Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has been suspended from his duties as Sky Sports analyst.

Sam Allardyce has been confirmed as Everton’s new manager after signing an 18-month deal at Goodison Park, declaring his first job will be to rebuild “spirit” at the club.

Sam Allardyce has been confirmed as Everton's new manager after signing an 18-month deal at Goodison Park.

Martin O’Neill lavished praise on the match-saving intervention of Jon Walters but could barely hide his disdain for the performance of referee David Fernandez Gonzalez.

Here we are, back again to those regular bedfellows, the bantz and the ‘controvassy’.

Could Leo Messi do it on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke?

Michael Jordan’s on-court days may be behind him, but the memory alone of His Airness floating towards the basket makes him worth more to marketers than any other current sportsperson in the world.

Gary Neville might regard it as “The Dog and Duck versus the Red Lion” owing to the current fortunes of both clubs, but Manchester United versus Liverpool is the biggest game in English football - bar none.

Gary Neville might regard it as “The Dog and Duck versus the Red Lion” owing to the current fortunes of both clubs, but Manchester United versus Liverpool is the biggest game in English football - bar none.

While the last 10 years haven’t exactly been a cake walk for Liverpool fans, the club is at a particular low ebb at the moment.

Hockey: Munster’s U-16s produced a memorable performance to get their schoolgirls interprovincial championship off to a flying start as they beat Ulster for the first time in a decade.

"One day it might indeed all end, but Eamo’s show will surely go on forever."

It has been a rough couple of weeks with the pollen. It was the hay fever, we now know, that drove John Inverdale to his ‘sexist lapse’ at last year’s Wimbledon.

Most kids have an idea about what they’d like to be when they grow up and like most, my career plans reflected my interests as a child.

Ruthless Graeme Souness: "My ex-father was a Man City supporter."

Cork Church of Ireland’s men and Cork Harlequins’ women both got their Irish Hockey League campaigns back on track with vital wins on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola was likened, by The Guardian columnist Raphael Honigstein, to Spanish clothing retailer Zara this week — a comparison first made by ex-Barcelona treasurer Xavier Sala-i-Martín.

Handball isn’t a sport we feature much here at breakingnews.ie but this goal got us off our wheelie chairs.

Leeside again proved a happy hunting ground for Banbridge as they dismantled Cork Church of Ireland 4-1 at Garryduff on Saturday.

No matter how big or superficial it gets, we can always freestyle with that off button.

Contrasting fortunes for the new Wimbledon champions. Andy Murray breezed through his final eliminator to qualify for a tilt at the ultimate prize — a knighthood.

The view of the game from the inside and from the outside doesn’t always tally, the professional perspective frequently at odds with that of the stands or the press box.

Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles saluted Gareth Bale’s excellence and then spoke of their hope that the PFA Player of the Year remains at White Hart Lane this summer.

Tottenham talisman Gareth Bale was last night named Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

Tottenham’s Gareth Bale is favourite to land both major awards at the PFA honours’ night in London tomorrow.

PREMIER LEAGUE

Watching Arsenal’s worst start to a league in three decades roll on and Manchester United’s latest comeback against Aston Villa last weekend, our mind flashed back to the same weekend 20 years ago.

Ireland’s Champions Challenge I campaign is up and running but not without some controversy as Belfield witnessed plenty of drama yesterday.

An advertising boost from the Euro 2012 football tournament helped the owner of radio station talkSport weather “choppy” trading conditions today.

IT IS eighteen months now since Andy Gray and Richard Keys wandered into a debate about the respective merits of the English Premier League and La Liga during a league match between Manchester City and Everton.

Mikele Leigertwood scored in the 81st minute to send Reading back into the Barclays Premier League with a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the Madejski Stadium.

Marina Hyde fears Richard Keys and Andy Gray have launched a stealth campaign to get their faces back on television screens.

UCC continued their habit of doing things the hard way but eventually progressed to a second successive Irish Hockey Trophy final with a 3-2 win over South Antrim at the Mardyke on Saturday.

Motivation won’t be lacking for UCC as they pitch up at Garryduff tonight looking to rattle Cork Church of Ireland’s cage (8pm).

Family ties are hardly unusual in hockey but rarely is it a generational thing — unless you’re Joan and Emma Dobson.

Former Aston Villa striker Andy Gray says it will be “insulting to the fans and the club” if record signing Darren Bent looks to quit during the January transfer window.

Barnsley 2 Swansea 4

UCC’s new-look outfit showed further signs that they will be pushing the top three men’s sides in Munster but, ultimately, their indiscretions cost them at key moments at Farmer’s Cross as reigning champions Cork Harlequins won by the odd goal in five.

THERE has not been a Manchester United player over the past 20 years who has got under the skins of Liverpool fans more than Gary Neville.

A FEW of us spent a most enjoyable and rewarding hour in the company of three Irish football heroes of yesteryear on Monday morning as Tony Cascarino, Frank Stapleton and Paul McGrath mixed some astute analysis of the Premier League and Trapattoni’s Ireland with a few entertaining detours down memory lane.