Video from yesterday’s Manchester Derby as Manchester’s United pipped their local rivals City in a thrilling encounter at Old Trafford. City announced their serious intent to break into the top 4 of the Premiership with an excellent performance at the Theatre of Dreams.
City’s hero on the day was Craig Bellamy whose 2 goals kept City in the match before a heartbreaker after 6 minutes on injury time. Bellamy was also involved for the wrong reasons as he maintained his volatile reputation by striking a United Fan. Whilst being a bit funny and also harmless there was no real need as the United stewards had him restrained at the time. Rooney seemed to be impressed with the slap or maybe he was trying to calm him down but by then Bellamy seemed as though he was feeling much better….
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Serena Williams was ejected from the US open yesterday after allegedly threatening a line judge who called a foot fault against the American while she was match point down.

Serena was docked a point for yelling at an official who called a foot fault when trailing 5-6, 15-30 in the second set. She had already received a warning earlier in the match for breaking a racket.

Her opponent, the unseeded Clijsters reached the final after winning 6-4 7-5.

Williams allegedly made a threat against the line judge, who then reported it to the chair umpire. That led to the chair umpire awarding a point to Clijsters, ending the match.

What do you say? Comment below.
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In case you didn’t know, England have completed one of the most unexpected victories in sporting history over cricketing giants Australia. The cricket Ashes victory over the weekend was one of the very few over recent years for England and has captured the nation due to the manner of the victory. On many occassions over the 5 test matches, England had looked down and out but thanks to some heroic batting and excellent bowling, the Lions were able to wrap up victory in the final Oval test match.

The turning point in the final innings was thanks to some quick thinking by Andrew Flintoff to run out Australia captain Ricky Ponting when they were starting to get a grip on the match. Flintoff has been suffering from injury over recent months and years and his performances have taken a knock as aresult, but his instinct was still evident to remove Ponting.

Captain Andrew Strauss praised all his England players following the match and hopefully the England players can build on this performance and get the belief to compete with the biggest cricketing nations.

Every year, the anticipation of the start of a new Premiership football season brings fierce debate amongst fans of the game as to who will be crowned Premiership champions by May next year. The 2009/2010 season is no different, with greater spending and greater expectations, but who is YOUR favourite? News Blog RC discusses the contenders.

Manchester United
The current champions have lost both Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez over the summer transfer window. In the most competitive league in the World, a 30 goals a season player is rare to come by, especially one in midfield, so £80 Million pounds for Ronaldo is justifiable, but has Fergie done enough to replace his losses? With Michael Owen signed on a free transfer and Antonio Valencia coming in from Wigan, only time will tell how big the impact of Ronaldo’s loss will be. Many United fans believe there will be more of a team game displayed at Old Trafford this year and it’s no doubt pressure will be on the likes of Berbatov and Rooney to perform. With money still lying in the bank, will Ferguson attempt to swoop for David Villa or David Silva from Valencia.

Chelsea
News Blog RC believe that Chelsea are the team to beat this season. Their transfer activity has been slower than usual, with Russian winger Zhirkov and young striker Daniel Sturridge their notable acquisitions. Despite this, Chelsea have the strongest squad on show and with new manager Carlo Ancelotti, their fans will be hoping for stability and their superstars to achieve their potential. Ancelotti has spoken of a 2 striker forward line so it will be exciting to watch Anelka and Drogba in tandem for a run of games.

Liverpool
Last season’s runners up have also lost one of their players to Real Madrid, midfielder Xabi Alonso signing for £30 million. So far manager, Rafa Benitez has only strengthened their full back position by purchasing Glen Johnson for £18 million. It is thought that Rafa will look to try and lure David Villa or David Silva to Anfield. Last season the loss of Fernando Torres to injury effectively stalled their title charge so it will be important for Liverpool to keep him fit. The signing of Italian Alberto Aquilani is imminent and Javier Mascherano also remains a public target for Barcelona. News Blog RC predict that unless Liverpool strengthen the squad they may struggle this season and it won’t be as good as the last.

Arsenal
Arsene Wenger has been criticised by the media for not spending enough in the transfer market and this season have lost Kolo Toure and striker Adebayor to big spending Manchester City. There is no doubt they have talent in the squad and will still pose a threat. However, News Blog RC believe that until they find a replacement for Patrick Viera, Arsenal will always struggle against the more physical teams away from home.

Manchester City
The top four has now become a top five following the transfer activity of Manchester City. Big name players Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz, Gareth Barry, Kolo Toure and possibly Joleon Lescott have been added to their books. Owner, Sheikh Mansour has signalled the intent of his ambition by providing manager Mark Hughes with an open cheque book for the signing of players and paying wages. The majority of Premiership fans will be envious and with no European commitments this season, City may prove to be the dark horses in the title race. Realistically a Champions League spot will be a huge achievment and no doubt provide the platform to purchase the real stars the owners are craving for at Eastlands.

Who do you think will win the Premiership?
Comment below with your view.

After watching this video, News Blog RC can simply say “I want a wing suit!” The closest thing to flying.

David Beckham lost his cool with some US fans after a recent match for LA Galaxy. Beckham had been loaned to AC Milan for the second half of last season and was back playing in front of his LA fans, some of whom were not so welcoming.

Sections of the 27,000 crowd booed every time Backham touched the ball. He was substituted in the 75th minute after setting up both Galaxy goals in a 2-2 draw with Milan. An angry confrontation followed, with one supporter having to be restrained. Watch the full video below on News Blog RC.

David Backham’s Response

100,000 Real Madrid fans turned up for the unveiling of Cristiano Ronaldo as the new number 9 of their beloved club. Ronaldo recently signed for £80 Million pounds from Manchester United. Real Madrid have also signed Brazilian, Kaka and French striker, Benzema in an attempt to regain the Spanish title from their bitter rivals, Barcelona.

A small child tried to steal Ronaldo’s football while he was performing some tricks for the audience. Ronaldo stated that he was thankful to the United fans and manager and that he had made some great friends during his time there.

Watch the full video below:

Out of nowhere this week, Manchester United have surprised the footballing world by signing England striker, Michael Owen. Owen was on a free contract from Newcastle after the club had famously been relegated. In his 4 years at St James’ Park, the forward has managed only 30 goals in 79 appearances. The rest of the time was spent on an injury table, with broken bones, knee injuries, hamstring, groin, hernia, and ankle injuries. In fact it is said that Owen ended up costing Newcastle a whopping £1.3 million per goal.

Michael Owen’s agents were said to have made a new brochure about the player in order to sell his services to big clubs. The brochure must have had some lovely pictures, and even better selling points, because the manager of the Premiership champions seemed to like it, and immediately signed him up from under the noses of the Premiership’s relegation candidates. It is no secret that Ferguson has been an admirer of Owen from his Liverpool days when he was the most famous goal poacher to have ever stepped on to the Anfield pitch.

News Blog RC can imagine the conversation between Ferguson and assistant Phelan – “Well we’ve lost Ronaldo….and Tevez is on his way out….not to worry we can always replace them…..Lets see…..No Benzema, No Ribery,Villa, Aguero or Huntelaar…..how about Micky Owen….straight from the grasp of Hull and Stoke…..that will get us the Champions League trophy we missed out on last season…..”

It’s funny how a player who was last week being written off from football should now rise like a  phoenix from the flames, only because United are interested in him. Stoke or Hull would have been labelled as gamblers and laughing stocks if they had picked up Owen on a free transfer, but when it’s Ferguson then it becomes a masterstroke….geez the media definitely know how to manipulate a story.

Could this be one throw of the dice too many? Can Ferguson really expect to replace Ronaldo’s 30 goals a season from midfield? Well this is the first part of the jigsaw for him, maybe 10 goals are covered if they can use Owen sparingly for full effect and hope that he stays injury free.

News Blog RC believes that this is the beginning of the end for Alex Ferguson and the Manchester United domination of the Premier League is beginning to come to an end. Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool will provide more competition for United and with their local neighbours Manchester City being linked with every world class player in sight, the United train is about to be derailed. The smell of desperation is in the air and Ferguson is unsure where to turn.

Owen was unable to get game time for Alan Shearer’s struggling Newcastle side, his pace is gone, his greatest asset many moons ago, what can he offer United? United are looking their weakest for years in several areas and Ferguson seems to be losing the plot. We advise Manchester United go out and buy some extra physio tables and crutches….they will be needed……

World footballing nobodies, USA have stunned European Champions, Spain in the Confederations Cup. Spain only required one more win to make a world record of consecutive wins by an international team. The pressure must have got to them as they were guilty of some cowboy defending and ended up losing 2-0 with goals from Altidore and Fulham’s Clint Dempsey.

USA have now reached the final of the tournament to be played on Sunday and will play the winner of Brazil vs South Africa. You would expect Brazil to win easily in that game but after this result who knows…

Italy defeated USA in the Confederations Cup being held in South Africa. After dominating in the first half despite only having ten men, America struggled in the second and Italy took advantage. Substitute Giuseppe Rossi scored two goals after entering as a second half substitute to help Italy defeat the USA 3-1. News Blog RC’s favourite was the Rossi second goal which he finished after some skilful play by Pirlo on the left. See the video below: