Since being promoted QPR have already brought in new players from Tottenham, Fulham, West Ham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Marseille, Nancy, Lazio, Inter, and Real Madrid. How much more checkbook opening will they have to do?

In an incident filmed by Basque TV station EITB, Bielsa halted a practice game to criticise what he had seen. After an exchange of views, Llorente walked off the pitch alone, and the session finished without him. The Spanish international later left the training ground without speaking to reporters.

[...]

Amid this unsettling situation Bielsa has used the powerful centre-forward sparingly so far this campaign, with six substitute appearances across La Liga and the Europa League bringing one goal.

They'll have to buy out Sven's contract in Thailand.

BATE master Bayern.

3-1 the final.

Early reports are that the Puyol injury is "only" a dislocated elbow, which would be incredibly lucky.

Football club chairman Peter Ridsdale has been disqualified from acting as a company director for seven and a half years, the Insolvency Service has said.

His sports consultancy collapsed in 2009 owing £442,353 in tax.

An inquiry found that the 60-year-old channelled payments from football clubs into his personal bank account instead of a company account.

Mr Ridsdale, now chairman of Preston North End, said his lawyers were studying advice he was given.

The ban prevents Mr Ridsdale from acting as a director, but also from taking part - directly or indirectly - in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

A spokesman for the Insolvency Service said: "It is up to Mr Ridsdale or the club to decide what his work is and whether or not he is involved in the management or control of the club. We do not know what his terms and conditions are."

In a statement, Mr Ridsdale said: "I am currently undertaking a role of Chairman of Football at Preston North End but am not a director nor at any time have I sought to be one.

"The issues that have brought about this voluntary undertaking are currently in the hands of my lawyers who are dealing with all outstanding issues including the professional advice that was given to both myself and my personal company at the time."

Anybody watch the Chelsea game yesterday?

Just watched the highlights of the City game. What a terrible penalty call.

It's kind of hard to walk away impressed with a fullback's performance when he is responsible for giving up two goals but I somehow pulled that off.

The interesting question posed by 55 is whether UEFA referees are actually now taking the position that defenders in the box should always lock their hands behind their backs when faced with an attacking player in some space. That particular tactic didn't even exist a decade ago, but it seems to be spreading, and decisions like last night's will only make it more popular.

Next to it is the village of Modrici (plural for Modric), where the Real player's family lived. Further up the narrow and winding road that goes up the Velebit mountain range – one of only two pathways which connected the north and south of Croatia before the modern motorway was built in the last decade – there is a lone house on the curve where Modric spent most of his early childhood. This is where his grandfather, after whom he was named, used to live.

Two decades ago, this was the scene of gruesome war crimes and there are still signs all around indicating the surroundings are not yet cleared of landmines. As Croatia declared its independence, local Serbs captured the area with the help of the Yugoslav army and nationalist volunteers from Serbia, trying to cut off communication and transport between the two parts of the country. On 18 December 1991, Luka Modric senior went up the hill with his cattle. He was murdered in cold blood.
...
"There was this boy who used to kick the ball around the hotel parking lot all day," says NK Zadar's chairman, Josip Bajlo. "He was skinny and really small for his age, but you could see right away that he had that something special in him. However, none of us could have dreamed that one day he would grow to become the player he is now."

"We were always afraid, that's what I remember the most," says Tomislav Basic, one of Modric's early coaches at NK Zadar. "Thousands of grenades, fired from the surrounding hills, fell on the training pitch in those years, and we were always racing to reach the shelter. Football was our escape from reality."

The interesting question posed by 55 is whether UEFA referees are actually now taking the position that defenders in the box should always lock their hands behind their backs when faced with an attacking player in some space. That particular tactic didn't even exist a decade ago, but it seems to be spreading, and decisions like last night's will only make it more popular.

He brings up the fatigue factor for Spurs. Now that the euphoria has died down, the fitness of the team is the one thing this season that worries me. They've had trouble finishing strong all season and it's only the first of October.

Another really disappointing performance by City in the Champions League. Without a handful of brilliant saves by Hart, this one is 4 or 5 to 1.

Just in case anyone hasn't had their fill of blather about the Man United v Spurs match, my first stab at shamelessly aping Michael Cox has been "published".

Someone is going to have to explain to me why Mancini would choose a formation that highlights the team's primary weakness (solid backline) at the expense of it's strength (forwards and creative mids). Seems baffling to me.

Anyone have any good reason why he's trying it other than the fact he is Italian (it is quite common in Serie A, no)?

Someone is going to have to explain to me why Mancini would choose a formation that highlights the team's primary weakness (solid backline) at the expense of it's strength (forwards and creative mids). Seems baffling to me.

He hasn't decided if he is going to appeal yet.

Chelsea today: good attack, poor defending. Norwich barely had the ball, and everytime they put the ball in the box they looked dangerous. Although Chelsea should have had 3 penalties, the shirt pull on Terry was F!@#ing egregious

Looking at the stats I assume it was a really frustrating draw for Liverpool.

Grant Holt was complete class today, though you can't say that for the rest of his squad. That's a man that I wouldn't mind having a pint with, though I'm guessing bare knuckle brawls follows him from pub to pub.