As Barcelona prepare to face Chelsea tonight our guest blogger Jacko voices his opinion on what he see's as a Anti Barca Bandwagon

“Més que un club” adorns one of the stands at the home of FC Barcelona. The literal translation of this is “More than a club”. A  symbol of Catalan culture the moto may as well have read  “Fuck you Madrid & Franco”. but  I digress, that isn’t the point of this blog.

What I want to know is, when did become cool to hate Barca?

I don’t support Barcelona or have a vested interest in Spanish football but I knows what I likes and that is a team who passes the ball around, usually on the deck. Idly scanning the tweets and texts on the BBC Sport feed from last night’s El Clásico a lot of people seemed keen to criticise them for “800 passes per game”. What exactly do we want? Rory Delap wiping the sweat off his brow and the ball before launching it into the area from a throw in and Crouch trying to get his head on it. Yes, they do pass it around a lot and maybe sometimes they play the ball around in defence but it’s up to other teams to up their game. We are indeed a spoilt set of bastards.

So while people are tweeting, texting and generally sending shite to various websites I’ll just sit back and enjoy watching Xavi and Iniesta boss the midfield and one of the greatest club sides seen during my thirty odd years. And I won’t feel the need to tell anyone about it. Oh right……

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Next time:  “Lionel Messi - Overrated”

It's Champions League & Europe league this week so loads of live football on TV.

Starting tonight there are two games kicking off at 5pm, Bate v AC Milan and St Petersburg v Shakthar (on Sky Sports 4 red button). Following that there are 6 more live games on TV tonight, Arsenal v Marseilles on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 3D and Genk v Chelsea on Sky Sports 4. The rest of the games are live on Sky Sports 4 via the red button with Valencia v Bayer Leverkusen the pick of the bunch

Tomorrows Champions League games see's Man Citys first apapearcne on ITV as they travel to Valencia with Man United's game against FC Galati on Sky Sports 2. Lyon v Real Madird is live on Sky Sports 4. Napoli v Bayern Munich is the pick of the red button games on Wednesday.

Thursday it's Europa League and all the British teams are live on TV for the first time this season. Spurs and Birmingham are live on ITV 4, Stoke and Celtic are live on ESPN and Fulham have the pleasure of being live on Channel 5.

ESPN are also showing the MLS play off games live with the pick being LA Galaxy v NY Red Bulls live early Friday morning at about 3am.

With all this live football you need an app to keep you up to date, an app where you can set reminders, chose your favourite teams search by channel and also easily place a mobile bet, if that sounds good to you, then you need our app available in the itunes store Click here to download

Today we take a look at the best of the live football on TV on this week.

There is no Champions League this week but the Carling Cup is back and that makes up two of the 11 live games on this week. Here we preview the week ahead.

Monday

Two games live on TV tonight, a live offering form the Russian Premier League on ESPN at 5pm and what promises to be an exciting game between Brighton and West Ham from the Championship, we feel this game should be a good one for a Monday evening’s entertainment.

Tuesday

Three live games on Tuesday, Granada host the mighty Barca at 7pm on Sky and Juventus host Fiorentina live on ESPN, but if its giant killing you are looking for then Aldershot v Man United is the game for you and the match that football on the TV will be watching.

Wednesday

Four live games on TV on Wednesday. Hibs v Celtic is only live on BBC Scotland and Wolves V Man City is the live offering form Wednesdays Carling Cup action on Sky. If neither of these tickle your fancy then Napoli v Udinese is live on ESPN and Real Madrid v Villarreal is live on Sky from 9pm.

Thursday

Not much too much live football to chose from on Thursday, another Serie A offering on ESPN with Palermo v Leece or you can watch the future of football as England U16’s take on Wales U16s live on Sky

No games on Friday but a big weekend to look forward to then. Don’t forget if you love live football then you need our football on the TV app for Ipod, Iphone and Ipad

It’s back to league action this weekend and at football on the TV we are happy it is back to live league football on TV.

To kick things off this weekend on Friday evening a Yorkshire derby from the Championship as Leeds travel to Doncaster in what should prove to be a right ding dong of a game.  Doncaster have a new manager in Dean Saunders and will be looking to put one over their Yorkshire rivals. A tough one to call and Donny are favourites but we are going for a high scoring 2-2 draw.

And if you don’t fancy that then you can always catch Werder Bremen v Borrussia Dortmund live on ESPN on Friday night

On Saturday there are 8 live games on TV. On the lunch time you can choose between Kilmarnock v Celtic on ESPN or the big game of the weekend, Liverpool v Man United.  Man u are favourites at 6/4 but we are expecting a big game from Liverpool and them to nick a tight game 2-1.

On Saturday evening you can choose form Portsmouth v Barnsley on Sky or the Premier League offering from ESPN, Chelsea v Everton. Both are likely to be tight affairs and we don’t expect many goals in either game.

The rest of the games on Saturday are form la Liga and Serie A, with Barca v Racing the stand out game there.

Super Sunday see’s another 9 live games on TV. There is a lunch time offering from The Championship  on BBC with Birmingham taking on the big spending Leicester or you can watch a struggling Arsenal side take on Sunderland at the Emirates on Sky which is followed by the 4pm offering of Newcastle v Spurs, which should be a good game. Newcastle are flying high at the moment and will be looking to hold on to their top 4 spot whereas Spurs will be trying to take that form them.

On Sunday there are 3 live Serie A games on EPSN, with the Rome derby between Lazio and Roma the pick of the bunch there two La Liga games and one Bundesliga game, so plenty of live football on TV across all leagues and channels this weekend.

Don’t forget if you love live footy, you need our football on the TV app its only 69p, what else would you spend 69p on?

With television coverage of football across the world having increased to such a great extent over the years, we are more familiar with some of our historic soccer stadiums than ever. In England, all Premiership matches are available as live games or as extended highlights so we can pretty much visualise the look of grounds such as Old Trafford, Anfield or White Hart Lane without even being there.

However, there are many grounds across the country that are no less historic but because the viewer`s attention is inevitably drawn to the Premier League, they aren`t so well known to the neutral supporter.

Bury`s Gigg Lane is a fine example of this and it is one of the oldest grounds in England, with football having been played there since 1885. Gigg Lane is just a few miles away from Old Trafford but the two grounds couldn`t be more different these days.

While Bury`s ground has an all seater capacity of just 11,840, Old Trafford can accomodate just under 76,000 spectators. Old Trafford opened in 1909 and at the time wouldn`t have been too dissimilar from its near neighbour but as Manchester United`s success became a global phenomenon, the need for such a massive stadium was obvious.

In many ways, the atmosphere at Gigg Lane is no less memorable and there are other historic aspects too. Bury`s ground was one of the earliest to have permanent floodlights which were installed in 1953 although floodlit games have been played here as far back as 1889 - before Old Trafford was even built!

Since Preston North End began their slide down the English league ladder, they are featured even less as far as TV is concerned. However, Preston were once one of the strongest sides in world football and they had a stadium worthy of such success.

Having been built way back in 1860, Preston`s Deepdale ground is the oldest continually used site for league football in the world. These days, Deepade has an all seated capacity of 23,408 although the record crowd here stands at 42,684 for a match against Arsenal in 1938.

Of the new, purpose built grounds that have emerged in recent years, Arsenal`s Emirates Stadium is one of the most impressive. Arsenal as a club had outgrown their Highbury ground due to their continued success in the Premier League and at one point had played their Champions League matches at Wembley in order to cope with bigger crowds.

The Emirates however has a capacity of over 60,000 and such issues are very much a thing of the past.

In contrast, just a few miles down the road from Arsenal`s purpose built ground sits Brisbane Road, home of Leyton Orient. With a capacity of just over 9,000, this is one of the smallest grounds around and it`s no wonder that Orient owner Barry Hearn is concerned at being dwarfed by the giant Olympic Stadium in Stratford which will be home to West Ham from 2013.

Whether they`re on TV or not, there are some impressive grounds across the country and a good way to find out about them is with a stadium tour. By taking such a tour and staying at Old Trafford hotels you can really get behind the scenes and see these great grounds from a player`s perspective.

By Guest blogger

The latest news out today in a 6 year grudge match is pub landlady Karen Murphy has won the European tie against the Premier League and is set for a final replay in the High Courts over her right to screen matches in her pub using foreign decoders.

Mrs Murphy lost the initial case and was ordered to pay £8000 to the vast Premier League coffers but instead of taking this lying down she referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) who have ruled in her favour, this now needs to be settled in the high court back home but it’s highly unusual for them to go against the ruling of the ECJ.

The repercussions of this ruling seem almost endless so let’s have a look at how this affects the key players:

Pubs across the country

At first glance this is excellent news for the suffering pub trade in the UK, you would have to be blind to have not noticed the increasing number of boarded up pubs over recent years and with an industry which relies solely on being able to draw a crowd more match day offerings can only be a good thing. Also in Karen Murphy’s case she paid £118 pound per month for her Greek decoder compared to £480 for Sky’s package this saves her £4344 a year!

The football fan

Quite simply more live football down your local, who doesn’t like the sound of that

Premiership clubs

With football TV rights being a major source of revenue for the clubs especially those without the big foreign investment they must be looking very closely how this is all going to pan out with the likelihood of the Premier League having to package the TV rights deals very differently in the future. There is also the potential drop in ticket sales with the option of fans having a few pints and watching the game much more economical for most (depending on how much you drink though I suppose).

The Premier league

This is where things get complicated as the ruling was quite specific in that it was only the screening of the match itself that cannot be considered intellectual property all surrounding media like the Premier League anthem, graphics and video sequences were protected by copyright allowing them to apply their many varied restrictions. This is also only an EU ruling and vast sums are made selling the TV rights to the wider world.

Sky & ESPN

Perhaps these two should be most worried about the ruling, especially Sky, with their ever increasing fees and seemingly iron grip on football coverage in the UK will this be a step in, as the ruling commented, making the EU single market a border-free zone for goods and services. On the other hand no one can deny the quality of coverage provided by Sky and is any other broadcaster really able to compete with that?

In summary this seems to be a victory for the common man, the nation’s landlords/ladies get to save money and increase trade, the average football fan gets to enjoy more games. Let’s leave it to the power mongers to sort out the technicalities as long as Karen gets her 8 grand back we’ll be on the right road.

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Written by Graham Brown

There are five live football matches on TV tonight all Euro 2012 qualifiers. The Republic of Ireland Kick things off at 4pm with a tricky away tie against Russia. The Irish really need to win or at least avoid defeat tonight to keep their hopes of qualifying alive. It will be a tough tight game and is probably not going to be a great spectacle but at 4pm if you're near a TV what else is there to watch?

Denmark v Norway is the live football on ESPN tongiht. I'm not sur eunless you are Danish or Norwegain this has enough pull about it to get fans away from the live England v Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland games on TV but you can get the first half or most of it in. Our interest in this is that we have bet on Denmark to win as part fo our football bets for tonights games.

England v wales is the big game live on TV tonight. Wales ahve nothign to lose or fear as they go into the game with confidence and with England in good form hopefully this will be a good game of football live on TV tonight

Scotland and Northern Ireland face an uphill struggle to qualify and it is looking unlikely after the results at the weekend. Scotland should easily beat Lithunai but if its drama and action you want then this could eb the game for you. Nothins is easy with Scotland so expect a nail biting game and sneaky Scots win.

Northern Ireland are away in Estonia and its lack of firepower that often costs the Irish, if youa re wathving this on TV tonight then dont expect an excitng game of football or goals, I'm predicting a 0-0 here. If you'd liek to see our football betting tips for tonight then vist our free football bets page where you get our tips for free and a review of all the best online bookies and free bets.

With some much live football on TV, if you ahven't laready got it, get our app, it's aweosme and means you can check who is on when and what time on the go so you never miss a live footnball match again.

Download our app from itunes on the link below, it's only 69p, what else would you buy with 69p?

It's International this week with all the home nations in action in Euro 2012 qualifiers. Below we preview the fixtures and also have our cheeky TV treble for tonight. Don't forget to pick up our app if you have an iphone, Ipod or Ipad, it's only 69p, cheaper than a chocolate bar! - downlaod here

TV Treble

• Bulgaria v England - England
• Wales v Montenegor - Draw
• Northern Ireland v Serbia - Northern Ireland

This treble is about 18/1 on Ladbrokes so a £10 bet will bag oyu £180, plus you can still get a free bet betwenn £5 and £50 use code FB50 - Click here to claim

Friday 2nd Spetember

19:15 - Bulgaria (6/1) v England (8/15) Draw (11/4)

Capello has had a mixed spell as England manager, but his first real attempt at blooding young and exciting players such as Cleverly, Jones and Wilshire is certainly a step forward. Question marks remain about England’s best formation; so don’t be surprised to see Capello opt for the old favorite 4-4-2 in this tricky away tie. Rooney is due a good performance in the white shirt, and with a great supporting cast in Young, Milner and Johnson, it’s hard to see England not come away with three very important points.

19:30 - Northern Ireland (5/2) v Serbia (11/10) Draw (23/10)

Crunch time for Northern Ireland, led from the back by Manchester United’s Jonny Evans, as they look to steal a march on second place. Serbia will certainly not be visiting Belfast for a holiday however, so don’t expect Northern Ireland to cruise to three points. With Serbia one loss away from being ruled out of contention, for both teams this is a crucial must win tie.

19:45 Republic of Ireland (10/11) v Slovakia (3/1) Draw (12/5)

Ireland find themselves top of their table after 6 games, albeit they share the lead with both Russia and this weekend’s opponents Slovakia. Irelands group offers them a serious shot at reaching a major competition, which can’t be said for the last and probably future campaigns. Can Robbie Keane replicate his LA Galaxy form back in Dublin? Or will the wheel come off in this crunch tie, and Ireland see their prospects of reaching a major international tournament fade away once again. 

19:45 Wales (11/5) v Montenegro (5/4) Draw 23/10

Wales have slipped so far down the international rankings, they now find themselves lower than both Haiti, and Iraq, who’s FA is somehow more effective, despite the on-going conflict that has ravaged their country. There is hope on the horizon however, if the likes of Bale and Ramsey can re-produce their club form this weekend, Wales’ chances of not finishing bottom of their group will slightly increase. Focus must be on youth for their remaining fixtures, as they look to build a brighter future.

Saturday 3rd September

15:00 Scotland (6/4) v Czech Republic (15/8) Draw (11/5)

At home, Scotland may fancy their chances against a Czech Republic team that has never quite replaced the likes of Nedved and Baros, and as such have seen themselves slip right down the FIFA rankings. Scotland opted for 4-6-0 formation in Prague last year, so many Scottish fans will be hoping to see a fit Charlie Adam and skipper Darren Fletcher inspire some creativity. The visiting Czech’s will surely target Scotland’s error prone defense, but this open style game my suit Scotland on the counter attack.

It's the freakin' weekend... gonna have me some fun. The words of R Kelly there and if your idea of fun is watching live football and hvaing a cheeky bet, amongst other things, then this blog post has everthing you need. You can check out our site for the full list of live weekend football and also check out our free bets page if you want to cpmare the best free bet offers around.

There is a full preveiw of all the weekends Premier League games plus our TV treble tip which we will be using our £50 Free Bet from Ladbrokes

TV Treble Tip

Forest v West Ham - Forest @ 7/4

Spurs v Man City - Man City @ 7/5

Man United v Arsenal - Man United @ 1/2

This TV treble is odds of around 10/1 and if you are looking to bet in play then Ladbrokes have one of the best in-play betting systems and markets around.

Get your free £50 bet use code FB50

Premier League Preview

Saturday 27^th August

Aston Villa (10/11) v Wolves (3/1) Draw (12/5)

Wolves travel to Villa on the back of their best start to a campaign for thirteen years. Villa on the other hand, still coming to terms with the loss of England internationals Downing and Young, will hope Agbolonhor carries his solid start to the year. N’Zogbia will be out to prove he can fill the hole’s left by the departures at Villa Park this season, and Darren Bent will be on the lookout to prove his hefty transfer fee was well spent. 

Wigan (5/4) v QPR (11/5) Draw (9/4)

QPR fans may well be distracted by the reports of signing Joey Barton this week, but Warnock will have his squad focused on the business of picking up points away at Wigan. Wigan fans will hope to see their unspectacular start to the season develop this weekend against the newcomers. Wins at the JJB Stadium are a must for Wigan this year.

Blackburn (2/1) v Everton (11/8) Draw (9/4)

The Everton ship has been rocked heavily by reports of serious financial issues at the club, whilst Blackburn will hope their midweek cup win will inspire their first points of the season. Ewood Park is never a easy place to visit, and senior Everton players Neville, Arterta and Howard will have to dig deep to pick up morale, and possibly points this weekend.

Chelsea (1/5) v Norwich (14/1) Draw (5/1)

Chelsea will face tougher opponents than Norwich this year, but last years campaign was blighted by slip-ups against hard working teams like Norwich. If Torres and Drogba can’t find their groove, then Norwich might have a good a chance as any to steal some points at Stamford Bridge. Norwich must avoid a similar drubbing to the one they received off MK Dons this week, or Manager Paul Lambert will by looking to shake up the squad before the transfer window closes.

Swansea (11/8) v Sunderland (2/1) Draw (9/4)

Swansea has yet to replicate their dazzling form in the Championship last year, and Sunderland will be looking to pick up their first win of the season, despite key figures O’Shea and Gordon absent with injury. Wes Browns commanding start to his Sunderland career will be tested again this weekend, and keeping Swansea quiet will go a long way towards the Black Cats gaining all three points.

Liverpool (2/5) v Bolton (7/1) Draw (7/2)

Liverpool’s strong start to the season was epitomized by their convincing win at Arsenal last weekend, but Merieles broken collar bone will see Daglish have to tinker with his midfield this time out. Bolton will have to play at their very best if they are to share any of the points this weekend, the threat of Suarez and Carrol might just be too much.

Sunday 28^th August

Newcastle (11/10) v Fulham (13/5) Draw (9/4)

Newcastle Football Club is never short of talking points and this season has been no different. Slowly but surely Pardew has began to get his squad doing the talking on the pitch, and a home win at Fulhan will do much to confirm a few suspicions that they are contenders for Europe this year. Fulham have yet to prove that the Europa league is a negative distraction to their domestic campaign.

Tottenham (15/8) v Manchester City (7/5) Draw (23/10)

A truly mouth watering fixture will see plenty of stars on show in North London. City fans will hope to see new boys Nasri and Aguero run riot in the capital, whilst Spurs may boast the best two players on the field in Van der Vaart and Modric. Both teams will be in the mix for fourth or higher come May, and this game will get the taste buds flowing for all neutrals. Expect lots of talk regarding the selection of Modric.

West Brom (11/10) v Stoke City (13/5) Draw (9/4)

Stoke Manager Tony Pulis is putting together a very capable squad, with some shrewd and exciting new signings this summer. West Brom will be plenty aware they have a game on their hands this weekend, and Hodgson will be hoping their midweek thrashing of Bournemouth will kick-start their campaign this year. Don’t be surprised if Hargreaves is fast tracked to the match squad should he join before the weekend.

Manchester United (1/2) v Arsenal (6/1) Draw (3/1)

Is there another game in the Premiership that produces the atmosphere of the battle of United and Arsenal. Gone are the days of Keane v Veira or Van Nistelrooy v Henry, but warlords Fergie and Wenger still stand strong with a new young army ready to do battle at the Theater of Dreams. United are most people’s favorites for the title, and their deconstruction of Spurs on Monday night will springboard them into this weekend. A defeat for Arsenal may see Wenger pressured into making some signings, before he loses the faith of his board, players and fans.

Happy Betting!

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This week we have gone for a cheeky TV treble and previewed all the live games on TV this weekend, this week if you fancy a flutter get yourselves to Ladrbokes as they have a free £50 bet for our blog readers

Click here to claim and just use code FB50

TV Treble

Arsenal v Liverpool - Draw

Chelsea v West Brom - Chelsea

West Ham V Leeds - West Ham

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Live football on TV preview

Saturday 20th August

12:45 - Arsenal (11/8) v Liverpool (2/1) Draw 9/4

Arsene Wenger is coming under increaisng pressure from fans and the media as they question his lack of investment in the transfer market. With the departure of captain Fabregas and what seems the imminent depature of Nasri the Gunners fans are beocming increasingly anxious and it is staring to show at the Emirates. Fabreags is a loss but with Ramsey and Wilshire Arsenal have two ready made replacements in central midfield and with the retrun of Van Persie Arsenal will still be a strong attcking team.

Liverpool faded in the seodn half at home to Sunderland but there were some promsing signs of attacking content from Dalglish's team. Suarez is looking like he is going to be a star player and Downing will add much needed pace and width to the Liveprool team. Any Carroll will be looking to take advantge of what is seen as a soft Arsenal back line and I think this should eb a good game. neither team will want to lose so we are going for a score draw.

Prediction 1-1

17:20 - Peterbrough (11/8) v Ipswich (15/8) Draw 12/5

Ipswich conceded 5 at home last game to Southampton and will travel away to a Peterbrough side that have had a couple fo good results, including a draw away at Millwall last time out. It's hard to judge early season form but expect goals in this game and a home win,

Prediction 2-1

17:30 - Chelsea (1/4) v West Brom (11/1) Draw 9/2

Chelsea were unlucky not to take all 3 points at Stoke and with Torres looking sharp and on form it's going to be hard to see anything but a home win here. West Brom were slightly unlucky last week and Roy Hodgson has got his West Brom team organised and playing some good football, however we feel Chelsea will eb to strong for the Baggies and Chelsea will run out comfortable winners.

Prediction 3-0

Sunday 21st Auguts

13:30 - West Ham (8/1) v Leeds (7/2) Draw 11/4

Both teams are looking to mount a promotion challenge this year. West Ham have started the season well with two wins out of three and they looked very good against Watford when they beat them 4-0 away in mid week.  With Big Sam in charge they have a good manager who has been there and done it at this level with Bolton and they have to be one of the favourites to get promoted.

Leeds had a dodgy start to the campaign losing at newly promoted Southampton and then a tetchy home defeat to local rivals Boro but they seem to have found some of the exciting goal scoring form they showed last season with a 4-1 romp against Yorkshire rivals Hull.

It’s early season so it’s hard to judge form as teams are still getting into their stride. However with both teams having scored four in their last outing there will be goals in this game. It’s going to be a tough game for Leeds especially as their away form last season was poor, I can see this being an exciting  game with a win for West Ham.

Prediction – West Ham 3 – 2 Leeds United

14:00 - Motherwell (5/1) v Rangers (8/13) Draw 13/5

Motherwell will be looking to keep their spot at the top oif the SPL when they face Rangers at home. Motherwell ahve looked good so far this season and will not be daunted at facing Rangers on Sunday lunch time. Rangers have been poor in Europe so far this season so will be hoping to turn things aorudn domestically however with Motherwell in good form we are going for a draw here

Prediction 2-2

16:00 - Bolton (4/1) v Man City (8/11) Draw 5/2

Bolton had a great win away at QPR last week and it will give them a good boost going into this tough game. Bolton had a good seaosn last year and under Owen Coyle are playing some good football and will be tough to beat. When Augero came on in the seond half against Swansea last weekend City looked very good, the question is how cautious will Mancini be away from home? Man CIty look like they could be real title contenders this seaons and they will need to pick up points away from home at teams like Bolton if they are to challenge and we think they might just nick this one.

Prediction 1-2

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