Andy Burnham wants tighter controls on club ownership. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid
The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, has backed Sepp Blatter’s call for tighter rules on club ownership and insists it is vital to restore “confidence” among supporters.
The Fifa president appeared before MEPs at the European Union yesterday when he claimed investment in football was “out of [...]

The loyalty of supporters should see clubs through these difficult financial times. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/Guardian
Ever since the Premier League boomed into life in 1992, fuelled by Sky’s millions, stubborn prophets of doom have warned it is a bubble that is bound to burst. More measured observers wondered if clubs would be particularly vulnerable to a [...]

Alan Smith has suffered another serious injury. Photograph: Tony O’Brien/Action Images
Newcastle’s crisis-stricken season has taken another turn for the worse following the news that midfielder Alan Smith could be out of action for up to three months.
While the off-field problems rumble on in the fall-out from Kevin Keegan’s resignation as manager, supporter unrest and owner [...]

Ray Wilkins is set for a return to his former stomping ground. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
Chelsea have appointed Ray Wilkins as the club’s new assistant first-team coach following the departure of Steve Clarke to West Ham.
Wilkins, who made nearly 200 appearances for Chelsea in the 1970s, embarks on his second coaching spell with the club, having [...]

Joey Barton played the final few minutes of Newcastle’s match against Arsenal. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Joey Barton’s agent has accused the press of hounding his client following reports that the Newcastle United midfielder jumped a red light as he drove to meet his probation officer. Pictures in the Daily Mirror show the Newcastle United star’s [...]

Can Dimitar Berbatov provide a cutting edge to the United attack? Photograph: John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images
Two interminable Old Trafford summer transfer sagas: two happy endings for Alex Ferguson. The signing of Dimitar Berbatov from Spurs was the final - and pretty much the only – positive act of a three-month transfer window campaign [...]

Kevin Keegan has been unhappy with Newcastle’s failure to attract key signings. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Kevin Keegan’s reign at Newcastle has come to an abrupt end after meetings with club owner Mike Ashley today, according to Guardian sources.
After making his unhappiness with the club’s failure to sign three or four major targets this summer [...]

Xisco is understood to be on the verge of a deal at Newcastle. Photograph: Rafa Rivas/AFP/Getty Images
Deportivo de La Coruña claim they have agreed to sell striker Xisco to Newcastle and that he will now hold talks with the Premier League club, while Valencia also say that the Magpies have signed their midfielder Ignacio Gonzalez [...]

Jonathan Woodgate scores past Petr Cech in the Carling Cup final. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
69 min: Malouda receives the ball on the left and as he’s about to try to take on Jenas (who’s at right-back rather than Zokora), Huddlestone lumbers across and fouls him. Deco wastes the free-kick.
68 min: Lampard is being [...]

Mark Hughes is happy with a ‘very satisfactory week’. Photograph: Phil Cole/Getty Images
Manchester City have completed the signing of the Argentine defender Pablo Zabaleta from Espanyol for an undisclosed fee. The 23-year-old has signed a five-year deal at Eastlands, and will further strengthen Mark Hughes’s squad following the acquisition of Shaun Wright-Phillips from Chelsea on [...]