Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

THE collapse of Fabrice Muamba on the pitch at Tottenham last week has captured plenty of headlines, both on the front and back pages of newspapers.

There has also been an enormous amount of goodwill generated towards the Bolton player from supporters of all colours.

Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

TWO of the Premier League's top foreign managers have been upsetting the natives!

Chelsea's Portuguese boss Andre Villas-Boas really put the cat amongst the pigeons by suggesting that top Premier League clubs be allowed to field reserve sides in the Championship.

Football Diary

by Patrick O'Connor

I've just had the opportunity to catch via YouTube on the offence which got Wayne Rooney sent off in the Euro 2012 Championship qualifier against Montenegro in October.

So it with some bemusement that I read that the England forward has got a three match ban reduce to two which means he will now be available for England's third group D game against Ukraine in the finals next summer.

THE fixture list was extremely kind to Sky TV on Sunday, providing their football subscribers with three local Derbies in one day.

And the viewing public were not disappointed. Liverpool and Everton served up a cracking 2-2 draw, Sunderland and Newcastle battled it out for a 1-1 stalemate and in the Midlands, Birmingham and Aston Villa also tied 1-1.

STRUGGLING Championship club Preston North End learnt a harsh lesson this week – don’t mess with the football institution that is the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ferguson is one of the most revered men in the game, a manager with an almost unmatched honours list and a tough, powerful Scot with a demeanour that at times can be fearsome.