It's well known that Thierry Henry wasn't a big fan of Alexander Hleb. The Belarussian was often on the end of a withering stare from Henry after another pass went astray or a move broke down.

Of course the pair get to continue their great friendship at Barcelona now that Hleb has signed for the Catalan club. Henry was at the press conference last night to announce Hleb's arrival and this picture really does speak a thousand words.

heh, classic.

I'm not a Man United fan, as you well know, but if I were I'd be most unhappy with the comments made by FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Talking about Cristiano Ronaldo he says:

In football there’s too much modern slavery. I’m always in favour of protecting the player. If he wants to leave, let him. 

What about contracts then? What about protecting the clubs who pay large transfer fees and extortionate wages to players? Imagine if the club said 'We don't feel like paying you', what kind of outcry would there be then? 

A player saying 'I don't want to play for you' is the same, except he still gets his wages every week, doesn't he?

Blatter, of all people, should be trying to create some stability in the game yet now more players will look at the head of FIFA saying this and think the way players act these days is acceptable. Not that anything Blatter says is susprising. Does he have friends at Real Madrid? Would that explain why he's so in favour of allowing Ronaldo to leave United?

And for him to say players are 'slaves' is absolutely reprehensible. How can somebody being paid what professional footballers are paid be a 'slave'? I'd happily be a slave for £40,000 a week or £20,000 a week for that matter. In a world where real slavery still exists it's an incredibly tasteless remark from an incredibly tasteless man.

The game is being ruined by money and sadly those in charge of football these days are driven by cash, not by what's good for the game. Blatter, once again, has shown himself up as a man with no great interest in the game, only in how much money can be siphoned from it.

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For those wondering about The Week in Football podcast our summer holidays, so to speak, are ongoing. Tom Thom(p)son is travelling around the upper-delta region of County Cork while I'm typing this from the Holiday Inn in San Jose. Or, from my house, whichever suits you best.

We'll be back next week to cover pre-season, Italy, Spain and all the usual bits and pieces. 

We're also going to make the blog more bloggy this season, with more comment, pictures, news etc etc so do bookmark.

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Let us start this morning with congratulations to all 4 who got the Romania v Holland result right yesterday.Well done Hitzelspergandchip, d_gaffa, fskis and Number8. Good stuff.

For today's games I predict the following:

Spain 3-0 Greece

Sweden 1-1 Russia

Give us your predictions in the comments.

On today's Eurocast Tom Thom(p)son and I discuss yesterday's games we get both a French and Italian perspective on things from correspondants Ollie and Gabriele. Find out how I won €500, stepped in a slug and listen out towards the end for the bloke who has the best job on the planet with thanks to Baselgooner.

Remember, we do want to hear from you for the Eurocast. We'd love to get your voicemails and emails - so if there's anything you want to share with us just get in touch.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Right then, get your predictions in. More tomorrow.

Morning all,

a bit later than usual but better late than never. Although that remains open to discussion. Let's start as usual with the predictions. Firstly congrats to ElTorro and 4ndyL who both got the Croatia v Poland result correct yesterday.

I keep expecting lots of goals in games, perhaps it's time to think differently. So for today:

Romania 1-2 Holland

Italy 1-0 France

Expect a glut of goals now! In today's Eurocast, the Euro 2008 podcast, we talk to German correspondant Tom about the 1-0 win over Austria and he's not optimistic about Germany's chances against Portugal in the next round. We also catch up with our regular Italian correspondant Gabriele and he previews Italy v France from an Italian perspective.

Plus there are your emails and voicemails and do please keep them coming.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Till tomorrow...

Morning all,

welcome to the Eurocast, the Euro2008 podcast, and the Euro 2008 predictions game.

Catching up on the weekend's predictions I got my first one right! Hurrah. A 2-1 win for Spain over Sweden did that. Joining me in correctness on that one were robotninja51 and Algunner. ElTorro got Russia's 1-0 win over Greece correct.

For today I'm going with:

Austria 1-3 Germany

Poland 1-2 Croatia

Your predictions in the comments please. In the Eurocast we catch up with all the weekend's football including Turkey's astonishing comeback against the Czech Republic and Spain's victory over Sweden. 

Remember, we do want to hear what you think, either by email or voicemail so don't be shy, get involved.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Till tomorrow...

Happy Saturday to you all,

this is the Eurocast, the podcast that doesn't even take weekends off! That's how dedicated we are. As usual we'll start with the predictions. None right yesterday for anyone and I have to say I'm down money on my betting. I need a big one to get me back on track. So for today I reckon:

Spain 2-1 Sweden

Greece 0-3 Russia

Your predictions welcome in the comments.

On today's Eurocast we talk France v Holland. What a win that was for the Dutch and we look at it from both sides with French correspondant Ollie and Dutch correspondant Ashwin. There's comment on Italy v Romania too and a brief look ahead to today's games.

Do feel free to email or voicemail the show at any stage though. We'd love to hear from you.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Ciao...

Friday! Hurrah. The end of the working week. But not for the Eurocast, oh no. We'll keep on 'casting.

As usual we'll start with our predictions and well done to Hodiddle, the only one to get a correct prediction yesterday.

My completely wrong predictions for today are:

Italy 2-0 Romania

France 1-2 Holland

I'm putting money on Holland and Italy for the wins. I think France are too old, too injured and too Domenechy to win the game. Regular pundits should now know to do the exact opposite of what I say as I never get any right. But I have to start sometime, right? The law of averages and all that. Could today be the day?

Now the Eurocast. I talk to German correspondant Tom about their 2-1 defeat to Croatia yesterday, there are some of your emails about Austria v Poland, some thoughts about the penalty that was given, a preview of Italy v Romania with Horia and more. 

Please do get in touch with the podcast, we're always happy to hear from you by email or voicemail. Give us your opinion on the issues, the controversies, the players, performances or anything else to do with Euro2008.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Hasta mañana, amigos.

Happy Thursday to you all and welcome to another Eurocast and another round of predictions. 

As usual we'll start with predictions and only ElTorro got one yesterday, correctly predicting the Turkish win over Switzerland. For today's game my completely incorrect guesses are:

Croatia 1-2 Germany

Austria 1-3 Poland

As usual leave your predictions in the comments.

Now, in today's Eurocast Tom and I discuss Portugal v Czech Republic and Switzerland's exit at the hands of the Turkey. There are some of your emails and voicemails too as well as a preview of today's games.

But please don't forget we want to hear what you think about the games, the performances, the tactics, the fans, the lovely girls, the rain, whatever. Anything at all to do with Euro2008 is ok by us please do get in touch.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Till tomorrow, folks.

Morning all,

are you all rushing out to buy your Greece shirts? Your Pro Evolution Greece 08 video game? I'm not sure you are.

We'll start as always with predictions. ElTorro pulled one right out of the hat with a correct 4-1 win for Spain, that's impressive. Nobody else got any right. I'm quite happy with yesterday's results as a shifty little bet won me €150. Obviously I'm not betting on correct scores because I still can't get any right. 

Today's incorrect predictions are as follows:

Portugal 2-1 Czech Republic

Switzerland 1-1 Turkey

As usual give us your predictions in the comments.

Now to the Eurocast - the Euro2008 podcast. In this episode there are a lot of emails from you guys about Greece and how negative they were against Sweden. They're not winning many friends, that's for sure.

We talk to our Swedish correspondant Chris about the 2-0 win last night and our regular Spanish football expert Luigi talks about Spain's win over Russia.

There are some of your voicemails and emails about the negative approach to the game that some teams take and more.

Don't forget we really want to hear what you think about the matches, performances and issues of the tournament as they happen. It's just a quick phone call so please do feel free to get involved or just send us an email.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Till tomorrow, Eurofans.

Morning all,

welcome to day 4 of our Euro2008 predictions and Episode3 of the Eurocast. Not one person got a correct prediction for yesterday's games. The closest was Dan who at least predicted 3 goals for Holland. My forecast for today's game comes after much scientific analysis and a visit to a medium. Every little helps.

Spain 2-0 Russia

Sweden 2-1 Greece

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Now, the Eurocast. In this episode Tom Thom(p)son and I discuss Holland v Italy, which was the best game of the tournament so far. We've got some of your voicemails regarding that game too.

We also talk to our French correspondant Ollie about the France v Romania game which was probably the worst game of the tournament so far, as well as some voicemails from a particularly unhappy Romanian fan. Have a listen to what he says because it's an interesting debate. Should football teams be more expressive even though it'll probably cost them, or is the defend at all costs approach acceptable? 

Tom and I differ on this one, what do you think? That's what this podcast is all about - your opinions. Let us know by voicemail or by email.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Right then, until tomorrow's predictions and Eurocast.