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The Old Firm derby has gained notoriety across Europe for its violent outbreaks on and off the pitch, constant trading of religious insults and famed ‘90 minute racists’. This is a centuries old Protestant vs. Catholic dispute that pits English mentalities against those of the Irish, whilst seemingly casting Scottish pride aside for the duration of each match.

Now that Ronny Delia’s Celtic have drawn Rangers in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup, with the tie due to be played at a neutral venue in early 2015, the debate surrounding the Old Firm fixture is well and truly reignited. We are left to ask where the derby stands in today’s current football climate? And whether or not it will carry the same weight as it has done in previous seasons now that Rangers are outside the Scottish Premier League?

Rangers’ unceremonious fall from grace to the lower echelons of Scottish football has been well documented of late. After a complicated process involving several bureaucratic buzz-words, such as administration, insolvency and liquidation, Ally McCoist’s side currently sit second in the Scottish Championship after winning the Scottish League 1 in 2013-14. Their rise back up the ladder of Scottish football may be going in the right direction, but it has nevertheless been a slow and painful process for the Ibrox faithful.

As for Celtic, the Hoops have certainly profited from the absence of Rangers in top flight Scottish football, as they have been the clear winners of the SPL in the past two seasons. The Scottish Premiership, as it has been formally known since 2013, now sees the likes of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dundee United try to fill the void left by Rangers in 2012, with the aforementioned sides simply unable to provide the intensity and excitement that the Celtic vs. Rangers top-of-the-table clash used to produce.

For what was once the most exciting fixture in Scottish football, the Old Firm derby has been almost completely obliterated from today’s game, both in the league and in the cups. The tense grudge-match always served as the pick of the bunch for spectators, but in its absence, the overall popularity of Scottish football is now at an all-time low.

It was common place to hear that there are only two teams ever going to win the Scottish League, but now with Rangers temporarily out of the picture, Celtic seem to be the only side left in it. Whilst Delia’s team will certainly share no sympathy towards their arch rivals, many Celtic fans would have to admit that they do miss the intense rivalry and purpose that has left their club in the absence of Rangers.

However, don’t expect the Old Firm clash to disappear just yet. Now that the two historic sides have drawn one another in the cup, the derby is still very much a realistic prospect for fans across the country. It is an age old dispute that has its roots in events that took place long before football became popular on these shores. For that reason, and for that reason alone, three seasons apart from one another has done little to end the feud between fans of Rangers and Celtic.

Although it hasn’t had a chance to flourish in recent years, the Old Firm derby has been quietly bubbling away under the surface, just waiting for the chance to rear its ever-controversial head once more. That is not to say that religious fuelled fights will definitely break out onto the streets of Glasgow when the two sides next meet however, and nor should they, but the dangerously obsessive desire to beat one another will still nevertheless be a present factor when Celtic face Rangers in the Scottish League Cup early next year.

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As the notorious grudge match has been forcibly removed from the top flight of Scottish football in the past few seasons, expect this latest offering of the Old Firm derby to carry more meaning, more attitude and more passion than ever before.

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manager Sam Allardyce feels that festive fatigue could explain why Premier League referees are prone to mistakes during the Christmas period, reports Sky Sports.

Big Sam’s comments come after the FA overturned the red cards issued to Everton’s Darron Gibson and West Ham’s Carlton Cole by referee Andrew Taylor at Upton Park last weekend.

“This is a difficult period for referees. Why do they always seem to make more wrong decisions now,” said Allardyce.

“It’s probably because they are overworked and they are fatigued and the system has to be looked at.

“Referees are traveling all over the country and out in Europe and have been since the start of the season.”

Allardyce believes that a bigger group of referees should be ready to share the festive work-load to help ease fatigue, hoping that fresher referees will be able to hold their concentration to make the right decisions on the pitch.

“There’s not enough of them. They try their very best to get things consistently right. But it happens every year around this time of year,” he said.

“We had a couple [of bad calls] in our last game and there have been many throughout football over the Christmas period.

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“Fatigue is everything in terms of decision making. Once it kicks in you lose the ability to make those decisions correctly.

“They need to ease the load on the referees we have. The game needs to move on and look at recruiting better refs from all avenues.”

An overwhelming majority of polled Rangers supporters would love to see the Ibrox side make a loan move for Ben Woodburn this summer, after reports that the club were set to make a renewed move for the player.

Last week’s Scottish Mail on Sunday reported that manager Steven Gerrard has made a fresh enquiry about the striker’s availability ahead of the club’s massive UEFA Europa League qualifiers next month.

Woodburn became Liverpool’s youngest ever goalscorer in 2016, and now 18 years of age is needing regular first-team football to enhance his development and move towards becoming a big part of Jurgen Klopp’s talented squad.

Rangers need depth in attack themselves with Alfredo Morelos as yet the only real recognised striker available to Gerrard in pre-season.

Supporters appear in favour of a move for the Welsh international, with a massive 83% of respondents to a poll we published earlier this week voting that Rangers should make a move for the player.

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You can see the full results below…

Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min received plenty of plaudits for his performance against Juventus on Wednesday night.The South Korean international scored in the first half of Spurs’ Champions League last-16 second leg at Wembley.At that point, the North London outfit were 3-2 on aggregate and Mauricio Pochettino’s side were dominating the game.After the half-time break, though, a formation change to 4-4-2 by Juventus turned the clash in their favour, and goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala sent the Italian club through to the quarter-finals.Despite Tottenham’s valiant effort, some players did not escape criticism from fans on Twitter.One man, though, who was widely praised was Son, who has scored 16 goals and registered four assists in 42 appearances in all competitions.Stoke City striker Peter Crouch, who played for Spurs across two spells, took to Twitter to give his verdict on the forward.

Harry Kane is the number one forward at Tottenham, but Son’s performances have earned him a big following within the club’s fanbase.

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Only a minute minority of Newcastle fans would dare admit it, but controversial owner Mike Ashley deserves some credit for sticking with Alan Pardew.

A poll by the Newcastle Chronicle last April claimed 85% of supports wanted rid of their much-maligned manager, so when the Magpies went without a win in their first seven league fixtures this season, as toxic protests from the terraces began to affect performances on the pitch, the majority of Premier League owners would have quickly pulled the plug.

The average management tenure in the English top flight is just over one year – scapegoating the man in the dugout, pinning him with every failing imaginable, even those clearly out of his control, has become the Premier League norm.

Few would have blinked an eye if Pardew, a manager so disliked there’s a whole website devoting to getting him fired that hands out anti-Pardew banners at every game, was given his P45. In fact, it would’ve probably increased Ashley’s slender popularity around Tyneside, at least for an evening or two.

Cynics will have a contrasting theories as to why he didn’t. The Daily Mail, for example, claimed in September it would cost Ashley, an owner famed for his relentless cost-cutting-turned-profit-making around St. James Park, £5million to get rid of the former West Ham and Charlton boss. It’s not difficult to imagine the beer-swigging Sports Direct mogul having a problem with that – he’s just invested around half that sum into gaining unofficial control of Glasgow Rangers.

Perhaps, however, Ashley was just doing his job as the owner of a football club and seeing the bigger picture. After all, the Toon are now 12th in the Premier League following three straight wins – four, including their march to the Capital One Cup quarter-final – with the same amount of points as Manchester United and only two off Europa League contention.

By no means a groundbreaking league standing for a club as big as Newcastle, but equally, a notable distance from the club that appeared fractured between fan, manager and boardroom just weeks ago, trapped in a relegation-bound downward spiral.

If we forget the context of last season, where Newcastle threw away their chances of European football by earning just 16 points in their last 19 games, fitting in an incredible 14 losses, the relentless criticism thrown Pardew’s way throughout August and September was quite a stunning overreaction.

The Newcastle squad contains eight different faces from last season, combining the summer signings with youngsters Roland Aarons and Mehdi Abeid, whilst also losing two of its most influential members, Yohan Cabaye and Loic Remy. The transition process was always going to be a troublesome one – only one of that eight, Jack Colback, had featured in a Premier League fixture before – and it was exacerbated further by the dissonant choruses of detest from the stands.

The striker situation was a particularly tricky one – handed three goalscorers during the summer, Ayoze Perez, Emmanuel Riviere and Facundo Ferreya, to replace Remy’s firepower, Pardew’s understandably struggled to decide upon the right fit for Newcastle’s frontline. Even now, the question remains unanswered in full, with Papiss Cisse reviving the form of his debut campaign, Perez netting twice from the bench and Riviere yet to score in his seven Premier League outings.

Protests hit their maxim after a 4-0 defeat to Southampton, the third fixture of the campaign that Newcastle failed to score in, with the emotive angst undoubtedly amplified by supporters undergoing a six hour journey from St. James’ to St. Mary’s.

That constituted Ashley’s easiest and most agreeable opportunity to axe Pardew; a repeat result of the same fixture in March, epitomising the lack of progress made since and the Newcastle gaffer’s inability to turn his side’s fortunes around. The perfect short-term spark to ignite the explosive long-term issues.

We now know however, Southampton are amongst the Premier League’s most impressive this season. They’re second in the table, only four points off league leaders Chelsea, and even amid Newcastle’s current renaissance, would probably still record a win against the Magpies at home, albeit likely to a lesser score line.

Perhaps most tellingly of all, the players are clearly working for Pardew and reacting positively to his leadership – something nobody would have said, not Mike Ashley or even Pardew himself, back in August.

They fought their way back from two-goal deficits against Hull City and Swansea City to claim vital points, and although there was an obvious lack of cutting edge going forward, the 1-0 defeat to Stoke City was feisty and energetic – the kind of performance that suggested Pardew and the players were attempting to make the best of difficult circumstances.

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Newcastle’s form since Pardew’s appointment in 2010 has often polarised. Patches of brilliance followed by patches of disappointment;  perhaps those using the #PardewOut hashtag or holding up banners at St. James’ simply felt they couldn’t stomach any more after the Magpies’ winless start to the campaign.

But equally, perhaps that’s why, according to Pardew, Ashley never even mentioned the security of his job during boardroom meetings. Perhaps that’s why the Newcastle owner refused to give in to the demands of the fan base, as the volume of protests reached eleven. Perhaps that’s why, foreseeing better, more regular times ahead, the fans owe Ashley some credit for sticking with Pardew.

After all, what were the chances of his replacement recording four straight wins to get Newcastle’s season back on track? In a Premier League climate where every tenure is now a case of sink or swim, the probably, at best, is 50/50, but under Pardew, Newcastle’s form was always, eventually, going to improve.

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Manchester United defender Phil Jones has confessed that failing to advance from the group stage of last season’s Champions League was “tough” to deal with.

The Red Devils finished third behind Basel and Benfica last term, dropping into the Europa League.

Jones admitted that failing to get into the knockout phase was a real blow to the team:

“It was a bitter pill to swallow.” He said.

“For a club of Manchester United’s stature it was not an easy thing to deal with.

“This club is used to being in the semi-finals and finals of the Champions League and even winning it, so it was not a nice feeling to get knocked out the way we did.”

This season has been a different story, with the Old Trafford club already having secured top spot with one game to play.

Ahead of their sixth European tie of the season the centre-back hinted that last year’s failure has forced a reaction from the squad:

“We’ve bounced back incredibly well this season.

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“The lads have played some terrific stuff and hopefully we can kick on and go as far as we can.”

The Premier League leaders take on CFR Cluj on Wednesday and are likely to rest a number of big name stars ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby.

According to Spanish news outlet Mundo Deportivo, Everton are interested in signing powerful striker Willian Jose.

The Brazilian forward has been on fire for Real Sociedad since signing two years ago, bagging 20 goals this season for the Spanish club.

Everton clearly have problems up front, only managing to score 44 times in the Premier League last season, and it is an area new manager Marco Silva will need to invest in this summer if he wants the team to improve on its 8th place finish.

However, according to the report, Real Sociedad want £52million for Willian Jose, which would break Everton’s transfer record.

We asked Everton fans if they would be prepared to spend a club record £52million on recruiting Willian Jose this summer, and 65 per cent said they would.

Some clearly see Willian Jose as a potential replacement for Romelu Lukaku, with both players being strong and physical strikers who bully defenders.

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However, it remains to be seen whether Marco Silva would spend such a huge sum on one player with no Premier League experience, despite what the fans may think.

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Arsenal legend Charlie Nicholas has backed Arsene Wenger to recover from a tumultuous week by beating AC Milan in the San Siro on Thursday night.

The Gunners have now lost eight games in all competitions in 2018, which is more than Premier League basement club West Brom, following Sunday’s 2-1 defeat against Brighton.

That reverse against the Seagulls came on the back of a week that saw Arsene Wenger’s side outclassed twice in the space of five days against Manchester City to heap yet more pressure on the Frenchman.

Some Arsenal fans might want Wenger to leave the club as early as possible but the likelihood is that he will still be in charge for the trip to face Gennaro Gattuso’s side in the last 16 of the Europa League.

The Gunners’ away form has been dreadful this season and although Milan have not been the force they once were for around ten years now, a trip to the San Siro is still an intimidating prospect.

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Their last visit ended in a 4-0 defeat, back in 2012, but despite that and their recent poor spell, Nicholas told Sky Sports that he can see Arsenal coming out on top.

He predicted a 2-1 win for the Gunners, backing Danny Welbeck to bag a goal and said:

“I didn’t expect Arsenal to win at the weekend. I’ve never seen such pain in Arsene Wenger’s face and what does he do with this squad?

“Laurent Koscielny was an absolute embarrassment, Shkodran Mustafi has been an embarrassment too since he joined. AC Milan are bog standard and don’t score many goals.

“Sat seventh in Serie A with just 37 goals scored and 30 conceded – they’re far from the football machine of days gone by.

“At least Arsenal have goals in them and this is the competition they’re all in for, so I actually think they are value as outsiders to win on Thursday night.”

The whole of Italian football is still reeling from the sudden and tragic death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori, who used to play for Milan and that may play a part in Thursday’s game.

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Nicholas is right about one thing, Arsenal have all their eggs in the Europa League basket – it is their only remaining hope of getting into the Champions League next season.

The post-European hangover has been the bane of the Premier League’s top six sides for many a season, and we are no closer to finding a cure for it.

Last weekend saw a particularly bad case break out, as Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur – all of whom were involved in midweek European action – suffered disappointing defeats to supposedly inferior opposition.

Talk of the phenomenon has become something of a ritual – it is discussed and dissected whenever a team loses domestically following a midweek continental fixture, yet no-one seems to have come up with a solution to the problem. Supporters of most other clubs can also be forgiven for finding the topic tedious, irritating and frankly insulting, given that Europe is but a pipe dream for the vast majority of teams playing in English football.

However, the adverse side-effects which come following a binge on the delights of European football do seem to be authentic, and are especially virulent after experiencing the less glamorous buzz of the Europa League. As well as Tottenham Hotspur and Everton, Swansea City are another team who in recent years have seen their league form slump as a consequence of participation in Europe’s second-tier club competition; such hardships have led many to view the Europa League as nothing more than a hindrance, an unwanted distraction which has a major detrimental affect on a team’s domestic performance.

It truly is a sad reflection on the state of modern football when a once grand and well-respected competition is treated with such derision; although UEFA have made Europa League football more desirable by awarding the winner a place in the following season’s Champions League, more can be done to make sure that teams don’t find their domestic objectives compromised by the added demands of European football.

UEFA could start the rehabilitation process by introducing a Day of Football as an accompaniment to its international counterpart, the Week of Football. By staging all matches – both Europa and Champions League – on the same day, teams who currently find themselves in the dreaded Thursday/Sunday routine would no longer have any basis to complain. Alternating midweek European games between a Tuesday and a Wednesday night would give every team participating in continental competitions equal and ample time to prepare for the weekend’s league fixture.

In order to further facilitate matters, the Premier League could introduce a Friday night fixture before any upcoming week of European football. Though having all teams with European commitments playing on a Friday evening would be impractical, there could conceivably be a rotation system whereby one or two of the sides play on one Friday, followed by another two teams whenever the next round of European matches approaches. The purpose of this would be to give teams the maximum amount of time to prepare for fixtures in a busy schedule; a Friday night game would enable a three-day break before a European game on a Tuesday night, which would subsequently allow for another three-day gap before the following weekend’s league games.

If the aforementioned Day of Football fell on a Wednesday, there would even be no need for a Friday night fixture, as a Saturday-Wednesday-Sunday schedule would still see a three-day pause between each game.

The final proposal involves the introduction of the much-mooted winter break in English football. Giving players a two-week respite over Christmas would lead to fewer cases of fatigue once the crucial knockout stages of continental competitions begin. The positive effects of such a break can be seen in the performances of Spanish sides in both European competitions; since the 2003/04 season, a Spanish team has won either the Europa League or the Champions League a total of ten times, compared to the four of England. The festive glut of fixtures which occurs at the end of December and into the New Year would be abandoned, with the matches scheduled instead for August and May, where the conditions would be much kinder on the players.

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Novel propositions though these may be, the caveat is that they are purely theoretical, and would never realistically be implemented. The Day of Football, for starters, would lead to a huge loss in television revenues, while this is also the main reason why the introduction of a winter break looks unlikely to materialise. Nevertheless, if money continues to have such complete control over football, stifling any logical or practical arguments that could lead to a betterment of the game, then the post-European hangover is a headache that English teams will have to grin and bear for some time to come.

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The race is on! Who can tempt David Beckham to join them?

I’m guessing his next step won’t be all about the money, which might pave the way for an unlikely club to secure Beck’s signature. But who? Step forward West Ham United.

The Hammers have been regularly linked with Beckham in the past and there is no doubt they will be in the mix for him again this winter. But is it a match made in heaven?

Despite having played in the MLS – a league that has always been described as being at a similar standard as the Championship – for the past five years, it is believed the 37-year-old could still cut it in the Premier League.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star has been a stand out performer in the MLS ever since his arrival in the States and also had two successful loan spells with AC Milan during close-seasons.

He has scored 20 goals in 116 appearances for Galaxy and is now being chased by some of Europes’s biggest clubs, suggesting there still must be something in him that can cut it at the highest level.

But how would he fit in at Upton Park? There are genuine cases for what he can offer West Ham both on and off the field.

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Firstly, during West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Stoke City on Monday night, Sam Allardyce’s side lacked any real threat on the wings and only a handful of their 12 corners beat the near post. Obviously, with Matt Jarvis out injured and Matty Taylor only just returning from a set back, there are players already at the club who can come in a make a difference in those areas.

But with Beckham’s experience and fine set-piece delivery, he would have been the perfect man to make an impact on Monday night and provide an extra dimension on both flanks and in dead ball situations.

Furthermore, in what is West Ham’s first season back in the Premier League, they will need as much experience as they can get in order to continue their impressive start, which sees them occupy seventh after 12 games. Beckham, even when he isn’t playing, could have a significant impact on the club’s fortunes just by being present in the changing room and speaking to the other players, particularly the youngsters who are beginning to push their way through in to the first team.

Then there’s the famous Olympic Stadium bid. We all know how important Beckham was to London being awarded the 2012 Olympics and the role he played as the country began planning what ended up being labelled as the best Olympic Games ever.

That shows the amount of influence he has as a national figure, as well as one of the country’s most famous sporting greats. Oh how West Ham could do with someone like him behind them as they continue their fight for keys to the stadium.

Additionally, with the club playing in the Olympic Stadium and having David Beckham in the team, their revenue streams will increase tenfold. Just having the stadium would be great for the clubs finances and its future, but with Beckham involved as well, they would be selling shirts worldwide and filling the stadium week in, week out without even breaking a sweat. Every club’s dream, right?

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As West Ham continue their revival under the current owners and manager Sam Allardyce, the opportunity to sign a player like David Beckham would be too good to turn down.

His loyalty is clear to see, which the West Ham supporters will adore, and his experience and influence globally will only reap the club rewards both on and off the pitch.

Even if he never plays, he’d still make a huge impact on West Ham’s future. So a West Ham offer for Beckham, for me, is a no-brainer regardless of the players the club already has and how much they spent on Matt Jarvis in the summer. What’s more, Jarvis might even be able to learn a thing or two from good ol’ Golden Balls.

What do you think? Is David Beckham to West Ham a real possibility? Would a bid for him just be a marketing ploy for their Olympic Stadium bid? Let us know what you think by commenting below.