Dave’s Football Blog

Ebbsfleet United, the Blue Square club purchased by MyFootballClub.co.uk, won the FA Trophy by beating Torquay United, 1-0, today in Wembley Stadium.

I can come to only one conclusion -- FIFA boss Sepp Blatter hates Africans. Erase racism! Fire Blatter!

EPL Talk publishes the photo, while the Guardian says it's the oldest national team photo in England.

The Guardian gives us more proof as to why leveraged takeovers are bad for English football -- and why disgruntled fans created FC United of Manchester.

Football is supposed to be something for the fans — especially the fans that inhale half an orange smoke bomb and spend the next nine days developing a nasty hacking cough that won’t go away, but hey, our boys got the win and I’m not dead yet, so it’s all good…

But I digress. This turned out to be a big weekend for popular fan-built breakaway clubs — starting with FC United of Manchester, a club I wrote about a year ago. As you may recall, FC United was built from the ground up by Manchester United supporters who objected to Malcolm Glazer’s debt-heavy financing of the Premier League club. Well, FC United just took one more step toward the Football League themselves, winning their third promotion in three years by beating Skelmersdale in a promotion playoff. Next season, FC United will play in the Unibond League Premier Division, one level below 6th-tier Conference North.

Meanwhile, another supporter-run club has already made the climb into Conference football. AFC Wimbledon was promoted to Conference South on Saturday after beating Staines Town in a promotion playoff on a dramatic 83rd-minute goal. AFC Wimbledon was built by Wimbledon FC supporters after that club made its highly controversial moved to Milton Keynes and became MK Dons — who, ironically enough, won League Two and will play in 3rd-tier League One next season.

I get the sense, though, that MK Dons can’t climb fast enough to escape the fan-built juggernaut that bears their old name. AFC Wimbledon v. MK Dons would be a dream draw in the first round of the FA Cup next year, wouldn’t it?

West Brom and Stoke City need only a draw on Sunday to clinch automatic promotion, while seven other clubs compete for four playoff spots. Winner gets to be next year's Derby County.

Sometimes the Internet makes your brain connect things in very odd ways.

Last week, the BBC published this article on why Thierry Henry has been such crap since moving to Barcelona. Aside from pining over not getting any more father-daughter time, Henry has been playing out of position and, more importantly, playing hurt.

The main cause of Henry’s recent injury troubles is a near-chronic back problem, officially diagnosed as the dehydration of an intervertebral disc, which causes lumbar and hip pain.

Former vice-president Sandro Rosell has gone as far as to say that the club made a huge mistake in signing Henry.

“Whoever signed him deserves a clip round the ear,” stated Rosell in December. “He should have been given an exhaustive medical.”

Two days later, Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing.net links to this article in New York Magazine, in which Adam Sternberg basically tells us that shoes are bad for our feet.
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From Pitch Invasion: MLS clubs could have fantastic youth development programs if they would just get their heads out of their asses.

The UEFA Champions League Final is set: Manchester United v. Chelsea. My, how original…

Courtesy of Deadspin: 47-year-old Bolivian president Evo Morales made his soccer debut with second-division club Litoral and played 41 minutes. Coming soon: Barack Obama in the D-League?