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Liverpool have sacked boss Kenny Dalglish after the Reds endured a miserable league campaign despite winning the Carling Cup and reaching the FA Cup final.
The shock news was broken on Wednesday afternoon with the decision coming just two days after Liverpool owners John W. Henry and Tom Werner held a showdown summit with Dalglish the day before. In response to Dalglish’s departure, Steve Clarke – Dalglish’s No 2 – has chosen to resign.
Dalglish guided the Reds to Carling Cup success and also saw his side finish unlucky runners-up in the FA Cup final, but the Scot has paid the price for a disastrous league campaign.
The Reds lost 14 matches this season, finished with a measy 52 points (four behind neighbours Everton), and were also involved in a string of unsavoury incidents throughout the season – most notably Luis Suarez’s racism controversy with Patrice Evra.
England boss Roy Hodgson has named his 23-man England squad for Euro 2012 with Rio Ferdinand left out and Steven Gerrard being named as captain.
The squad was announced on Wednesday afternoon with the biggest talking points being the exclusion of Rio Ferdinand and the inclusion of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Ferdinand has is involved in a very public dispute with John Terry with Terry accused of racially abusing Rio’s brother Anton Ferdinand during a fiery match between Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea in October.
As well as including Arsenal winger Oxlade-Chamberlain, he also opted to call up Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy, whose performances between the sticks this season have helped the Canaries secure top-flight football for another season.
Steven Gerrard has been appointed captain, whilst his Liverpool compatriot Jordan Henderson is amongst five players on the stand-by list.
The Full 23-man Squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Man City), Robert Green (West Ham), John Ruddy (Norwich)
The video has been an explosive hit around and the world and now you can watch it for yourself with ITS; Paul Merson’s hilarious reaction to Manchester City’s 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers on Sky Sports
We all know how the greatest ever ending to a Premier League season panned out with Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero grabbing two injury-time goals to overturn a 2-1 deficit into a title-winning 3-2 victory.
Clearly the thrill and sheer entertainment took its toll on Paul Merson! Classic stuff!
Joey Barton is an evil, overly-opinionated, egotistical, sanctimonious, thuggish little man who lacks basic moral principles.
His latest Twitter outbursts merely serve to reinforce the notion that this plodding midfielder has an abhorrent lack of respect for all and sundry, and that his biggest fan is sadly himself.
This is a man who poked a cigar in a team-mates’ eye; who cowardly and viciously assaulted another team mate – Ousmane Dabo – in front of fellow players; who punched Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen with a blow of lethal satisfaction; who served a prison sentence for a horrendous and callous street brawl; and who has been kicked out of each of his former clubs for being a reckless liabaility.
His ability to light up the pages of Twitter by using a dictionary or encyclopaedia to reinvent himself as a modern-day philosopher is laughable. “Why do people always want to solve any conflict with a fight. As a pacifist I find it incredible”, he once tweeted.
So, three days after the drama that was the final day of the Barclays Premier League season, football fans everywhere look back in astonishment and excitement at what could be a pivotal moment in the history of English football.
Manchester City are champions of England. Whether you agree with their lavish transfer policy or not, City are the real deal. They are the new team that everyone wants to beat; the barometer against whom others will measure themselves; and possess the players that rivals dream of.
Despite requiring a monumental turn-around in injury time to claim their first title for 44 years, make no mistake that City were deserved winners. They have consistently played the best football over 38 games, scored the most goals and conceded the least, and did the double over their main rivals and reigning champions. Most of us looked on in shock in August as Tottenham were humbled 5-1 at White Hart Lane, yet displays such as this became the norm, as City’s flair, finesse and durability came to the fore. Indeed, the 6-1 demolition of Manchester United at Old Trafford only served to reinforce the notion that City’s current crop could go all the way.
There are plenty of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ preluding Roy Hodgson’s men with the European Championships coming up and Euro 2012 England Betting reflects this.
No sooner had the new England headcoach been unveiled were we, the typical English press, itching at the knees ready to knock the former West Bromwich Albion boss.
‘They should have gone for Harry Redknapp.’ ‘Hodgson is dull.’ ‘What has Roy ever achieved at club level?’ ‘Hodgson cannot make tough decisions.’ These were just some of the excoriating remarks emanating from most of the red-tops main columnists and writers keen to dampen the FA’s decision.
Their growing worries were bolstered by the fact that The Three Lions will be without key striker Wayne Rooney for the first two matches posing a major goal-scoring problem.
With back-up striker Darren Bent losing his race to be fit in time for the summer, and the defence looking markedly frail, the English tabloid press have all but happily written off England’s Euro 2012 campaign as a mere learning experience for the youngsters.
Santos striker Neymar electrified the crowd by performing an outstanding overhead flick during Santos’ 8-0 Copa Libertadores quarter-final win over Bolivar!
With the ball stopped dead on the touchline, Neymar drew the defender towards him before producing a deftly controlled flick over the defenders head to the astonishment of onlookers.
It was just one of the many amazing feats the highly-rated Brazilian star performed during a man-of-the-match performance which saw Santos run out 8-0 winners.
No that was not a typing error. Santos ran out 8-0 winners! Catch highlights of the match below courtesy of In The Stands:
Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has ripped into Match of The Day presenter Gary Lineker in a highly-charged Twitter rant.
Barton has come in for much criticism after seeing red during QPR’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester City on the final day of the Premier League season.
Lineker later took to Twitter to condemn Barton’s actions having felt that the Scouser was merely trying to deflect attention from his red card by attacking everybody who has openly criticized him.
But Barton replied: “No deflections here mate. Think the fact about 100m people seen it will see to that. Just don’t like how he (referring to Lineker’s co-presenter Alan Shearer) gets personal.”
Lineker, 51, then replied by asking: “Still raging then? Still kicking out? And still, presumably. misunderstood? But only by yourself I suspect.”
Barton promptly tweeted back: “Do u wanna go there publicly “Mr Squeaky Clean,” before going on to say he would expose “skeletons” in Lineker’s “vast closet”.
Carlos Tevez has sparked controversy after unveiling a poster with the message RIP Fergie scribbled across it during Manchester City’s Premier League trophy parade.
The banner was handed to Tevez by a Manchester City fan during Monday’s open-top bus parade through the streets of Manchester.
It was of course a cheeky reference to Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments in 2009 when he dismissed City’s ability to be top dogs in Manchester as “not in my lifetime”.
See also: Pictures: Manchester City Title Winning Celebrations
Manchester City fans experienced orgasmic highs after their team won the Premier League title thanks to a 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers. The events at the Etihad Stadium proved why football is better than sex!
For any Manchester City fan the feelings experienced when watching their team secure a dramatic last-gasp 3-2 win against Queens Park Rangers to secure the Premier League title can be best described as stratospherically orgasmic.
Long, rhythmic contractions culminating in feelings of pure unadulterated joy erupted deep from within their highly-aroused Solar Plexus.
It was the cry-stroke-explosion of childish glee only able to emanate from a person who has been made to wait some 44 years before finally being able to experience for themselves what those Red Devil neighbours do so daily and nightly.
First came the hope, rather than the expectation, that today of all days was going to be the day when that nut would bust.
Manchester City came from 2-1 down to bag a dramatic 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers and secure the 2012/2013 Premier League crown in one of English football’s greatest ever matches.
Sergio Aguero was the man of the moment as he struck a 94th minute winner to seal a 3-2 win for Roberto Mancini’s men.
The win ended City’s 44-year wait for a league trophy and in 15 seconds of madness saw the Sky Blues strip the title from the hands of Manchester United as footy fans across the land watched on in awe.
Pablo Zabaleta thought he had settled the nerves when he opened the scoring in the first-half when he clipped the ball past Paddy Kenny.
But the Citizens were pegged back five minutes into the second period by a goal from Djibril Cisse before Joey Barton was sent off for violent conduct after elbowing Carlos Tevez.
Manchester City ended their 44-year wait for a league trophy after a last-gasp 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers in what was the most dramatic ending to a Premier League season ever.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqtblc
To call it the stuff of fairytale could not do it justice. Likewise, to refer to it as totally unpredictable would be an understatement of biblical proportions.
Indeed, not even God could have scripted what happened on a tense Sunday afternoon at the Etihad Stadium on 13 May.
Trying to do so would be futile. Words cannot describe the events and so, in order to relieve just a scintilla of those emotions In The Stands brings you highlights of the match.
Watch it, cry, watch again, cry some more, watch it again, shake your head and then take a deep breath!
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