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Thursday's football thread
Blackburn Rovers don't mess about (well, their back four aside), do they? Sam Allardyce has been announced as the new manager at Ewood Park, signing a three year contract and being officially unveiled at a press conference today.
Portsmouth romped home to a 3-0 win over Heerenveen, with Crouch scoring 2 goals in as many minutes and Hermann Hreidarsson heading a third goal in injury time. A second string Aston Villa side were taken to school by Martin Jol's Hamburg, losing 3-1 in their final game of the group. Nevertheless, Portsmouth are out and Villa are through. Spurs take on Spartak Moscow tonight, whilst Dunne will be missing from Man City's clash with Racing Santander as he became a father late last night. Many congrats etc.
Potential turmoil upstairs at Arsenal as Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, Arsenal's third-largest shareholder, leaves the board, potentially leaving the door open for Alisher Usmanov buy her 15.9% stake and force a takeover bid. It could all amount to nowt though.
Now, for the merry-go-round of utter nonsense that is the transfer rumour mill: Calderon claims that, in the words of kissinginkansas, Real Madrid's summer signing of Cristiano Ronaldo is a "done deal", Arsenal want 24-year-old Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini as a long-term replacement for William Gallas, Andrei Arshavin is angling for a move to either Chelsea or Man Utd after Zenit gave him permission to personally seek a move, Everton and Bolton are fighting it out to sign Sheffield Wednesday's £3m-rated defender Mark Beevers and Gary O'Neil looks set to return to Portsmouth after failing to settle on Teeside.