insomnia these days, it has allowed me to catch the Copa America on satellite. At two o’clock in the morning I tuned in to watch a a Chilean squad that just wouldn’t go down; a match that would have been much forgotten if Nelson Acosta’s side hadn’t recorded a magnificent 3-2 comeback victory in what has been so far the best match of the competition as drama dominated day two of the tournament.

Oh! … and did i mention that Brazil were outclassed by Mexico?

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Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today - in no particular order of priority.

The news today is that Arsenal are said to be after Oba Martins via his release clause of £13M. We’re not sure if Martins will leave - but it’s basically up to him. The same is true of our other expensive striker Michael Owen.

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With the latest news on Newcastle being that some Board-Room stability may now be in place with four Directors having resigned and owner Mike Ashley bringing in two of his own (non-executive Director Steve Hayward and Vice-Chairman Chris Mort), things are now in place for a big push on the playing side of things.

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In the coming days and weeks, Team USA will play in the Copa America Tournament. Here are some of the things we as fans should look for.

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Rafa is going goalkeeping crazy. First it was young Aussie Dean Bouzanis, then he reeled back Scott Carson and now he forks out the dosh for Nikolay Mihaylov?

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The Copa America kicked-off yesterday in Venezuela with a couple of less than important matches and a colorful opening ceremony. The Pueblo Nuevo Stadium in San Cristóbal hosted a huge fireworks display and dancers dressed in Venezuelan national colors to mark the start of the competition, held in Venezuela for the first time.

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A quick roundup of the news surrounding Manchester United in the last couple of days.

Needless to say it’s been quiet since that day and despite the rumours linking United to strikers and player sales (including the ridiculous Smith and Rossi rumours), Manchester United are not as much in the spotlight as Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle.

It’s quiet on the transfer front (relatively) and we like it that way.

Here’s what’s been happening in the last couple of days:

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Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today - in no particular order of priority.

The news today is that Sam Allardyce has been given a £50M war chest to bring in new players. He will be supported in this over the next two months by Freddy Shepherd and new Vice-Chairman Chris Mort. Given that Sam has brought in three good players for a net outlay of £1.8M and is after Habib Beye now for £2M - one wonders what he can do with £50M - or even £40M

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A few days ago I asked SL readers to name the sites they visit and the sites they hate because of their rumours. This whole thing ties up with a discussion (see comments section of that page) we had a long time ago on SL about unreliable football news sources.

The outcome? We now have an official Soccerlens Shitlist - a wall of shame that we can put full-o-crap websites on and warn other people.

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Hey guys, I’m sure you’ve seen the football kits section and the 07/08 premiership kits page on SL by now.

Before the month is over I want to do 2 things:

One, to complete the 07/08 premiership kits page and put up all the home and away kits for the Premiership on that page.

Two, to put online as many non-Premiership kits as possible (Championship, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, etc).

So take a look at the Prem kits page, and mail me links to whichever kits I’m missing (it’s best if you’ve got links from the official sites). And since my non-Prem kits section is embarrassingly bare, please help me there as well by sending in (once again, official links and images) the necessary info.

Get in touch with me here.

Thanks.

So - Klose is off to Bayern.

Henry is off to Barcelona.

I don’t quite know why, but these two headlines got me worked up. The thing is - I just don’t get why they’re leaving. On top of that, I don’t get how both players seem to have had the feeling that they had the undeniable right to leave.

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I don’t know about you guys, but reading the list of players Bayern have brought in so far this summer makes me happy that United aren’t playing in the Bundesliga.

Miroslave Klose, Luca Toni, Franck Ribery, Ze Roberto, Jose Ernesto Sosa, Marcell Jansen, Jan Schlaudraff and Hamit Altintop.

Bayern have spent around 70m Euros and to be fair Toni and Klose are the only ‘big names’ in this list (Ze Roberto is under-rated though, and Jansen has a lot of potential IMO), but overall Bayern are investing heavily in their squad.

What are the odds for Bayern winning the Uefa Cup (now that Uefa Cup specialists Sevilla have qualified for the Champions League)? Tottenham vs Bayern Munich, if that comes up, will be a cracker.

What do you guys think about Bayern’s buys, and what it means for the Bundesliga’s title race next season?

News is filtering in today that Sven Goran Eriksson - he of England fame (and a respectable club management career before that) - has agreed in principle to manage Manchester City in a 3 year deal. It’s part of a 3-year plan by Thaksin (as alluded to in earlier comments) to turn Manchester City around and (presumably) take them to Europe.

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Here are the major news stories associated with the Newcastle club for today - in no particular order of priority.

The news today is that the David Rozehnal passed his medical last night at St. James’ Park and should sign for the club today. Also whether Freddy Shepherd stays at the club is still being awaited - as no report to the Stock market has yet been made.

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BlueChampions.com has an excellent report rating all Chelsea players for their performances in the 2006/07 season.

You can catch the Chelsea report card here, but there were some observations that I wanted to make:

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Unlike the Fink Tank list of the Premiership’s best players in 2006/2007, Gabriele Marcotti’s list of top 50 footballers has two advantages:

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