Andrew McNaught and Guy Dawson are the Nomura bankers advising the Red Knights

Guy Dawson and Andrew McNaught were the bankers advising the Man Utd board members during the long drawn out negotiations with the Glazers which resulted in their £790m takeover in 2005.

The two at that time were partners in Tricorn, a corporate financial services company specializing in M&As.

In December 2009, the company was taken over by Nomura Holdings in their buying spree to bolster their British corporate presence. Dawson and McNaught joined Nomura as part of the restructuring, the former as the vice chairman of its European investment banking team and the latter as managing director of the bank's M& A services.

Fast forward to 2010 and Nomura today climbed on board as advisers to a Red Knights Man Utd buyout. The team of bankers responsible for planning the acquisition will be led by Guy Dawson and Andrew McNaught. This is being considered as a major coup and it elevates the Red Knights ambitions to a altogether different level.

A stumbling block towards a buyout could be the proposed non-renewal of season tickets as protest by thousands of supporters. Such bad faith tactics could backfire as the Glazers would be less likely to negotiate. Whatever the dynamics maybe, there appears to be no overnight resolution and it could take months to put together a meaningful bid.

As a starting point one should also shine a light on the incredibly clubby group of bankers that are spearheading these efforts. Sixty of them against a family run business. When it comes time for accountability, a smaller number is more manageable.

Free agency rights and a larger cut from guaranteed deals continue to be sticking points.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the agency mediating the dispute said that the two parties had agreed to meet again to resume negotiations.

The MLS season is set to being March 25th.

Stan Chelney of Soccerlaw explains why MLS will not accept free agency. Basically, if it does so, it undermines its own single entity structure by which the league, not the team decides, owns and negotiates player contracts. MLS has already been challenged by players in court which has upheld its single entity structure.

The vote is running almost two thirds in favour of keeping Manuel Pellegrini underscoring the Spanish tabloid disconnect. They hate Pelllegrini. At least the fans realize when they are being sold a bill of goods.

And it takes old hands like Guti and Sergio Ramos to accept responsibility that they did not play as a team.

But Kaka's reaction is shameful. This is quintessential Kaka using a third party to voice his displeasure. Pellegrini was right in substituting him as he did nothing except flop on the ground and complain all match long.

An unhappy Kaka was removed by Manuel Pellegrini to make way for Raul Gonzalez. He later twittered his unhappiness to his wife who showed it to Diogo Kotscho, his communications director.

Kotscho blasted his own twitter showing what he thought of Pellegrini. He called his decision a joke.

" The manager is a coward and changed the player to divert attention from his incompetence."

On has to fathom the implication of this loss.

A club boasting Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Rafael Van Der Vaart, and Gonzalo Higuain cannot count themselves as Europe's elite. The salary and transfer fees of these players equals the annual pay packet of 4,000,000 Spaniards. It just boggles the mind.

But if you saw the match, it was built around the fragile hope of Cristiano Ronaldo's early goal. That is all they had. Manuel Pellegrini can get all the brickbats but what does he have to do with Gonzalo Higuain's criminal miss with an open goal waiting? How is a manager culpable for such a sin? In football, more than any other sport, the adage you are only as good as your players holds. The rest is relationship building.

Pellegrini does not deserve this and his players do not deserve him. Their performance in the second half was shambolic. He is being made a scapegoat. If Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo have an ounce of shame, they will own up to their responsibility for such a debacle and support their manager.

Full marks to Lyon. Their defense was iron clad when it needed to be and for that we can single out two players - Cris and Jeremy Toulalan. They were huge as they stopped pretty much every Real attack in their tracks. Hugo Lloris did the rest. On the attacking end Lisandro Lopez, Cesar Delgado, Kim Kallstrom, and Miralem Pjanic took a buzz saw to the Real back line. Delgado especially was a thorn in their side and it was his industry that set up Pjanic's goal.

Champions League last 16 second leg
Venue: Old Trafford Date: Wednesday 10 March Kick-off: 1945 GMT

He wants them to lose.

If he does play it will be the first time in Old Trafford since he left seven years ago on the way to Real and now AC Milan. He is unlikely to start. But he can make an appearance, can't he? Even Leonardo is playing coy.

United have to fancy their chances to advance to the quarterfinals. Even a 1-0 win will not help Milan. Plus, Wayne Rooney is sure to make an appearance which could only mean more goals.

Let us first remind ourselves at the outset that if it was not for Miroslav Klose's ridiculously offside goal in the first leg, Bayern would not have progressed to the quarterfinals.

This was a game played with great intensity with some brilliant moments. It will be one of the more well remembered matches and for Viola fans, it will be one of pride as well as heartbreak.

At the Stadio Artemio Franchi, it was Fiorentina that looked the more attractive attacking team. Juan Vargas gave them the lead with a tightly angled shot after Butt spilled Marco Marchionni's rasping shot straight to the Peruvian. It was 1-0 and things were looking good for the Violas on a 2-2 aggregate and an away goal advantage.

In the second half Gilardino's exquisitely timed back heel found Stefan Jovetic whose smart finish gave Fiorentina a 2-0 lead as the Viola fans erupted in raucous celebration. They could taste the quarterfinals. Surely nothing could take it away now.

But Franck Ribery on the left who had a swarm of Fiorentina players descend down on him every time he touched the ball managed to wriggle free and pass it square all the way to the middle of the pitch. It arrived at the feet of an arriving Mark Von Bommel who lashed a nicely placed grounder to the right of Sebastian Frey. Parity was restored.

It was Jovetic, a livewire in attack who again gave Fiorentina the aggregate advantage. After a Gilardino header found him, he took off for goal managing to shoulder aside the heavier Daniel Van Buyten and place the ball past Butt.

But even before the fans had time to catch a breath, Robben who so far had been contained with great difficulty broke free moving inside and whipped in a 30 yard screamer with his left foot that seems to have caught a thermal on its way to goal. It capped a frenetic exchange of goals as Fiorentina redoubled their efforts to find another goal to no avail.

In the end it is Bayern going through and Fiorentina left behind undone by a travesty.

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli:

(Reflecting on Miroslav Klose's goal from the first leg) "We gave up a goal that shouldn't have counted for anything, and instead we're here talking about getting eliminated by a goal that was two metres offside."

Champions League last 16, second leg
Venue: The Emirates Date: Tuesday 9 March Kick-off: 1945 GMT

Fabregas aggravated the same hamstring that caused him to miss three weeks in January. The first time was in the Villa cameo on December 27th, a match in which he scored twice in a 3-0 rout.

During Cesc's absence Arsenal won against Portsmouth and drew Everton proving that Arsenal's attack was versatile and multi-pronged.

The Everton match was heading towards a loss when Tomas Rosicky scored an extra time goal.

Today, Rosicky, Nasri, and Arshavin should share the creative load.

Does Arsene go with a 4-2-3-1 with Abou Diaby and Alexander Song adding more protection at the back with Gallas gone? At some point Walcott's could be trotted out with his return to alacrity and goal scoring form. Wenger can also turn to Emmanuel Eboue to bring a zip down the right flank.

All we need is a win with one goal scored. Surely, even Nicklas Bendtner could manage that. Eboue could serve him on the plate.

Porto have never been successful on English soil and they suffered a 4-0 thumping last season at the Emirates. Lets hope their adverse record continues.

Go Gunners! Win one for Ramsey.

"Is that a drink ticket? I'll have two then"

Just when I thought that defenders were the new media generators what with their off field sexual peccadilloes, breaking legs, and getting injured all over the place. What happened to Joey Barton, Craig Bellamy, and Lee Bowyer? They seemed to have had off season pre-frontal lobotomies or are on downers or smoking sheeshas.

But Steven Gerrard gave us some hope. So on a day when Liverpool gets 5 yellow cards, Gerrard goes one better and makes what appears to be an offensive gesture to Andre Marriner, the referee. But it really was not so.

Liverpool came up with a strong statement that Gerrard was not really flipping the bird or trying to tear another orifice and it seems to have worked. The FA might be willing to overlook the matter since Marriner himself did not bring it up.

However, more disturbing is Gerrard's inability to manufacture goals. It has become a big factor in the regression model that might explain the reason for Liverpool's abysmal and chaotic season. Throw in and out Tom Hicks, Lucas Leiva, the blinkered use of Benayoun, the defensive let downs, and Rafa to explain the variance.

"Poor attitude, lack of character, limited intelligence" was how Rafa summed up the Reds effort against Wigan.

It all came undone with a Hugo Rodallega strike as the February push has turned into the Ides of March.

Rafa's statement maybe true but it does not hold for the one player who always gives them a chance- Yossi Benayoun.

On intelligence alone, the Israeli would find himself in the World's top XI. Yet, he is almost always rationed in Benitez's team selection, relegated to footnotes. It's too bad his team mates can't keep up. He was taken off with 20 minutes to go by Alberto Aquilani and the attack faded into a series of long balls.

In a midfield comprising Maxi Rodriguez, Lucas Leiva, Dirk Kuyt, and even Steven Gerrard - Benayoun comes across as a giant. Yet he logs almost 1000 minutes less playing time than Lucas who can be charitably described as barely adequate. Captain Fantastic is in the shadows of last year's prodigious contribution and when comparing goals to minutes played, Benayoun comes out streets ahead.

It is time to move to a club where Benayoun's midfield vision can be fully exploited. He is in his third year of a four year contract when he signed on for Liverpool in July 2007. Time to get the pen out.