Wow, did anybody see this one coming?

Just when you thought things couldn’t get even more bizarre at St. James’ Park, Newcastle have announced former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear as their new interim manager.

Having left his previous Premier League post at Selhurst Park in 1999 after a heart attack, Kinnear is surely ill-advised to make his return at a club in freefall, where the fans feel a hatred towards the chairman, and Dennis Wise is hugely influential.

The Irishman resigned from his last job as manager of Championship side Nottingham Forest in 2004 with the club stuck in the relegation zone. Kinnear is under no illusions that he won’t be at the club for long and said:

It’s better in the Czech Republic, claims Roman Bednar

The FA and Premier League’s Respect campaign took another blow today when Czech forward Roman Bednar admitted that the standard of officiating in the top-flight was poorer than in his homeland.

The Baggies striker voiced his concerns after being left disappointed by referee Mike Dean’s performance in Sunday’s Midlands derby defeat to Aston Villa at The Hawthorns. He said:

All the latest transfer rumours, gossip and damn lies

The mire of spurious summer transfers has thrown up an interesting player/ club combination today: according to the rumour vine, Andriy Shevchenko could be on his way to warming Barcelona’s bench in the near future. To compensate for selling approximately 57 attacking players this summer, Barca want to bring the Ukrainian in on a season-long loan, which means they pay no transfer fee but Chelsea get him off the wage bill. With the Milan option fading, he may just have to take this one.

Emmanuel Adebayor to Chelsea
New stories every day tell us the same stuff about Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Drogba, so it’s nice to see the press get more inventive. Chelsea want shot of Drogba and it seems they view Adebayor as the perfect replacement.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Surely he won’t do an Ashley Cole

Robbie Keane to Liverpool
Could a (reasonably) big club have finally realised Robbie Keane is one of the best strikers in the Premier League and that despite Berbatov’s moments of brilliance, Keane works harder and is more consistent?

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: May want to stick around at Spurs this season

Gareth Barry to Liverpool
One transfer saga that definitely looks

Striker’s fondness for woven textiles proves costly

As a karmic punishment for sporting a ropey perm, former Nottingham Forest goal machine Pierre van Hooijdonk has been conned out of £2m after investing in a Chinese textile company. The Dutchman, whose hair stylist may not be identified, was one of at least sixteen Europeans who backed a firm that was actually a front for Chinese gangsters:

Six men aged between 32 and 58 have been arrested in The Netherlands. A seventh, 38, was nabbed in Belgium.

A spokesman for Dutch cops in Den Bosch said: “All seven are charged with fraud, money laundering, embezzlement and participating in a criminal organisation.

“We can confirm Pierre van Hooijdonk is among the victims.

“This is a substantial

The best sports on the telebox tonight

In the Blue Square Premier, second-place Torquay are looking to catch up league leaders Aldershot when they visit Plainmoor tonight. Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest and Carlisle will be battling to secure their League One playoff places at the City Ground.

Interestingly, both the lower-placed teams (Torquay and Forest) are favourites to win tonight, so there may be some value in backing their opposition.

League One
Nottingham Forest/ Carlisle Utd (Sky Sports 1, 7.45pm) - bet here

Blue Square Premier
Torquay Utd/ Aldershot (Setanta Sports 1, 8pm) - bet here