Beddows said it was a great honour to go out to dinner with Putin and his friends

"Vlad is a top bloke... we chatted a little about politics, a lot about football and his personal love of Zenit and he reminisced about his away trips back in the Soviet League days with the lads back in the day to Donetsk, Tbilisi and Kiev and how he'd much like to see them playing in the Soviet league again... He inivited me out to his country place in a couple of weeks as well, I might go... see his bears, ride horseback, all those Russian things you know..."

Beddows then departed as the Ryanair flight was making its last call and he gathered his things and pulled Hulk away from a argument with a baggage handler which was in all honesty about to turn slightly green and nasty... and off they went...

Here is what happened next...


Marseille (1) Zenit (2)

Zenit up to 2nd!

Levante manager Parfitt has today had a question mark placed over his future with the Spanish club. The same paper that saw Zenit manager Stephen Beddows back controversial Russian leader and all round nutcase Vladimir Putin also ran a front page headline suggesting that Parfitt should step aside.

When questioned, Parfitt held firm and said that although things were indeed tough, he has no intention of stepping aside for anybody else. The club are already three points adrift of the relegation zone after only six games, they are out of the Top 100 cup following a 1 - 0 defeat to fellow Spaniards Celta Vigo, and have the worst goal difference in the division (-12) by quite some distance.

Parfitt has attempted to address this by bringing in new defenders and a goal keeper, and another new defender, Jean Armel Kana-Biyik was in the stands last night following his move from Toulouse. The Cameroon defender is expected to line up alongside compatriot Sebastian Bassong on Sunday when the club travel to Greece for another difficult looking fixture against Olympiacos.



The manager doesn't expect to see many other changes of personnel in the first XI, but has hinted at a change of formation. Whether or not this will be enough, only time will tell, but for now there appears to be no chance of a managerial change.

Beddows touched down at St Petersburg airport this morning to the delight of the Russian public as Putin had issued a pardon forgiving Beddows of his verbal attacks on certain Russian citizens if in exchange Beddows agreed to speak out in favour of Russian expansion should any Western politicians publically accuse Putin of wanting to invade Russia.

Beddows arrived on a special laid-on flight this afternoon

Beddows spoke to the worlds media upon leaving the plane...

"There are no Russian soldiers in Ukraine. None. I have seen none."

Beddows then proceeded to depart from the mass media and leave for the stadium ahead of the visit of Mister Malcolm and his Fiorentina side...

Please read on to find out what happened...



Zenit 3 Fiorentina 0

'Leicester have now lost two on the bounce following a dream start.'

Things started spectacularly at division 3 club Leicester City, a side which many though to be relegation candidates for the up coming season, however after 2 wins and a draw in their opening 3 games, manager Matthew Horn seemed to be proving the doubters wrong.


However, 2 straight defeats have followed, after going 2-1 down to Basel, and 1-0 to Boca Juniors, both at home. Horn recently called a press conference as the critics came down hard on Leicester, criticising their style of play, describing them as lethargic, boring and ultimately, one dimensional. The press conference was held yesterday evening at the King Power stadium:

'So Mr. Horn, what do you make of the clubs results over the last few days compared to your first 3 games here at Leicester.'

'No manager likes to see his team lose 2 in a row at home. Despite this, in both games we can consider ourselves rather unlucky as the games against Basel and Boca were relatively close, could've gone either way. At the same time, if we want to have a successful season, we need to make sure we can take control of our home matches- behind every championship winning team is a fortress of a home stadium- and quite frankly, we haven't been able to do that just yet.'

'You say your team was unlucky... in both matches you conceded goals within the first 10 minutes. Is there perhaps a pattern developing?'

Obviously yes, I am aware in both circumstances we were somewhat caught cold by the opposition which is something we will definitely be looking to fix before it becomes a real issue.  In both games, we eventually got back into it but weren't able to do enough to get anything out of the game on both occasions, and the game against Boca was decided in the first 2 minutes. Despite our losses, we still remain in the top half of the table, and although many say otherwise, I am confident we will stay there.

'You have been very busy in the transfer market of late, with 6 new faces coming in and 10 leaving. Are you happy with your current crop of players or are you planning to strengthen further?'

Yes, that we have. We have brought in some great young talent in Josh murphy, Solly March, Tony Watt and Alex Davey and some experience and class in Stewart Downing, Jean Babin, Micahel Bradley and Michail Antonio, who will all play a vital part in our season I am sure. As for my squad, we are always looking to add new faces however if we are not able to, then I have full confidence that the current team will do me proud.

'One name on that list turned a lot of heads when his arrival was announced one day ago- Michael Bradley-.'

Yes, he is an incredible player, with bags of experience and class about him. he also has a great attitude and will be an integral part of our squad for the season that he is here for. I'm hoping he can teach the young lads we have here a thing or two, and he really will make a difference to our midfield.

'Last question of the day, what is your response to the pundits describing your team as 'one dimensional, lethargic and boring'?'

Utter bulls**t. That's al I have to say about it.

'Would you care to elaborate on that?'

Not really.

'Ok, That's all for today, thank you Mr. Horn.'

Thank you.