Last season Leeds United started their League One campaign fifteen points in the hole, a mandatory FA penalty for any club that goes into administration during the football year. Londonist United, our fantasy crew of London-born players, finds itself in a similar situation; not because of any financial regularity (heck, we managed to assemble a cracking capital team with change from £50m), but we were too busy clowning around in August to actually register......

At midnight on September 1st, the football transfer window will slam shut, and in the final two days a rush of players will be defenestrated, squeezed through and sent across the country and beyond as last-minute deals are sealed and questionable buys rubber-stamped by dubious chairmen. The lucre that pumps football's beating heart, one that grows increasingly sullied as morally dubious characters purchase cherished clubs, will see footballers untimely ripped from their locales and......

As the country dangles on the brink of European Championship fever we ride that wave of euphoria in bringing you some updates on football pieces we featured a few months ago. Our first priority here must be to praise the winner of this season's Londonist Fantasy Football League title, so let's hear it for the redoubtable Diaby Does Gallas FK who, having snatched top spot from Hopeless XI as we reported in January, held......

A Premiership title decided well before the final day and an FA Cup final between Portsmouth and Cardiff City are not likely to enchant English football's television paymasters around the world. Many football fans are delighted at Wembley's unexpected May guests, but a predictable league combined with a cup competition that appears to be losing the attention of the big teams while they remain in Europe look like a recipe for stagnation and possible......

Boo! Hiss! In a story straight out of Sky One’s Dream Team, City of London Police have revealed that two of Birmingham City Football Club's head honchos were detained on Wednesday and questioned over corrupt transfer signings. Like a plotline from the football soap, the investigation of the duo is believed to centre around a transfer deal connecting football super-agent Willie McKay and Senegalese footballer Aliou Cissé, to co-owner of the club David Sullivan,......

While the weekend's football may have been dominated by FA Cup upsets, for the red corner of North London, Sunday March 9th was memorable for a more unusual reason. St.Totteringham's Day is one of those arcane bits of football rivalry that makes the game so enjoyable. It falls every season on the day when it becomes mathematically impossible for Spurs to overtake rivals Arsenal in the Premier League. Despite the Gooner's anaemic draw against......

Richard Scudamore of the Premier League has not been the most popular footballing figure of the last few weeks. The executives overseeing football in favoured destinations for his plan of playing Premier League matches abroad, such as China, Thailand and the USA, have lined up to express their objections, as has the President of world football's governing body, FIFA. However, not every land that loves football comes under FIFA's aegis. Scudamore might be able......

You can tell the vintage of an Ethiopian male by the team he favors... Granddads like Liverpool, dads ManU, and young men Arsenal. The emerging generation seems to be leaning toward Chelsea. Why all British? The BBC, of course. Next to Coke and Pepsi, Arsenal was the most visible Western brand in the country. So says Angry Monk, taker of the above shot of a taxi driver in Awasa. His observations will come as......

Last year Arsenal won everything in sight, a clean sweep of domestic and European trophies. Manager Vic Akers was delighted to secure four triumphs from four competitions. We are, of course, talking about the Ladies team who tonight take on Everton at Leyton Orient's Matchroom Stadium to defend the first of that quartet of titles, in the FA Tesco Women's Premier League Cup Final, kick off 7:35pm. The game is also live on Sky......

As the repercussions continue around the Premiership's shock announcement that it was going to take its brand of football around the world in a weekend, its chief executive Richard Scudamore is determined that the plan should survive in some way, shape or form. As we mentioned last week, FIFA's regional associations and its president Sepp Blatter himself have come out in opposition to the idea of our league matches encroaching on their territories at......

The bane of touring indie rock bands has become so pandemic that it now plagues sports teams. The Arsenal Women’s Premier League squad had several items burgled from their dressing room while playing at Watford yesterday. Passports, cash and credit cards were among the possessions nicked from the dressing room, which of course begs the question of what one does with someone else’s passport. The match between Arsenal and Watford was abandoned before the......

Although largely un-reported by the mainstream press, Arsenal Ladies Football Club have this week have put the cherry on top of a feat which is a minor miracle in football terms. This accomplishment has never been bettered or equalled by their English counterparts, male or female, and unlikely to occur again. By securing the Premier League title, The UEFA Cup, the League Cup and the FA Cup they have powered their way to an......

Chelsea and Arsenal have both won it in the past, but this year's London Senior Cup, premier competition of the London Football Association, will be fought over by Bromley FC and Tooting & Mitcham United who, as it happens, are also staging the final at their Imperial Fields ground (pictured above). The cup, which these days is "open to all non-F.A. Premier League and non-Football League Senior Clubs affiliated to the Association or approved......

Every year the Which? Good Food Guide announce their 'Premier League of restaurants' and every year London comes top of the table. Indeed, this year, out of the 1200 or so restaurants that make up the list, 333 of them were in London, and the guide's editor, Andrew Turvil, is even quoted as saying that "No ther city can compete, just as Chelsea have dominated the Premiership these last few years." But we shouldn't......

Reaction from Ghana's 2-0 victory over Togo on Tuesday night and some fantasy football news As Ghana captain Stephen Appiah clutched the match sponsor's trophy (pictured) coaches and officials gave their reaction to the night's events and London's influence on the proceedings. Fred Pappoe, Vice President of the Ghanaian Football Association (middle of picture): London is one of our favourite places away from home… so far we’ve played two or three games in this......

Congratulations to Dennis Bergkamp on his eleven years of service at Highbury, which he crowned with a trademark goal in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, much to the delight of season-ticket holder Elaine James, revealed by Match of the Day 2 on Sunday night as the source of the “Highbury scream” which has punctuated so many moments of goalmouth action at the famous stadium over the years. Elaine will be......

You probably hadn't noticed, but our (almost) world-famous Friday Football Preview has been enjoying a rather extended Christmas break. We tried to convince Editro that this absence was actually a protest to the Premier League, aimed at highlighting the benefits of bringing in a contintental-style winter break, but he was having none of it. Recognising our inherent laziness, he's ordered us to put our Xmas presents back in the toybox and get back to......

There are some intersting noises coming out of Highbury today, where Jes Bains, Chair of the 'Asians in Football' Forum launches a report entitled 'Asians Can Play Football : A wasted decade'. The report comes ten years after the publication of 'Asians Can't Play Football', which served as a clarion call to the game's authorities to start taking a lead in breaking down the barriers that exclude British Asians from our national game. According......

English football is feeling rather sorry for itself right now. Relegated from prime position on the the back pages by the gentlemen in white and hammered by those who are still paying attention for yet another woeful display from an inept national side, it's currently slumped on a sofa and picking half-heartedly at a ready meal as it watches Kinight Rider repeats on Bravo. Yet as football does its level best to dodge those......

Outspoken and controversial football manager Jose Mourinho is apparently set to get his own talk show on Portuguese television. The current Chelsea Manager is no stranger to the spotlight, and has given some of the most memorable post match interviews since excitable Gordon Strachan moved into punditry. He practically owns the phrase "A breath of fresh air for English football" since his arrival from Porto and now he looks set to take his continental......

As it's Friday we feel we're justified in reporting this little bit of non-news which turned up in the press today. Just two days after Pedro Mendes' now infamous 'goal' against Man' United (which, as everyone now knows, crossed the line by a good few feet) opticians Specsavers have offered referee Mark Clattenburg, and every other Premier League official a "free eye test". Specsavers have been advertising on ref's clothing and football in Scotland......