Abramovich has nothing better to do with his fortune...

Chelski owner Roman Abramovich is denying that he has offered Russian footballers a bonus for beating England -- color me skeptical since he spends money like its burning and is known to fund his homeland's national team:

The two nations meet in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier on Wednesday.

And reports claimed the Russian players would receive £40,000 if they were to defeat Steve McClaren's men.

But a Chelsea statement said: "Roman Abramovich has never offered, proposed or promised any bonuses to the Russian team to beat England."

The billionaire Chelsea owner has close links with football back in his homeland and is reported to bankroll the salary of coach Guus Hiddink.

But the Chelsea statement added: "The financial backing Mr Abramovich gives to Russian football, via his National Academy of Football foundation, is for the development of the game as a whole and is not focused on specific matches.

"Mr Abramovich supports grass-roots football initiatives through such efforts as building football pitches, helping to organise youth sports academies and providing training for coaches."

Chelsea are likely to have four of their players lining up against the Russians, with Ashley Cole, John Terry, Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips probable starters.

Quick hits:
Everton skipper Tim Cahill is getting ready to return to the pitch.

Everton boss David Moye is already preparing to lose players to the African Cup.

Fernando Torres is enjoying his time with Liverpool thus far.

Arsenal doesn't need dirty Russian money.

The Argentine Bulldog can't wait to pair with Wayne Rooney.

Heinze's bid for freedom denied...

Looks like Heinze will be staying at Old Trafford as his appeal to the arbitration board was denied:

United disputed claims from Heinze, 29, who said the Red Devils gave him written permission to pursue a transfer to another club for a fee of £6.8m.

But a Premier League arbitration panel concluded that the permission "was unambiguous in that it envisages only an international transfer".

The defender is set to appeal against the panel's decision.

However, with the transfer window scheduled to shut on 31 August, he is short of time if he wants to leave Old Trafford.

The arbitration panel's verdict read: "The Premier League Board-appointed panel have heard submissions of evidence from both parties and has ruled to dismiss the player's case.

"The hearing concluded that nature and intention of the disputed 13 June 2007 letter, especially when taken in context of verbal discussions and Manchester United FC's transfer policy, was unambiguous in that it envisages only an international transfer.

"Furthermore, the hearing finds the letter constitutes an 'agreement to agree' and did not create an obligation or binding agreement for the club to transfer the player to any particular club."

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill travelled to Monday's hearing in London to put their case and will be happy with the verdict.

A Manchester United spokesman said: "We are pleased that the panel has endorsed our case."

Too bad mate, but to me the move never made much sense in the first place but I will be interested to see how this will affect his happiness and his form if Fergie plays him. This ruling has led to the Free Heinze campaign, coming to a t-shirt store near you:

Rob Styles is a tosser...

From the AOL Sporthouse. I hadn't seen this replay yet (as I was travelling Sunday) but it was such a crap call as Malouda was clearly either dummying the ball back to Drogba or flopping like a salmon. Styles looks like a Chelski supporter to me:

If there's one thing on which Chelsea fans and Liverpool fans can agree after Sunday's big match in Anfield, it's this -- referee Rob Styles was a world-class tosser. Not only did he award Chelsea a bogus penalty, as the video above shows, but he handed out, oh, about 38 yellow cards because of player protests. I think Michael Essien got yellow-carded five times for dissent, yet still managed to stay in the game.

The Premier League? It, too, thought that penalty was bogus, and it has acted accordingly.

Referee Rob Styles will not officiate in the next Premier League round after mistakenly awarding Chelsea a penalty kick in the 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield. ...

Referees chief Keith Hackett said Monday that Styles will be suspended for the next round.

"It is just like with players - if they miss an open goal, they are likely to be dropped," Hackett said. "Having looked at a video and seen a better angle and a better view, clearly (Styles) now recognizes that he got it wrong and he's deeply apologetic for that. I think, in fact, he will be making contact with Liverpool in order to offer his apologies."

It's actually kind of refreshing to see a sports league not only hold a ref accountable for a bad call, but force him to write a letter of apology to the team he wronged.

Monday Quick hits

Newly signed Man City striker Bojinov out 5 months with ligament damage.

Ref dropped from the Premier League after horrendous call against Liverpool.

Man U only has 2 points after losing the Manchester derby but Fergie isn't panicking (yet.)

After 3 games Man U are already facing a must win against the Spurs.

Diouf wants to wander away from Bolton.

Alan Shearer might buy Newcastle with help from some Icelandic friends.

American spare part Eddie Lewis is signed by Derby from troubled Leeds side.

For US viewers -- top goals in the Premier League last weekend.

Brazil scores a goal in the first 9 seconds of the U-17 World Cup.

Sven says the Citizen's aren't a top table side yet.

Martin Jol can't take the pressure.

Gerrard, Hargreaves and Bent are out of the English friendly.

Roy Keane blasts Sunderland after Wigan whoops his lads.

Top goals from Wednesday's action...

Michael Johnson's superb strike for Man City, showing why all the big clubs want this kid.

Voronin's immaculate blast for Liverpool in their away leg qualifying round match against Toulouse.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Hartley's great header to give Celtic a huge advantage in their CL qualifying battle with Spartak.


Scholesy's thread the needle screamer from outside of the box to put United up on Portsmouth.


Clichy's steal and set up for Fabregas as Arsenal take a two goal advantage in their CL qualifying round with Sparta.

Messi's wonder strike against Bayern Munich


Caffa's stoppage time free kick goal for Real Betis to win the friendly over Real Madrid.

Betis 1 - 0 Real M. Caffa 93'
Uploaded by cubbek

And of course, Golden Balls' is free kick.


And if you get a chance, here are Drogba's tremendous strike and Hleb's kamikaze goal. Cheers.

Thursday Quick Hits...

A couple of quick hits for today:

• Daniel Alves move to Chelsea has hit a snag as Sevilla says the offer is vastly under their value
• Stevie G breaks his toe but will play Chelsea this weekend but will miss the friendly versus Germany
• Hamburg SV won't let Dutch star Van der Vaart leave them
• Kieron Dyer's move to West Ham is complete but probably a week too late as he clearly was needed last weekend. His transfer should be completed in time for this weekend's fixture against Birmingham
• Beckham finally makes an impact in the MLS Superliga Cup:
  

The two goals the Premier League doesn't want you to see

An outstanding take from David Warner at AOL Sports Blog, not much else needs to be said:

I was a little hesitant to post this clip here, because I have a feeling that the Premier League will find out about these guys and file lawsuits against them, just like they did against YouTube, but really, this Steven Gerrard free kick has to be seen to be believed.


Clips like this would be a fantastic promotional tool for the Premier League, something that could show people just how exciting this league can be. If the Premier League actually worked with an online video site -- or created its own, like Comedy Central did -- to produce highlight clips like this that bloggers could share with their audience, then perhaps the league could attract even more sports fans. MLS has a YouTube account. U.S. Soccer has one, too. Why doesn't the Premier League?

Because they let lawyers determine their marketing policy. It's one thing to protect your copyright, but stop punishing your biggest fans for this. That's just stupidity.

After the jump: Obafemi Martins of Newcastle makes a bicycle kick goal that rips the heart out of Bolton Wanderers fans everywhere.

Warner's point is outstanding -- the more casual sports fans see of fabulous goals such as these, the more the league will grow. Personally, the more I see the Martins goal, the more amazing it is.

UPDATE: Here's a goal the Premier League would definitely rather you not see:

Perhaps efforts like Lehmann's are what the Premier League is trying to prevent it's fans from seeing.