Howdy OleOle-ers, on this week's The Week in Football we'll be discussing the proposed foreign round in the Premier League. I'm sure you've read all about it by now but what do you think?

With OleOle members from all over the world we'd love to get your comments for this week's show.

Is it a terrible idea that will start the game on a slippy slope from which it might never recover?

Is it a great idea that will allow fans from all over the world to see their favourite teams in the flesh?

Will it damage local leagues?

Is there a fair way of making the draw for the 39th game? 

Would you pay to see United v Arsenal or would you pay to see Derby v Sunderland?

Whatever you think about it leave a comment here on the blog or email your comments to podcast@oleole.com and we'll discuss them on this week's show.

Thanks in advance,

John Johnson and Tom Thom(p)son.

Happy Thursday to you all, here's a quick peek inside this week's The Week in Football.

• We're in Ghana again to talk to Teo about the football and an incredible booze shortage caused by Ghana's win over Nigeria
• Who are Almeria? Why are they beating the likes of Real Madrid and Valencia in consecutive weeks. Luigi in Spain tries to find some answers
• Gabriele tells us about a book being written about the match fixing scandal in Italy a couple of years ago. Interestingly it's written by the Chairman of Bologna, a team very heavily affected by the whole scandal.
• Tom and I look at Capello's bow as England coach, the ongoing search for the Republic of Ireland manager, there are some of your emails about last week's Champions League discussion plus our usual round-up and look at the Premier League.

So there you. Don't forget - if you've got comments, suggestions, complaints or questions just email us - podcast@oleole.com. We're always happy to hear from you.

Mostly because we're very lonely but does it really matter why once we're happy? Exactly.

Oh, and here's the video of Totti and Manninger that we mention in the podcast. Until next week, 'castfans.

Well, not us but just a heads-up about podcast coming up this Thursday. As I'm sure you all know OleOle's correspondent Teo is in Ghana covering the tournament and we'll be talking to him about the football, which players we should be watching out for and some behind the scenes info on the tournament itself.

That's the Week in Football, this Thursday.

JJ

Firstly, apologies for the lack of blogging around these parts. We've had cruciate ligament injuries of the fingers but we're better now, oh yes.

Secondly, Podcast 41 is on the way and it features a lively discussion about the merits, or lack thereof, of the Carling Cup. Gabriele tells us about controversy surrounding league leaders Inter Milan in Italy while Luigi has news of the managerial and off-the-field problems for Valencia and Real Zaragoza.

As well as that we look at the latest Premier League transfer news (are Fulham really going to sign Jari Litmanen?) and we preview the upcoming FA Cup games this weekend.

And that's not all. We respond to a couple of listener's emails and questions and we'd love to hear from any of you who have questions/suggestions/comments about The Week in the Football. You can leave comments here or send us an email to podcast@oleole.com

The podcast should be live this afternoon, enjoy.

John Johnson

Hello dear reader (yes, that's singular). Apologies for the lack of blog posts in recent times.

Now that that's out of the way can I recommend you listen to podcast32 for a very interesting chat with Gabriele, our Italian correspondent, about the tragic events in Italy last Sunday and the state of Italian football. It's very honest and there are obviously some serious problems to sort out there.

The podcast will be available later today from the usual place.

And don't forget if you want to drop us a line you can do so by emailing podcast@oleole.com

cheers

John Johnson

In this week's podcast we discuss the tragic death of Antonio Puerta, Glenn Davis is back to talk about MLS and why David Beckham is struggling at LA Galaxy, there's the story of a manager getting kicked up the arse in Italy, plus our usual look at the Premiership.

Check out the podcast page - the new one should be live soon.

Podcast 19 should be out any time now so check out the podcast page for that. Also, if you fancy getting in on the predictions game please feel free.

Last week we got 6 right each. Like Manchester United neither of us is off to a winning start. Here are this week's fixtures and our predictions. Can John Johnson see off the evil and did I mention evil Tom Thom(p)son?

-----

Birmingham v West Ham - Tom says Birmingham. John says draw.

Fulham v Boro - Tom says Fulham. John says Fulham.

Newcastle v Villa - Tom says Newcastle. John also says Newcastle.

Portsmouth v Bolton - Both Tom and John go for a home win.

Reading v Everton - Tom says Reading. John says draw.

Spurs v Derby - Home win for both John and Tom.

Wigan v Sunderland - We both went for an away win here.

Blackburn v Arsenal - Tom says Blackburn. I say Arsenal. Boooo, Tom.

Man City v Man United - Tom says home win. John says draw.

Liverpool v Chelsea - Tom fancies his beloved Pool. John thinks Chelsea will win.

----

So there you have it. Do make your predictions in the comments and we'll find out who amongst us in the most psychic over the weekend.

For those of you playing OleOle's fantasy football league we've set up a mini-league for podcast listeners.

The league is called 'The week in football' and the password is 'weekinfootball'.

To join simply go to the fantasy football (link ), select and submit your team, click on the 'league stats' tab then you can choose to join our league.

Best of luck to all of you. Except for Tom Thom(p)son. 

Ok, if you listened to this week's podcast, and I'm sure that you did being folk of great taste and education, then you'll have heard us talk about Sunny Stephen.

He's listed in Spain's squad for the U20 World Cup in Canada and we think that name is very funny. It made us laugh, quite literally, not out loud.

Anyway, we're looking for footballers with funnier names than that. What name is funnier or better than Sunny Stephen?

Maybe it's a foreign player whose, name translated into English, because really funny, such as:

Antonio Gordo (Fat Anthony) or Juan Quer.

We already know about Danny Invincible too. 

So, leave a comment here or email podcast@oleole.com and we'll go through the names collected on next week's podcast.

cheers

ps - no goldfish were harmed during the making of this week's podcast. 

This week we talk to Luigi about the final week in Spain, Gabriele tells us what's going on with Suazo and Quagliarella in Italy and we preview the Copa America with Mauricio along with all the usual bits and pieces.

You can find this week's podcast and the archives here and don't forget if you have any questions or comments feel free to get in touch on the blog or by email to podcast@oleole.com