While you wait for Football Manager 2009 (little over 2 days to go), here is today’s news in brief to keep you company (don’t worry, you’ll be saying goodbye to rest of the year this weekend):

• Carling Cup 4th Round: The 4th round of the Carling Cup gets underway tonight, with Tottenham playing Liverpool on Wednesday night in the pick of the draw.
• Nereida Gallardo talks dirty, complains about Ronaldo and takes her clothes off…
• Ronaldo v Messi v Torres – the numbers. Hell, this blows so many holes in the Ronaldo > Messi argument that I don’t know where to start. If you account for overall impact, Ronaldo edges it barely on points. If you measure it on impact per game, Messi blows Ronaldo away. If you measure it on titles won, Ronaldo takes it over Messi. It’s a close one, with Torres third but not too far away.

  And let’s not judge players on character, please? A womanizing, coke-snorting fascist would get my vote if he was doing the business on the pitch as well as off it. I draw the line at actual crimes and not on religious or sexual preferences. Not that it matters…

• The FA want LMA to respect their referees. You know, I totally dig that, but maybe the FA should make more of an effort to respect the referees and give them a helping hand?
• Mandatory drug testing for footballers in England. Drug testing = good. Maintaining a list of potential offenders = so bad on so many levels. This is a sport with a huge public profile and commercial interest. The last thing the FA wants is to tarnish it’s reputation, and they’re now going to turn drug testing into a witch hunt in full view of the media? Suicidal doesn’t begin to cover it…
• The Football League wants its clubs to pay their taxes and be more financially responsible. It’s a good initiative and I hope it’s pushed through sooner than later. Football needs to be responsible for itself, even if clubs occasionally need the local social setup to step in and support them financially.
• Manchester City getting harassed by the press. After Newcastle and Tottenham, it’s the Citizens’ turn now. Will they be able to chase Mark Hughes out before results turn around?
• How wild do you think a football match can get? Sometimes football can exceed your capacity to think crazy. Enter Bolivian teams Aurora and Wilsterman, and sheer madness.
• There’s a takeover going on at Portsmouth. Maybe.
• There’s a takeover going on at Newcastle. Maybe.

And finally:

Football Manager: The Greatest Job on Earth