YOU would think that any newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch would be treading very carefully at the moment.

The Australian's media empire is under extreme scrutiny following the phone hacking scandal in the UK and Murdoch himself is seen as having had far too much influence with British politicians over  the past few years.

THE mouth-watering attraction of the Real Madrid versus Barcelona Champions League semi-final first leg will ensure that the normal parochial English football fans will be glued to their television screens this week.

For some, it will be an even greater attraction than Manchester United’s game at Schalke.

WE are fast approaching the time when clubs will be sending out fancy brochures to their supporters imploring them to renew their season tickets for the 2011-12 campaign.

Fancy buzz phrases such as ‘moving forward,’ ‘customer focussed’ and ‘you are our lifeblood’ will be trotted out as chief executives try and get as much cash in before deciding their budgets.

MOST young boys who dream of becoming a footballer want to be a star striker, and it is easy to see why – they grab all the headlines and quite often most of the money:  Struggling Premier League side Aston Villa splashed out £18million (the deal could eventually rise to £24million) for Sunderland forward Darren Bent last week.