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.

SA will become the condom-nation during the World Cup.

In the fear that an estimated half a million tourists will sow their wild oats in the month long orgy and contribute to the AIDS epidemic, the SA government has requested for a billion condoms. Britain has responded by sending 42m condomns. 40,000 prostitutes are expected to partake in this social experiment.

Looking at these numbers one would imagine empty stadiums and a few players missing on match day.

However, Jacob Zuma is the poster child for prophylactics. He just fathered his 20th child from a friend's daughter. But when it is his personal plea to combat the scourge of AIDS, you realize the seriousness of the matter. It was Zuma not three years ago who had sex with an HIV positive woman without using a condom and then showered after " as this would minimise the risk of contracting the disease [HIV]."

Villa were down a brace through Shane Long and it looked an uphill struggle for the club. The second half saw the Villans burst to life. Three goals within 12 minutes. Ashley Young and Carew with a couple of goals gave Villa the lead but Reading came close on a couple of occasions to tie the match.

In stoppage time Carew was brought down by Ivar Ingimarsson in the box for a penalty. He duly converted it bringing his hat trick dream to fruition.

Villa's win brings to an end, Martin O' Neill's bizarre statistic of not winning a single match in March since his takeover from David O'Leary almost four years ago.

Villa now meet Chelsea at Wembley for the first FA Cup semi-final. Portsmouth awaits the winner of the Fulham vs Tottenham replay.

A goal and an assist as Everton swamp Hull, 5-1. So is this Donovan's Everton swansong? He still has the Birmingham match next weekend before the Galaxy's repo men come calling.

However, it looks like he very much wants to stay longer.

The best bet for him would be if the MLS season is postponed because the league and the players union cannot come to agreement over the free agency issue that are a sticking point in the collective bargaining talks. The players representatives are threatening a strike.

That way Donovan can claim no other choice. However for all those domestic players staking their claim for a World Cup berth, a work stoppage could not come at a worse time.

Great win for Pompey.

A goalmouth melee and Joe Hart who did not help his cause by a helpful flick forward gave Nelson Piquionne an easy first goal. Three minutes later, it was all Piquoinne who turned and twisted his way into the box collecting his second goal with a cool finish.

This guy will be a hot item in the Pompey firesale.

And what is a match without a huge controversy? Check out Liam Ridgwell's goal that the linesman and the referee missed altogether. Clearly behind the line. To think FIFA just withdrew goal line technology. Just moronic.

Looks like Zinedine Zidane maybe a step closer to taking over the Algeria job after the World Cup. Rabah Saadane after that hugely emotional win at Khartoum has seen his team's fortunes flatline with his tactics being questioned openly after the miserable defeat in the Serbia friendly.

Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika offered the position in a meeting with Zidane and his father at the presidential palace. Zizou was visiting Algeria as part of the futsal gala that pitted the 1998 French World Cup winning team against the Algerian all stars led by Lakhdar Belloumi. His presence electrified the 10,000 fans in attendance for the match at the Olympic dome.

One of the factors being mentioned which could predispose to this move is his personal relationship with Henri Emile who is soon to take over as the head of Algeria's Football Federation. In 2006 Zizou returned to the country of his origin in 2006 for the first time in twenty years accompanied by his Algerian born parents.

It was an emotional return with a serious purpose. He visited a pediatric centre that he and Emile helped set up through funds raised from a charity match after a 2003 earthquake devastated the northern Algerian region of Boumerdes and destroyed the local hospital.

Emile's association with Zidane goes back to the time when he was Les Bleus team manager in Aime Jacquet's 1996 European Cup squad. Jacquet had just spurned Eric Cantona to bring on Zidane to the national side and his faith was vindicated immediately in a friendly against the Czech Republic at Bordeaux as Zidane went onto score a brilliant brace. Jacquet's gamble paid of two years later as France won the World Cup.

His long managerial tenure came to an end in 2004 when Raymond Domenech took over. Emile was swept away in a back room clean up, a factor that is said to have influenced Zidane's retirement in 2004 (from which he came back for the 2006 World Cup). Both are heavily involved in charity work with Emile also working or the French Football Federation to raise futsal's profile within the country.

In an interview with Echourok, Zidane revealed that he followed Algerian football. He was Lakhdar Belloumi admirer and had always dreamed of playing against the legend one day. He also went onto say that it would be an honour and dream to coach Les Fennecs in the future when he had gathered more experience. Maybe in five to ten years.

That might be in an official capacity but it appears that Zizou is already working behind the scenes as Algeria's cheerleader and offering coaching tips. In an interview with France Football (Via Goal.com).

"Maybe it's already happened... There are some things I'd like to do but I can't speak about them publicly. That stays between me and those involved, the players. I know some of them. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll do something with them either. All of that only concerns myself," he added.

Yeah, that Zizou was always known for his clever no look passes. This might be one of them.

Fabregas sustained a hamstring injury in the Burnley match which saw him exit the match and replaced by Abou Diaby.

He is to be evaluated further either tomorrow or Monday and Wenger will have to make a late decision if he has to play the Porto match on Tuesday.

With the Premiership title race so delicately poised I think rushing our best player back prematurely will be very unwise.

Lars Lagerback: Big beer ambitions

The salary of Lars Lagerback, the Swedish coach now the helmsman for the Super Eagles has become a controversial issue.

The amount is said to be in the region of $1.5 million although Lagerback himself is said to have asked about half that. Nigeria has a history of hiring coaches with sign on bonuses, bloated fees, and little responsibility. Berti Vogts virtually coached the team from Germany only coming down to Nigeria ten days in the month while collecting his salary. His player agent acted as the de facto coach deciding which players would play on the team.

With the terms of his contract murky, the arrival of Lagerback has not entirely generated optimism from some quarters with the period of time too short for Nigeria to expect miracles. The NFA has set a semi-final berth as a mandate which appears to all purpose pie in the sky.