Five Premier League thoughts after City's Manchester Derby victory:
The race to become the next coach of the England national football team took a dramatic twist when the country's governing body announced it was in talks with West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson about the vacant position.
Five things we learned in Barclays Premier League action Sunday:
Manchester United moved to within two points of leaders Manchester City at the top of the English Premier League with a 3-1 win at third-placed Tottenham Hotspur Sunday.
It is tempting to look at the top half of the Premier League table and see rows of upright dominoes. At some point soon, one will teeter and tap its neighbor's shoulder, and then who knows how many, and which, will follow. What if Harry Redknapp takes the England job? (What if Spurs lose to Manchester United this weekend, and Arsenal beat Liverpool?) What if Chelsea does not get back into the Champions League places? What if Roman Abramovich sacks Andre Villas-Boas? What if he's the replacement? Why? When?
LONDON -- Another fine mess for the national team. "CAPELLO QUITS OVER RACE ROW AS JURY CLEARS REDKNAPP." The Daily Mail's headline on Thursday ran to nine words but they were enough to contain almost every drop of slop. England's captain demoted by the Football Association until a charge of racially aggravated public disorder -- which John Terry has always denied -- has been heard in July; England's manager resigning after publicly disagreeing with the FA's decision; the favorite to succeed Fabio Capello, the Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp, being found innocent of tax evasion a few hours earlier.
White Hart Lane, a raw February night in 2004, Tottenham against Manchester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The January transfer window: a mid-campaign silly season to send even the most sensible commentators doolally. Andy Carroll back to Newcastle? Sure, why not. Lionel Messi to West Brom? You heard it here first! January always lands a few surprises, but here are some of the storylines I'll be keeping an eye on over the next few weeks.
Back in May this year it was reported that the Tottenham Hotspur manager, Harry Redknapp, had been interested in Luis Suarez before Liverpool signed him but had been told by the club's scouts that the Uruguayan forward "wasn't up to it" and that he "couldn't cope in the Premier League." Cue great mirth at Redknapp's expense, despite the fact that what he actually said was: "We kept looking at Suarez but people thought he couldn't play up as a striker; they said he's like Rafa [van der Vaart] and you can't have him and Rafa or you'd have two players who want to drop deep, so that was the problem."
Tottenham moved up to third in the English Premier League as Emmanuel Adebayor helped welcome manager Harry Redknapp back to the dugout with both goals in Monday's 2-0 win against Aston Villa.
English Premier League high-fliers Tottenham failed to offer some cheer to absent manager Harry Redknapp as they suffered their first Europa League defeat of the season, losing 1-0 to Rubin Kazan in Group A.
Etiquette is a tourniquet. Applied lightly it can save your skin, too tightly it'll kill you, as Jim Harbaugh discovered Sunday, when the Niners coach overdid the postgame pleasantries with Lions coach Jim Schwartz and turned the handshake into a hostile act.
In 1968, Manchester City won the league and a few days later Manchester United won the European Cup. In May, City won the FA Cup; later the same afternoon, United won the league. It was typical of the relationship between the Manchester clubs that after City had thumped one north London team 5-1 on Sunday, United went and thrashed the other one 8-2. Of more concern to the Premier League and football in general, though, is what Sunday said about the relationship between the Manchester clubs and everybody else.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp told a reporters on Monday it would take a world-record equaling bid of $130m to prize winger Gareth Bale away from White Hart Lane.
Argentina star Gonzalo Higuain has made a surprise return to Real Madrid's squad for Saturday's La Liga match against Sporting Gijon, but the Spanish giants fear Cristiano Ronaldo could be ruled out of their next two games.
Manchester United moved five points clear in the English Premier League after snatching a 1-0 win against Bolton on Saturday despite having a player sent off.
This is Tottenham's biggest match for almost 50 years: the first leg of a knock-out tie in Europe's biggest cup competition. Gareth Bale definitely won't be playing, Luka Modric is a doubt and Jermaine Jenas is suspended, but Rafael van der Vaart is fit, and Harry Redknapp is sticking steadfastly to the club's principles: "Attacking football is what got us here in the first place," he insists. "We have had a go all through this competition so we will have a right go again at San Siro."
David Beckham's proposed loan move to Tottenham has been called off, but the soccer superstar will still train with the English club to maintain his fitness during the U.S. off-season.
David Beckham could be set to return to the English Premier League after an eight-year absence.
Is Wayne Rooney done? -- Tim Delaney, San Antonio
LONDON -- It's more than an hour since the whistle was blown on Tottenham Hotspur's Champions League victory over FC Twente on Wednesday. As the stewards make their final checks of the stands and the last remaining hospitality suite revelers are coaxed to exits, Gareth Bale makes his way around the pitch toward the players' car park, the last man out of the home dressing room again.
updated: Mon Sep 27 2010 18:09:00
In an exclusive interview, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp hails the impact of new signing Rafael Van der Vaart.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has told CNN his Dutch playmaker Rafael Van der Vaart is key to the English club's fortunes this season.
Three extra-time goals gave Arsenal a thumping 4-1 victory over north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in their English League Cup third round tie Tuesday.
Shhhh! Stop. Stay very, very still. Listen carefully. Prick up your ears and you might just catch it: a faint rustling in the bushes as it ducks and dives its way through the darkness of Padre Damián Street, scavenging. If you're really lucky, you might even hear its characteristic call breaking the still air in the dead of night, escaping from somewhere in the shadow of the Santiago Bernabéu:
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was asked how he would celebrate after his team's victory against BSC Young Boys on Wednesday ensured qualification for the Champions League group stage.
UEFA have rejected Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp's call for artificial pitches to be banned after his side lost 3-2 to Young Boys in the Champions League playoffs.
The last six Premier League titles have been won by Chelsea or Manchester United, so it is hardly surprising that last season's shoulder-to-shoulder race for fourth place between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City captured the imagination. Fingernails in the north and the south were gnawed short as the two clubs exchanged the lead several times before Spurs took the fourth spot at Eastlands in the season's penultimate game.
Tottenham Hotspur have rewarded manager Harry Redknapp for taking the club into the Champions League for the first time in their history, by given him a new contract that runs until June 2013.
After two months at SI.com, I think I'm just about due a Mailbag column. The first thing to tackle is the mountain of mail I received after picking my Premier League Team of the Season, particularly on the absence of one man: Cesc Fabregas.
And so it's begun. The past few days have seen various national team coaches commence the painstaking process of culling the candidates for their World Cup squads. We've already seen some minor surprises -- Germany's Joachim Low opting not to recall the in-form Kevin Kuranyi -- and some controversial choices such as Mexico's Javier Aguirre leaving out Nery Castillo. Which brings us, of course, to the U.S. team and the preliminary roster that Bob Bradley will name on May 11, which could be as many as 30 players, but is more likely to be in the 26-28 range. However, ultimately it's all about the final 23 for South Africa, so I'm going to pick the roster that I'd like to see chosen, which isn't necessarily the group I think Bradley will take.
With the final day's Premier League action looming, it had seemed appropriate to engineer a way to have dramatic music boom out at you as you clicked on this page. But after Tottenham went and beat Manchester City on Wednesday to secure at least fourth place and a berth in the Champions League, bringing resolution to one suspenseful storyline, we didn't bother.
In sharp contrast to their Bundesliga counterparts where Ricardo Clark went the full 90 in his debut for Eintracht Frankfurt (a 3-3 draw with Mainz) and Michael Bradley helped M'Gladbach surprisingly tie Bayern, it was a rough day for CONCACAF alum in English Premiership action Saturday. Here's some quick thoughts on the day's action.
How the crowing must be reverberating around London's N17 postcode, the home of Tottenham Hotspur and 36,000 fans who don't know whether to stock their medicine cabinet with uppers or downers these days. One minute they're having to cope with defeat to Sunderland and a muted reverse at the hands of Portsmouth in the FA Cup semifinal, the next they've secured spine-tingling 2-1 wins over beloved neighbors Arsenal and old chums Chelsea.
Manchester United's title hopes suffered a big blow as Alex Ferguson's injury-hit side crashed to a 3-0 reverse at Fulham on Saturday.
England striker Peter Crouch has completed his transfer from Portsmouth to English Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur, ensuring he teams-up with manager Harry Redknapp for the third time in his career.
Tottenham's 1-0 win over Newcastle boosted their hopes of European football next season and left Alan Shearer's team ever closer to relegation from the Premier League.
Ledley King quit England's squad on Tuesday after Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp hit out at international counterpart Fabio Capello for picking his injury-prone defender in the first place.
England international Aaron Lennon has signed a contract extension at Tottenham Hotspur after speculation linking him to a summer move to fellow Premier League side Liverpool.
Tottenham face an uphill battle to qualify for the last 16 of the UEFA Cup after a makeshift side conceded two late goals in sub-zero temperatures in Ukraine to lose 2-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Italian goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini has joined Tottenham from London rivals Chelsea on a free transfer and could make his debut in Tuesday's relegation battle against Stoke City.
FA Cup holders Portsmouth suffered the indignity of a fourth round exit to lower league opposition as Swansea City beat the Premier League strugglers 2-0 at Fratton Park on Saturday.
Jermain Defoe scored his first goal since returning to Tottenham from Portsmouth to deny his former club victory in a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane, a result that lifts Harry Redknapp's side off the bottom of the Premier League.
England striker Jermain Defoe has rejoined Tottenham after the north London club agreed a reported £15 million deal with Premier League rivals Portsmouth.
England striker Jermain Defoe would not be allowed to leave Portsmouth if Harry Redknapp was still manager, the recently-appointed Tottenham boss said on Monday.
Tottenham continued their revival under new manager Harry Redknapp as Ledley King scored his first goal for three years and Jamie O'Hara added a second in a 2-0 Premier League win at London rivals West Ham.
Russian international Roman Pavlyuchenko scored early in the first half as Tottenham Hotspur beat 10-man Blackburn Rovers on Sunday to move out of the Premier League relegation zone.
Joe Jordan has left Portsmouth as first team coach to join Harry Redknapp's backroom staff at Premier League rivals Tottenham.
Darren Bent grabbed a hat-trick as Tottenham thrashed Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 in UEFA Cup Group D to continue their amazing revival under new manager Harry Redknapp.
Harry Redknapp's revitalized Tottenham Hotspur beat Liverpool 2-1 at White Hart Lane to knock the visitors off the top of the Premier League and continue their remarkable run under the new manager.
It's a whisper that's slowly becoming a roar -- Liverpool for the title. Seasoned Reds fans in England's Northwest may be staying tight-lipped, but as grim economic recession stories multiply in the U.K. headlines, talk of a football renaissance in the European capital of culture is spreading through the back pages.
Harry Redknapp's Tottenham Hotspur stunned Arsenal with two late goals to salvage a 4-4 draw in a dramatic North London derby on Wednesday night.
I suppose it was only a matter of time but, in the end, Juande Ramos' dismissal as Tottenham manager became a secondary story to the choice of his replacement, the colorful Harry Redknapp. But have Tottenham made the right call?
Tottenham gave new manager Harry Redknapp the perfect start with their first Premier League win of the season as they beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at White Hart Lane.
Struggling English Premier League club Tottenham sacked under-pressure coach Juande Ramos late on Saturday night, and Harry Redknapp then confirmed that he will take over as manager.
The turmoil at Newcastle and West Ham in the past month is a good indication of how far the balance of power has swung among those who actually run English Premier League clubs.
Portsmouth have completed the signing of French defender Younes Kaboul from Tottenham on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.
Croatian striker Niko Kranjcar gave FA Cup finalists Portsmouth a 1-0 Premier League victory at West Ham on Tuesday
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has rubbished suggestions that striker Kanu is set to join Australian A-league side Gold Coast Galaxy later this year.
Czech Republic striker Milan Baros has returned to England's Premier League after completing a loan move to Portsmouth.
Just 24 hours after turning down the Newcastle job, Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp saw his charges slip to a 2-0 defeat at struggling Sunderland.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has opted to stay with the club after rejecting advances from Newcastle to become their new manager in succession to Sam Allardyce.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp missed his club's scheduled pre-match media conference on Friday as speculation increased that he would be soon be appointed as successor to Sam Allardyce at Newcastle United.
Portsmouth, about to lose four key players to the African Cup tournament, have signed 18-year-old Swiss striker Danijel Subotic on a three-and-a-half-year contract from Basel.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp was upset by foul language directed at him from the terraces at Villa Park on Saturday.
You probably didn't notice, but my column didn't run two weeks ago. It was Thanksgiving and my boss gave me the day off. Good thing he did, otherwise you would have had to read through my postmortem on England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has protested his innocence -- one day after being arrested with four other men in connection with football corruption charges.
Premier League side Portsmouth have confirmed that manager Harry Redknapp is one of five men arrested on Wednesday by detectives investigating corruption in football.
Premier League Portsmouth have won the race to sign former Manchester City captain Sylvain Distin on a free transfer.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has been charged with abusing a match official during Saturday's 2-1 Premier League victory over Manchester City.
Portsmouth have signed full-back Lauren from English Premiership rivals Arsenal on a two-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee.
Manchester United celebrated the 20th anniversary of manager Sir Alex Ferguson's reign at Old Trafford with a sparkling 3-0 victory over Portsmouth to maintain their leadership of the English Premier League.
Portsmouth's flying start to the Premier League season has been brought to a halt they conceded their first goal and suffered their first defeat in a 1-0 home loss to Bolton Wanderers.
Milan Mandaric has announced his resignation as chairman of English Premier League club Portsmouth.
Democratic Republic of Congo captain Lomana LuaLua has signed a new three-year contract with English Premier League club Portsmouth.
Benjani Mwaruwari's first goal in England and a penalty by Matthew Taylor guaranteed Portsmouth's Premiership status for another season as Harry Redknapp's strugglers came from behind to win 2-1 win at Wigan.
The Premier League have charged Portsmouth with making an illegal approach to Harry Redknapp when he was still in charge of rivals Southampton.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has sealed his first deal of the January transfer window by signing Poland international striker Emmanuel Olisadebe.
English Premier League club Portsmouth are to bring in millionaire Russian businessman Alexandre Gaydamak as joint owner in a move which could turn the club into one of the wealthiest in the country.
Two goals in the final five minutes gave Tottenham a 3-1 Premier League win over Portsmouth.
Harry Redknapp was reappointed manager of Portsmouth on Wednesday just one year after he quit the Premier League club for bitter south coast rivals Southampton.
Harry Redknapp has quit as manager of Southampton, fueling speculation that he will return to Premier League Portsmouth.
Portsmouth's quest for a new manager has shifted after they missed out on top target Neil Warnock of Sheffield United.
England rugby union World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward was on Monday confirmed as Southampton soccer club's new technical director.
Former England international midfielder Jamie Redknapp has been forced to quit playing at 32 because of a knee injury, his father and Southampton club manager Harry Redknapp has said.
Southampton manager Harry Redknapp will stay at the south coast team following their relegation from the Premiership last weekend.
Peter Crouch stroked home a stoppage-time penalty to give Southampton a thrilling 2-1 derby win over 10-man Portsmouth in the FA Cup fourth round.
Portsmouth have avoided the temptation to sling mud at former manager Harry Redknapp in a bid to prevent ugly scenes in their FA Cup fourth round match away to South Coast rivals Southampton on Saturday.
Southampton manager Harry Redknapp signed midfield player Nigel Quashie from former club Portsmouth for 2.1 million pounds ($3.93m) on Monday.
Former England striker Kevin Phillips was on target twice but Southampton had to settle for a point in a 3-3 draw against Fulham on Wednesday.
Two weeks after quitting Portsmouth, Harry Redknapp is taking over at fierce south coast rivals Southampion, the Premier League club confirmed.
Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric has said that Harry Redknapp, who resigned as manager last week, was innocent of any wrong-doing over agent or transfer fees.
Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric and former manager Harry Redknapp have called a clear-the-air news conference at the Premiership club on Tuesday.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp resigned on Wednesday, saying he needed to take a complete break from the game after 22 years as a coach.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp and chairman Milan Mandaric have declared a truce in the feud which had left Redknapp's future with the south coast club in doubt.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has signed a one year extension to his contract that will keep him at Fratton Park until 2006.
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