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It’s a phrase so often over-used, but given the sterility of the last two rounds worth of draws, this season I have been aching to use it!

This Saturday, 19^th February 2011, in the Fifth Round of what is arguably the world’s most famous club competition we have the meeting of two Red Devils - but in honesty making any similarities beyond the nickname would be akin to comparing fire and ice. 93 league places in the football pyramid separate the Premier League runners up and the team currently placed 2nd in the Blue Square Premier, and whereas 75,322 watched United beat City in their last outing, just 3,331 watched a five goal thriller at Broadfield Stadium as Crawley Town beat Wrexham 3-2.

You simply have to admire Steve Evans’s positivity and enthusiasm ahead of the match against United - undoubtedly the biggest game the Middlesex side have ever played - with the manager declaring in the pre-match press conference “If there is any non-league club capable of beating United then its Crawley Town. We have the best team at this level for a long time and we’re more organised than other teams. It will take a miracle for that to happen but miracles do happen.”

Sir Alex Ferguson would be wise not to ignore the Blue Square Premier team, who have so far beaten Football League opposition in each preceding round of the FA Cup to reach the 5th Round (Swindon Town, Derby County and Torquay United) - and is likely to field a strong, if not full first team side as the Red half of Manchester search for their first ‘traditional’ Domestic Double (League and FA Cup) since their famous treble winning season of 1998/99.

Evans remains pragmatic, explaining “We might get smashed out of Manchester but we’ll try to get the ball down, pass it and move and try to play” - As he stated midweek, the likes of Arsène Wenger or Alex McLeish wouldn’t relish drawing Manchester United at home - but when you consider that with gate receipts split three ways equally between the sides and the FA, and prices averaging £45 per ticket, Crawley Town will emerge from tomorrow victorious regardless of the result on the pitch.

Although, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Southern Red Devils will put up a fight, and may yet leave the majority of Old Trafford silent by 7pm tomorrow evening. Whatever happens, it’s clear the magic of the FA Cup is still with us, and is as strong as it has ever been.

I’ve been thinking tonight, and I sadly have decided that Wolves are more and more likely looking like relegation fodder. Just look at the last few days transfer moves:

West Brom? They bring in Carlos Vela, the hugely talented Mexican prodigy who can play in a number of attacking positions (from Arsenal, loan).

Birmingham? Why they’ll have ex-Inter and Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins thank you very much! A strong forward player with the kind of experience of the Premier League which is vital in avoiding the drop (from Rubin, loan).

Wolves? Umm, well… Errrrrm… Leigh Griffiths? A ‘bargain basement’ signing from a Scottish First Division club in desperate plight (see my previous entry), one who is very talented and has a bright future but as even Mick admits, he is “one for the future, he is not a Premier League striker yet” - Oh, and they’ve also had lots of rejections from the kind of players needed (people like Robbie Keane, Jonathan Woodgate and David Wheater) by all accounts.

Hate to say it, but the writing seems to be on the wall, Mick, and your time is running out. :(

An interesting quandary came about last week, north of the border in the land of haggis, bagpipes and deep fried mars bars. 

Seems that cash-strapped Dundee FC - who have already been in Administration twice this season - have now lost their appeal over a points deduction given by the Scottish Football Association, incurring a hefty 25-point penalty taking them tumbling from second in the table to tenth - rock bottom - and some 8 points adrift of guaranteed safety in 8th place.

Staying true to their namesake, Wolves have leapt on the circumstances and gone in for the kill with a bid of £150,000 for Dundee’s striker Leigh Griffiths. (I had to stop myself from writing ‘talismanic’ there for a moment - note to self; no matter how many goals a player might score for your team, Football Manager 2011 is NOT real!) Now, in a very sensible move, Wolves have made this transfer bid on the basis that Griffiths remains at Dundee for the rest of the season - for a couple of reasons:

1) It is in Wolves’ interestto allow a young talent to mature and improve a little more before throwing him into the English Premier League to potentially flounder like so many before him.

2) It is in Dundee’s interest to earn money at the moment, to help pay towards the £500k needed to pay off their creditors and survive.

3) It is in the interest of both Dundee and the SFA for Griffiths to remain at Dens Park until the Summer transfer window. Allowing him to stay on would preserve the threadbare 12-man squad the club have been left by the administrators , and allow them to fulfill their remaining fixtures this season, and so avoid any further sanctions or fines from the SFA. It would mean that Dundee keep hold of one of Scotland’s most exciting up-and-coming prospects for a few more months, and Scottish football enjoys any exposure Griffiths receives in the next few months (he currently sits as the clubs top goal scorer, having hit the net 14 times this season).

The deal as both clubs want it would allow the integrity of the Scottish First Division to be preserved, without giving Dundee an unfair advantage over their rival teams (although I am aware that under current regulations clubs in administration are not allowed to add players to their squads, so they do not have the usual option of an immediate sale with a clause bringing Griffiths back ‘on loan’ until the end of the season) but instead of seeing common sense, the Scottish FA have refused the transfer.

If I can ponder, what exactly would the difference be between this deal and one where the buying club pays the fee for the player to the selling club immediately, and the player then signs a pre-contract agreement with his new club for July 1st onwards - leaving the buying club guaranteed their purchase when they want him, the selling club their player for a further few months to assist in their already tough battle against relegation, and the administrators a fair chunk of the monies to pay off creditors and help the club take a step closer to moving out of administration?

Idiotic.

As it is, Wolves had instead taken the lad on a trial basis. Not sure how this helped Dundee out, but they have now confirmed they are to formalise the signing on a permanent basis in the next 24 hours. Welcome to the Premier League, Leigh.

Sorry for the delay in actually posting a second blog, have been ummm, RATHER busy with Uni work! I can assure you one is on the way very soon - in the meantime, enjoy these fantastic photos. Old news now, but they still make me laugh out loud! Only in Manchester, eh? :D

Well, here we are almost at the end of the first week of the January transfer window, and at the first post of this new (and my first!) blog.

In the last six or seven days, we’ve already many interesting, eyebrow-raising and frankly some ludicrous stories are flying about the tabloids and web pages, and I’m sure there’s plenty more action to come, but just to get this blog up and running, here’s a few of the stories from the past few days:

Emmanuel Adebayor is looking likely to leave Manchester City by the end of the month, with Liverpool or Tottenham looking the most likely to secure his signature on a loan basis until the summer - Tottenham appear to be investigating other options, having cooled their interest in Newcastle striker Andy Carroll, declining to match the (frankly insane) price tag of £25 million slapped on by the Geordies.

And then we have good old Blackburn Rovers, who’s owners had stated that their Brazil office were in talks involving bringing 30-year-old midfield playmaker and former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho to Ewood Park. Anuradha Desai told local radio that “He is keen to play in the EPL and I think that goes in our favour”. Obviously he wasn’t that keen, as barely 24 hours later news broke that the Brazilian had instead opted for a switch back to South America to his hometown and boyhood club Gremio, where his career began.

Steve Sidwell is almost certain to leave Aston Villa in this transfer window although not to West Ham as was first thought, after a deal with his hometown club fell through for “undisclosed reasons” even though the midfielder agreed personal terms, and passed a medical. He is now thought to be in talks with Wolves, having been a guest at Molineux for the team’s impressive 1-0 win over Chelsea on Wednesday night.

Finally, Manchester City are looking to bolster their ranks once again by splashing out a further £27 million (estimated) on promising Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko. Clubs across Europe have been keeping an eye on the highly-rated 24-year-old who has impressed in Germany, scoring 66 goals in 111 games. City manager Roberto Mancini hopes that Dzeko can succeed where so many others have so far failed, in providing a foil to Carlos Tevez and chipping in with goals alongside the Argentinian Terrier in City’s front line.

Interestingly, ‘Edin Dzeko’ would earn you a handsome 24 points on the Scrabble board - I wonder whether he will be able to chip in and provide as many points between now and the end of the season for Mancini and the sky blue half of Manchester?