Portsmouth were one of six Championship sides to crash out to lower league opposition as the Carling Cup got off to an enthralling start. Barnsley, Coventry, Derby, Hull and Ipswich also fell by the wayside in the first round but it was Lawrie Sanchez’s men who arguably stole the headlines with a shock 1-0 win at Fratton Park. The telling blow came in the 29th minute when former Northern Ireland international Mark Hughes headed home f...More

28 year-old Reading defender Chris Armstrong yesterday retired from professional football. The former Sheffield United star was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in December 2009 and, despite having continued to turn out for the Royals in the fourteen months since, Armstrong yesterday announced that he felt that retirement was the only option available to him: “It's right for me professionally, medically and also personally. With the i...More

Sixth placed Leeds United yesterday confirmed the loan signing of promising Aston Villa midfielder Barry Bannan in a deal that is to run until the end of the season. Having seen their side register their first win in four league outings this weekend – an emphatic 5-2 rout of Doncaster – Leeds fans will now be hoping that the Scottish midfielder can recapture the form that saw him play a vital role in Blackpool's march to promotion just ...More

The Welsh nation marked St David’s Day at the turn of March and there has been a real buzz about the country’s domestic footballing profile since the equivalent celebration of 2010. Ryan Giggs, still a key figure at Old Trafford at the age of 37, overtook Bobby Charlton to break the record for the most league appearances for Manchester United, another left-wing wizard in Gareth Bale has been arguably the player of the season so far, and...More

A resolute Nottingham Forest side earned a precious point at Championship leaders Queens Park Rangers on Sunday despite playing the majority of the match with ten men. Radoslaw Majewski's two-footed lunge was deemed worthy of a red card by referee Mark Clattenburg, a decision which looked set to condemn Billy Davies' men (who were trailing to a Tommy Smith goal at the time) to a rare defeat. However, the East Midlanders were not to be d...More

Inviting a professional footballer to appear on Question Time might seem like a rather cruel joke, but then Burnley centre-back Clarke Carlisle is not your stereotypical footballer. Less than twenty-four hours after the news that Stoke City’s Jermaine Pennant allegedly ‘forgot’ about a £98,000 Porsche he had left outside a Spanish train station, the Clarets' vice-captain was, last night, lining up alongside David Dimbleby and Alastair...More