2 out of 2 - not a great start

It was a 452-1 bet for the Arsenal v Spurs match to finish 4-4, apparently a lucky punter put £10 on it! Stoke beat Sunderland 1-0 with a spirited performance but Chelsea and Vila did win but tips wise I need to go back to the drawing board - ah well we shall see what the weekend may bring...

Head of the Olympics Jacques Rogge has stated that London's new 2012 stadium doesn't need to have an athletics track and therefore could be used in the future for other forms of recreation. The IOC boss said: "If the best solution is to transform the track into something else then we would be in favour of that."

Tottenham's Daniel Levy said that he did consider this as a potential option for Spurs and West Ham United have been rumoured to be interested in the proposition.

Hull 0 Chelsea 3

Hull City's outstanding winning streak was brought to an end last night by an outstanding Chelsea team. The first goal you have to check out - Frank Lampard has been displaying world beating midfield skills recently and this delicate chip was another example of why he is one of the easiest choices for Capello to make in the England set up. Anelka added a second which made Hull crumble against the Premiership high flyers and Malouda scored to truly finish off the Premiership new boys. On reflection Phil Brown will take this as education for his team that have so far over delivered - 7-8 more wins and they will have secured premiership safety which is amazing with the resources this club have.

North London derby game of the season

Arsenal 4 Tottenham H 4

An 8 goal thriller at the Emirates stadium was the game of the night of the midweek fixtures. A potential goal of the season from David Bentley opened up the game and forced even more pressure on the Spurs defence as a result. From a football spectator's point of view this was a classic but defensive/goalkeeping coaches would have been cringing. Both Almunia and Gomes made terrible errors as well as Clichy and Hutton - but this contributed hugely to the entertainment factor. On this evidence, Arsenal have the same beautiful game that we know of but are defensively too naive to win the Premiership as things stand. Tottenham Hotspur need strengthening but Harry Redknapp has galvanised his squad giving the players more spirit and confidence. All four goalscorers for Spurs were English (Bentley, Huddlestone, Bent and Lennon) which is also an encouraging positive point for the international scene.

Paolo Maldini looking forward to teaming up with Beckham

AC Milan veteran Paolo Maldini backs Beckham's imminent loan move to the Italian club as not just a means of keeping fit but that he is still hungry for success at the very highest level. Despite the deal being not completely signed and sealed it looks on the cards that he will be joining Kaka, Ronaldinho and other big footballing stars.

"Beckham is coming here to train, to remain in good form and to still be an important part of his national team," Maldini said.

"Milan has no reservations signing veteran players and has always taken into account the image and communication factors.

"As long as you have image and technical values together, all is well."

NEW Football Betting Tips

I would hate anyone to lump on seriously with any Football Tip I give. Why? Because I have the kiss of death when it come to gambling on anything. However I want to try out a theory which is if I give football tips but don't gamble on them, does my record improve? It may become obvious therfore that I am superstitious when it comes to this stuff but anyway here goes.

On Wednesday there is a full premiership programme (shown below) and I would go for Arsenal to beat Spurs at the Emirates, Aston Villa to beat Blackburn at Villa Park, Chelsea to beat Hull and Sunderland to beat Stoke. Lets see now how good my predictions are....

Wednesday 29th October 2008
Arsenal	vs.	Tottenham	20:00
Aston Villa	vs.	Blackburn	19:45
Bolton	vs.	Everton	20:00
Fulham	vs.	Wigan	19:45
Hull	vs.	Chelsea	19:45
Liverpool	vs.	Portsmouth	20:00
Man Utd	vs.	West Ham	20:00
Middlesbrough	vs.	Man City	20:00
Stoke	vs.	Sunderland	19:45

Harry Redknapp replaces European style management team at Spurs

Well, as a loyal Spurs fan I must admit that I am completely speechless afer this weekend's developments. The madness started with Daniel Levy sacking Juande Ramos, Gus Powet and Damien Comolli being sacked late last night (26th October 2008) after a series of tragic results underpinned from some tragic player acquisition at the Lane. I awoke to a text message at 8.15am from an old friend who is a Bradford City fan telling me that Harry Redknapp was our new manager. With a mixture of shear disbelief and excitement I scrambled for the trusty Sky Digital remote control to go on to SSN. Then the news unfolded. After taking 2 points from a potential 24, this premiership campaign had gone terribly. The disharmony from Ramos and Camolli was so blatant; here was a Spanish coach who wanted to demand his player choices stuck but then had more than a thorn in his side with Levy having a bias towards the Sporting Director's views.

After a decade of trying to force a square peg into a round hole with the Director of football two-tiered management structure, Daniel Levy has hit rock bottom and ate Humble pie at the lowest ebb of Tottenham Hotspur's Premiership history. Ramos was the man that Levy and Camolli both gambled on with great confidence, prizing him away from Spanish side Seville after Martin Jol's results took a downwards turn. With relegation staring Gus Poyet and Jaunde Ramos right between the eyes, something had to give.

"The results are what counts in football and we all know how this world works," Ramos said. "Now we just have to see if this decision is the best one for the team to recover and have a good season."

Harry Redknapp joins Tottenham Hotspur from a very successful second spell in management at Portsmouth. After winning the FA Cup and getting Pompey into Europe, Redknapp hinted that the £5 millon that Levy offered was too tempting a payment for Portsmouth to take. However, emotionally this move to Spurs had been on his mind in previous years and his willingness to succeed came from connections with the club on many levels.

"I could have come here maybe 18 months ago, in all honesty," said Redknapp. "I nearly came here, it was a long story but things happened.

"I nearly went to Newcastle and people said I didn't want to take on the challenge of a big club. I felt that once this happened (with Spurs again), I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.

Whatever will happen at the Lane next? A great start today with a 2-0 victory against Bolton with Pavlichenko and Bent scoring, but relegation is still a huge threat to Tottenham Hotspur - the table does not lie. Either way, today was a huge step forward for the Spurs. Harry Redknapp is the best English manager that we have and shows the strength and resilience that Tottenham need to either get out of the bottom three or to bounce right back into the big time.