Amid the row over his call-up for a Catalan 'national'
team over Christmas, Cesc Fabregas has confirmed what we suspected all along - playing
football is actually pretty easy.

Early Doors refers specifically to age-old complaints about
fixture congestion and fatigue made by any club whose players have to turn out
more than once a week for any period of time.

Players plead tiredness, managers make grave warnings about
burnout, and the Premier League's
relentless grind is always cited as a reason why England are rubbish at penalties.

Yet Fabregas has blown this pretence to bits by cheerfully

The Premier League's decision to rule out the idea of a Champions League play-off is a rare piece of good sense from football's authorities.

The concept is a better one than the ludicrous '39th game' idea, but then that's a bit like giving the Best Picture Oscar to Beverly Hills Chihuahua instead of The Hottie and the Nottie.

If the like of Spurs and Manchester City, or even Fulham and Blackburn, want to break into the top four, they'll have to do it the old-fashioned way: obscene spending.

Apart from the club that would have won the end-of-season play-off between the clubs that finished

Well, would you look at that - it's another blog led by John Terry's antics.

Early Doors would love to focus on something else, such as Paul Scholes's 100th league goal, perhaps. However, when even the Manchester United midfielder himself doesn't have anything interesting to say about that - or anything else for that matter - better to fall back on good old JT.

The Chelsea captain ensured he was plastered across every back page this morning with his goal celebration in the 2-0 win over Stoke City yesterday.

Terry reacted to the chants and jeers that came his way throughout the FA Cup

A day after being
told their 2018 World Cup campaign was running out of steam, England have hit
back by naming a clutch of foreign 'ambassadors' for the bid.

Now, there is
nothing wrong with Kanu, Kolo Toure, Roque Santa Cruz, Salomon Kalou, Kenwyne Jones
or Lucas Radebe per se.

But, far from
adding much-needed star power to England's flagging bid, they perfectly encapsulate the kind
of good-but-not-world-class foreign player that the Premier League has made its
calling card.

England have also called on Ossie Ardiles, a great
player and failed manager, and Gianfranco Zola, who is well on the

Karim Benzema has criticised his Real Madrid side for their attacking
play. According to the striker, Real have too many forward players and they get
in each other's way.

He
said: "Our problem
is that we don't do what we practise
in training. In training we look to open up the wings, to get behind the
defence.

"But in games we don't manage to spread the game to the flanks. We all
get in each other's way as we try to
play through the middle."

A forward having a go at his coach
for picking too many attackers sounds to ED like Nick Griffin turning against obnoxious
tubby white men, and it seems

The Champions League draw proved itself to be as eager to please as ever, throwing the ties that had everyone had been wishing for before the balls were picked.

Yes sir, Olympiacos v Bordeaux is going to be a humdinger alright.

Elsewhere, a bit of fuss has been made about a couple of reunions that the draw has facilitated, Surprise Surprise-style.

David Beckham will get the hero's return to Old Trafford he had so openly wished for, while Jose Mourinho may not be so happy about his flying visit back to Stamford Bridge.

Becks said on the eve of the draw: "I would really like it if we draw my old

Newcastle
owner Mike Ashley may have announced that he's not going to sell the club (at
least until they get promoted again), but the naming rights for St James' Park
are up for grabs.

Personally, ED is delighted at the prospect of the ground
getting a new name, just to end once and for all the pedantic rows in the
Eurosport office about whether it should really be called St James's Park or St
James' Park, as if such grammatical matters are a life and death issue on
Tyneside.

In an ideal world, former sponsors Newcastle Brown Ale would
be the only choice - who wouldn't want a trip to Newky

So it turns out Chelsea's inducement of Gael Kakuta to breach his contract was just a big misunderstanding after all.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has lifted the 18-month transfer ban against the Blues after an amicable settlement was agreed with Kakuta's former club Lens.

Chelsea, Lens and Kakuta reached an agreement for an unspecified amount. Estimates range between £800,000 and £2.6 million - not much for a player who has shown immense promise in his early appearances at Stamford Bridge.

You always felt Chelsea were confident of appealing successfully, especially in light of their