Hello again and welcome to another episode of The Week in Football.

With Spain and Italy still in pre-season and nothing much happening there it's another Premier League show.

Tom and I discuss the games of last week, players being booed, mixed fortunes for the promoted clubs and nasty injuries. We also look ahead to this weekend's fixtures and give our predictions for the games. Find out who got the most last week.

Also, there's still time to join our Week in Football fantasy league. Simply sign up, choose a team from the English Premier League then join our mini-league. Details are:

League name: weekinfootballprem

Password: podcast

And while you'll be eligible for the overall prizes there'll be a special Week in Football prize for the winner of our mini-league. More info on fantasy football here.

You can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

Don't forget your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com.

Hello hello,

happy Thursday to you all and the new season is almost upon us. This week's podcast is a Premier League special. Tom and I discuss each team, the players that have come in and out, and their chances for the new campaign.

Are Arsenal strong enough to win the league? Is this Benitez's last chance at a title challenge on Anfield? Will Everton buy any players? Are the promoted teams strong enough to avoid relegation? Who's chasing Europe? Will it be United and Chelsea ahead of the rest?

All those questions and more are answered and it's the first predictions game of the season. Last time around Tom Thom(p)son tended to win these but as it's all fresh and new I have high hopes of smashing his domination the way he smashes mugs, the damnable Mugsmasher. Feel free to join in and make predictions of your own in the comments.

Also, there's still time to join our Week in Football fantasy league. Simply sign up, choose a team from the English Premier League then join our mini-league. Details are:

League name: weekinfootballprem

Password: podcast

And while you'll be eligible for the overall prizes there'll be a special Week in Football prize for the winner of our mini-league. More info on fantasy football here.

You can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

Don't forget your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com.

Hello and welcome to another Week in Football podcast on OleOle.com

Up for discussion this week are:

• Cristiano Ronaldo and his decision to stay at United
• Freddie Ljungberg's massive payoff from West Ham
• Lionel Messi and the Olympics and the Olympics themselves
• Ranieri and Mourinho's war of words in Italy
• Scottish football with The Lord of the Wing

Plus we've got Luigi from Spain and details of the OleOle.com fantasy football game. We're running a Premier League mini-league which is open to anyone who wants to join. Just sign up for the game, pick your team then use the following details to join in:

League name: weekinfootballprem

Password: podcast

You can subscribe to The Week in Football using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the RSS feed itself the URL is here, you can download the podcast directly here or you can listen from this page:

Don't forget your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com.

In this week's podcast Tom and I discuss the pre-season, transfers, potential transfers, we have a new hero and villain of the week plus there's the return of an old friend.

We've also set up a Fantasy Football league here on OleOle so feel free to join in. You'll be eligible for all the OleOle prizes plus a special Week in Football prize - but we haven't decided what it is yet. It won't be an empty box though, promise.

To join make sure you're registered with OleOle, join the Fantasy Football game then join our mini-league.

League name: weekinfootballprem

Password: podcast

As you can see it's a Premier League fantasy game so get cracking. Now, the podcast.

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

Don't forget your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com.

Right then, that's it. Another podcast next week, more blogging to come. 

So yesterday went a bit like this.

"Hello, Gabriele. Is there anything happening in Italian football this week?"

"No".

"Ok then!"

"Hello, Luigi. Is there anything happening in Spanish footabll this week?"

"No. Now I'm off to the beach to look at topless girls".

"You bastard".

So Tom and I are sitting in the studio last night.

"Not much going on", I said.

"True that", he said.

"So what do we talk about?"

"You could make up a really long joke with a terrible punchline".

"I could but even I would be hard pressed to make a half-hour joke, unless it was based around Emmanuel Eboue's abilities as a footballer".

"Then half an hour wouldn't be long enough".

"I think, perhaps, we'd be best off saying nothing and waiting until there is some actual football news before we do another podcast".

"You're probably right. When the biggest news story of the week is Lee Cattermole going to Wigan you're know you're pissing in the wind".

So there, dear listener, is the reason why there's no podcast today. I am hopeful that something will happen in the next 7 days so we can get up and running again.

However, it really has been the most boring summer in terms of transfers and stuff, hasn't it?

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.

So the podcast returns after a short summer break and this week the main story is that of Ronaldinho going from Barcelona to AC Milan.

We get a Spanish perspective on it with Luigi and Gabriele, our Italian correspondent, tells us what he thinks about it.

Also up for discussion are Adebayor, Alexander Hleb, Gareth Barry, Xabi Alonso and some stuff on Hull City.

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

Don't forget your comments and suggestions for the show are always welcome. Feel free to leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com.

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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Morning all,

hard to say that Spain didn't deserve that last night, particular given the way Fabregas came on and inspired the team. Villa's injury should see him start the final which is a good thing for football purists - he's been fantastic whenever he's played.

What do you think? Were you as disappointed in Arshavin as some of the emailers to the Eurocast today? Was he found wanting when the stakes were high?

Your thoughts welcome in the comments, as always. No predictions for the final yet - there's another post to come to do that and hopefully a preview show before Sunday. Your thoughts via email or voicemail are more than welcome for that. Don't be shy.

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, that'll do. Until the next one, cheers.

Morning all,

Eurocast to follow. What a good game that was last night, eh? The Turks, with barely 11 fit players, gave Germany a real fright and I don't think they deserved that last minute loser. It is a loser when you're describing it from the Turkish point of view, right?

Perhaps the Croatian and Czech fans won't necessarily agree with me there. Germany though - they looked poor and you'd certainly fancy both Spain or Russia to beat them if they play like that in the final. Although it wouldn't be any surprise if they played brilliantly in that game. Germans love surprises.

Tonight sees Spain v Russia, two of the tournament's most attacking and exciting sides. Hopefully they won't cancel each other out and we'll get the great game we're all hoping for.

Remember, we want your thoughts and emails on the games, so feel free to chip in with whatever you like.

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:

That's that. More tomorrow.