FIFA has growled at the Spanish government, who have insisted that the Spanish FA - and all other governing bodies represented there - hold their annual elections before August's Crass Spectacle. Sepp Blatter muttered the word suspension.
After three successive promotions, it looks like the rot has set in at Gretna, where players have not had their wages arrive on time, and have sold many of the players who gave them their season in Division A; the latest is that the club's management has quit, and administration is looming. Maybe St Johnstone should have secured promotion last season after all.
Round Four of the FA Cup saw two big shocks - the Liverpool Stadiennes lose out to an injury-time winner from Barnsley, and Southampton's dream is over, losing 1:0 at Bristol Rovers. West Brom hit five past Coventry, Manchester Buccaneers' B team won 4:0 over Arsenal Reserves, and Cardiff and Plymouth also won. Sheffield Utd and Middlesbrough will replay, while Chelsea completed their win over Huddersfield and left the Upset-o-meter quivering on 1.
On the continent, an unexpected defeat for Real Madrid at the hands of Betis, and Atlético slumped to their second straight defeat, Bilbao picking up where Bolton left off. In Germany, Wolfsburg beat Schalke 2:1; Italy's pick saw Juventus better Rome 1:0.
The classified upsets
49 Liverpool - Barnsley 1:2 44 Bristol Rovers - Southampton 1:0 43 Real Betis - Real Madrid 2:1 37 Levante - Osasuna 2:1 36 Le Mans - Lyon 1:0 35 Schalke 04 - Wolfsburg 1:2 35 Metz - Valenciennes 2:1 34 St. Etienne - Nancy 4:0 34 Hibs - Aberdeen 3:1 34 Atl.Madrid - Athl.Bilbao 1:2 32 Hansa Rostock - Eintracht Frankfurt 1:0 31 Leicester City - Norwich City 4:0 30 Juventus - Rome 1:0 15 Parma - AC Milan 0:0
Ligue 1
As we've seen, Lyon lost to Le Mans, allowing Bordeaux to go clear at the top of the Glickoblog standings following a 6:0 thumping of Monaco.
BDX 1090 80.5 18 0.22 LYN 1081 82.0 -54 -0.66 MAR 1064 76.4 52 0.68 NIC 1027 83.9 - 5 -0.06 LEN 1024 81.6 61 0.75 LOR 1003 81.2 - 3 -0.04 LEM 998 81.8 - 3 -0.04 AUX 996 80.9 37 0.46 PSG 986 82.4 8 0.10 NCY 983 83.1 -57 -0.69 LIL 967 85.2 39 0.46 CAE 959 85.2 -48 -0.56 MON 956 81.8 - 3 -0.04 SET 930 83.2 5 0.06 VCN 924 81.0 -60 -0.74 STR 916 86.4 -10 -0.12 SCX 909 84.1 27 0.32 TOU 883 80.9 -43 -0.53 REN 882 80.1 -17 -0.21 MTZ 860 88.0 36 0.41 NTS (II) 920 122.5 - 1 -0.01 SED (II) 908 118.7 -50 -0.42 TRY (II) 897 126.2 52 0.41
Changes are against 9 January.
So, after leading the way since we started covering the French league two-and-a-half seasons ago, Lyon has been deposed as France's number one team. They still head Ligue 1, but this may not last. Marseilles and Lens have bounded up, but Toulouse's remarkable slide continues.
Division A
RAN 1038 83.2 25 0.30 CEL 995 85.6 48 0.56 ABD 838 76.3 -78 -1.02 DDU 799 78.7 38 0.48 MTW 792 83.4 -25 -0.30 FAL 781 81.8 -37 -0.45 HBS 781 82.6 56 0.68 ICT 758 83.9 -27 -0.32 STM 737 82.5 40 0.48 HRT 724 80.4 39 0.49 KLM 642 85.0 -42 -0.49 GRE 567 91.3 -14 -0.15 LVG (II) 608 132.7 -19 -0.14 DNF (II) 584 126.1 -56 -0.44
Though Celtic has closed the gap, Rangers remains at the summit for a second month. Aberdeen's challenge has rather faded, while Hibs is amongst the sides reverting to the mean. Gretna, sadly, is now a point worse than Crewe, and only Brighton enjoys (?) a lower ranking.
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