8 January 2006 Allardyce Going Nowhere Bolton chairman Phil Gartside has been quick to shot down speculation linking Sam Allardyce with a move to Newcastle : "If Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd wanted to talk to Sam he would be denied permission to do so. The only way I'd consider letting Sam leave is if the England job came up." 6 January 2006 Gaydamak Unhappy With Abramovic Comparison Portsmouth's new joint-owner Alexandre Gaydamak has played down comparisons with Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich : "I don't know the gentleman (Abramovich) personally but I have the utmost respect him and admire him very much. I am very uncomfortable with comparisons between us, it is a different league - I am very small and he is very big, I can't compare myself to him. I took the advice of my own advisers for this and that's it. My ambition for this football club first and foremost is to stay in The Premiership and at the end of the season we will see what we can do. I see myself as a person who found an opportunity and a very strong challenge, not a saviour. You think I'm the saviour? That is a joke." 5 January 2006 AFA Chairman Ridicule's Argentina's Midget Attack Julio Grondona, the president of the Argentina Football Association, has ridiculed calls by Argentina supporters to field the four midgets i.e. Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Javier Saviola and Sergio Aguero in attack at the World Cup : "Those who would like to see these four play together can rent the film 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' rather than watch the World Cup. Football is a mixture of physiques and different techniques." 4 January 2006 Newcastle Injuries Mount Newcastle, who have recently lost Michael Owen and Steven Taylor to long terms injuries, have suffered another huge blow with news that inspirational midfielder Scott Parker will be out of action for five weeks following knee surgery. 3 January 2006 Vieira - Arsenal Miss Me Patrick Vieira claims, with some justification, that fomer club Arsenal are struggling because of his absense : "I don't want to appear presumptuous but I really do think that my absence has been felt at Arsenal. They have certainly suffered psychologically since I left. Maybe it is because they have not fully understood the reasons why I left or maybe they are only just beginning to understand." Vieira also said ambition drove him to Juventus : "I know what I want from myself and I know what way I want my life to take. I have signed a long contract with Juventus because these are the most decisive years of my career and they may well be the last team that I play for. I left London because there was nothing else left to stimulate me. I am 29 and still at the top of my career. I have reached my peak physically and tactically. I wanted to play the best years of my career for a side that would help develop my ambitions and Juventus have allowed me this." 2 January 2006 Boro Lose Queudrue Middlesbrough defender 'French' Franck Quedrue has been ruled out for six weeks after picking up a knee injury against Manchester City yesterday. Wenger in Denial Arsene Wenger, once again showed alarming levels of stubbornness, claims the teams current problems are down to a lack of experience and not down the fact that Pascal Cygan and Mathieu Flamini are mediocre footballers or down to the fact that Fernando Reyes has been an expensive flop : "Don't rule us out too quickly. We want to make 2006 a great year for Arsenal Football Club. The team is very determined to achieve that. People draw quick conclusions. If our squad were all aged 33, I'd say yes but we have the youngest team of all the four (Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal) and we're not as far away as people think we are. It's down to us. This team can make a quick step forward and make you all wrong (no they can't). We have until May and I'm a great believer that there is a lot, lot more to come from my team." Allardyce Fury at Liverpool's Roughhouse Tactics "I'm very disappointed because there were three major incidents that have been missed in our opinion. While we're pleased with the performance we feel we've been on the wrong end of some decisions today and maybe it's cost us two points. Firstly Kevin Nolan was brought down by Jamie Carragher with referee Mark Clattenburg waving play on, but he gave Steven Gerrard a penalty which was just as clear as Nolan's. There were two nasty incidents here today too. People talk about us being tough but we don't go over the top, but here Gerrard stamped on Nolan and Sissoko stamped on Dioufy and that's clear to see. He (Gerrard) has a look to see where he is before he did it so it's clear. From our point of view the officials have been disappointing today as they've missed these incidents and have not dealt with them. That's the most disappointing thing because we would have won the game had the referee dealt with Gerrard and Sissoko properly." - Sam Allardyce Billionaire Arrives At Portsmouth Portsmouth coach Harry Redknapp saw cash registers blinking in his eyes with the news that the son of Russian billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, Alexandre, will buy a 50% stake in Portsmouth at a cost of €22 million. Alexandre will work alongside chairman Milan Mandaric but has the option to buy the remaining 50% at a later date. It's been rumoured Gaydamak will invest 150 million in the club. No More Salutes From Di Canio Lazio forward Paolo Di Canio, worried by the prospect of disciplinary action against his club, has promised to stop making his controversial Roman salutes during matches : "During the Christmas break I have had time to reflect and I have decided to put the good of Lazio before my interests. For the moment I will avoid certain displays in public, situations which are so devilish for some people but I will continue my battle for liberty in other ways, with he help of the lawyers who assist me." 1 January 2005 73 Million Watch Milan vs Liverpool 73 million people watched Liverpool's dramatic Champions League final victory over Milan last May making the match the second most viewed sporting event of 2005 behind the Superbowl. SuperBowl XXXIX was watched by 93 million, the 50th European Cup final by 73 million and the Canadian Grand Prix 51 million. In a list of the ten most viewing sporting event none of the remaining 7 drew more than 25 million viewers. While the initial figures would seem to back up the highly dubious claim made by the American media (and the three channels that carry the event live in Europe) that the SuperBowl is the most viewed sporting event Worldwide, dubious given American football is a niche sport, Initiative Futures report showed that of the 93 million SuperBowl viewers a massive 98% were from North America which means a paltry 1.86 million people watched the event throughout the rest of the World. The European Cup final was watched by millions in dozens of countries. Kevin Alavy, the senior analyst at Initiative Futures, said : "I would wager that in Europe people would be a little bit surprised that the SuperBowl is number one because it draws its audience from only one market." In even numbered years the European Championships and World Cups are said to draw an average worldwide audience of 153 million.