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Ten ways to meet footballers
[Soccerlens]

Ryan Shawcross to Liverpool
[Goal.com]

Spurs target Crystal Palace striker Victor Moses
[Daily Mail]

Darren Fletcher blames the referee - not Scotland’s ineptitude - for the Norway defeat
[The Guardian]

Gazza’s bagged himself a reet class Geordie lass like

Putting his recent troubles behind him, Paul Gascoigne visited London’s Cafe de Paris earlier this week in order to celebrate his 42nd birthday. On his arm was Geordie glamour model Emma Kate Dawson, who at 22-years-old, is precisely the same age as Gazza’s step daughter Bianca.

England legend looks back on career highs and high jinx

In his latest interview with talkSPORT, we’re delighted to see Paul Gascoigne back to his usual chirpy self. At times we needed our Geordie translator to interpret, but his stories of Stan Collymore nudity and playful fire exstinguisher fights with Liam Gallagher are well worth hearing.

The video above is part two of the interview, check out part one (released last week) after the jump…

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Like any pensioner, Alex Ferguson really hates missing the bus
[Off The Post]

Pies! She lives once more!
[Who Ate All The Pies]

Paul Gascoigne discusses Newcastle’s plight and much more
[Daily Mail]

Gemma Atkinson resists Diego Maradona’s charms
[Unprofessional Foul]

Carlos Tevez says he would “like to go to Spain”
[Goal.com]

Italian clubs look to start a Premier League-style top flight
[The Offside]

Toon legend backs other Toon legend to beat the drop

After maintaining radio silence for most of yesterday, Newcastle Utd finally admitted they will be re-employing Alan Shearer for the final eight games of the season. (They also released a separate statement to confirm that Dennis Wise has been sent him with no supper. “There are no plans to appoint a replacement in this role,” they emphasised.)

No one is more delighted by the surprise appointment than Paul Gascoigne, who writes about his old England team mate in today’s Sun:

I would like to think that Big Al’s first team talk would not need to be much.Just looking at the man, and knowing what he has achieved at Newcastle - and throughout his career - should be enough.

You have to respect him, what he has to say and his knowledge of the game.

Gascoigne continued to praise the new manager, and insisted that love of things that are black and white compensates for his lack of experience:

The thing about Alan is that he will have the players eating with black and white knives and forks, driving black and white cars… everything will be black and white.

He has black and white in his veins.

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Here’s an outrageously cheeky flick from Budapest
[101GG]

Gazza reveals more about his troubled past
[Off The Post]

Sylvie van der Vaart is well dressed
[Kickette]

Manchester City look to sign another Nike employee
[Daily Mail]

Wenger’s new ‘Golden Generation’
[Football365]

Jose Mourinho waves more red rags in front of Fergie
[The Mirror]

The Ryman League will be using red balls for charity
[Non League Daily]

Kaka isn’t the only one to stick his nose up…

Manchester City are currently nursing their injured pride after Kaka told them where to shove their money, but Mark Hughes aren’t the only ones to have faced rejection. In fact, according to our compilation of of top ten transfer snubs, Sir Alex Ferguson has seen seen more rejections than Danielle Lloyd’s Mensa application…

1. Younes Kaboul (Sunderland, 2008)
Kaboul was part of a £14m bid from Sunderland in the summer that also comprised of Spurs teammates Teemi Tainio, Steed Malbranque and Pascal Chimbonda. While the other three left, Kaboul’s agent explained his client wouldn’t be joining them “even if there was an earthquake.” Kaboul joined Portsmouth instead.

2. Paul Gascoigne (Manchester Utd, 1988)
Back in 1988, Gazza promised Manchester United he would be joining them for a British transfer record fee before their manager Alex Ferguson took a holiday to Malta. While sunning himself, Fergie discovered the England legend had in fact signed a deal with Spurs. Ferguson - without a shred of bitterness - suggested the player was lured to London after Spurs bribed him with a house for his family, and that he would not have experienced so many personal problems under his watchful eye.

3. David Beckham (AC and Internazionale, 2007)
Mr B rejected offers from Italian giants AC and Inter in 2007 when he chose to sign for football powerhouse LA Galaxy instead. Beckham - who advised Kaka to stay in Milan recently - insisted the move would provide him with a greater challenge. And not more money. Honestly.

4. Ronaldinho (Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Manchester City, loads of others)
Ronaldinho famously rejected Manchester Untied in 2003 in favour of a move to Barcelona. A few years later, Chelsea were the second English club to be turned down by the gap-toothed Brazilian. “Not Chelsea or Milan. I want to stay with Barcelona - that is my wish, that is the wish of Ronaldinho,” said Ronnie, who enjoys talking about himself in third person almost as much as Cristiano Ronaldo. Now, of course, he plays for AC Milan, whose chairman Silvio Berlusconi

Thanks for your concern Spain, but England’s most gifted player could probably do without the ghoulish speculation just at the moment.

As reported in last week’s Guardian, players with more than five seasons of Italian football in the 1980s and 1990s have reason to worry after fifty-one professional and amateur sportsmen died of Lou Gehrig’s disease - that’s six times more than the non-sporting national average. And now the Spanish press at Sport have taken the report and gone in search of fresh victims.

The disease is named after the great New York Yankees player, Lou Gehrig, who died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1941. As conditions go, it’s horrible, causing a swift onset of paralysis, weakening of the muscles and slurring of the speech, while the mind stays perfectly tuned in. It’s fatal.