image via Reuters

Looking for a quick interview with David Beckham? Just write up your cheque for half a mill and Golden Balls will be ready to speak with you. Oh, and he made his AC Milan debut today. Doesn’t Cruz look thrilled?
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Newcastle’s Shola Ameobi needs to hire a cleaner, stat.  He recently called the police after returning home, thinking he’d been burgled. Nope, his flat is just a serious mess.
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Love this - a 2009 footie almanac. Start booking your “sick” days off work now.  (Via TOR)
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What’s the real reason Cheryl Cole didn’t get a phone call from her friend Posh after Ashley cheated?
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Okay, so we know it’s totally immature, but we couldn’t help but snarffle a bit at the “take a picture” gag Man City fans played on the lovely Ryan Giggs. We would have killed to have seen his reaction.
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Gigi Buffon: he’s back, and he has good hair.
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We’re finding the Transfer Clockwatch quite riveting considering how much we hate this part of the season. Roll on Jan 31!

images via ZUMAPRESS/KEYSTONE Press for kickette.com

Oh, boo.  Two of our favourite boys have legs that aren’t working.

Who gets your vote for the cutest-with-leg-issues: Cesc Fabregas or Xabi Alonso?

cheers jessie!

image via ZUMAPRESS/KEYSTONE Press for kickette.com

RVP fans, did you know he was into darts? The Arsenal star striker has been playing since he was a kid, and reckons he could take out John Terry, who also dabbles. 

Van Persie was spotted out at the World Darts Championships this weekend in London’s Alexandra Palace. Did you watch?

Of course you didn’t. But would you believe that someone, somewhere does?  It’s true.

Anyhoo, here’s Robin with the winner, Phil Taylor. Kudos to RVP for his happy smiling face, as he was actually there to cheer on Dutch dartster Raymond Van Barneveld.

FYI: Interestingly angled RVP shot included below to make up for all the darts-talk.

Will you be buying this wide assortment of candy coloured jackets, Kickettes?

Frankly, we’d rather have a bag of wine gums.

And, we’d rather have Mr. Totti sans clothing of any sort, but we’re not sure if the marketing team at Never Without You would go for it.

“Ashley’s young and he’s got a young mentality - for his age anyway… He’s learning. He has a beautiful soul, he’s a really nice guy and I’m not stupid, you know. I’m really not. I know what I’m doing. I’ve had enough knocks in the past to know what the circumstances are, and I’m happy. If other people aren’t, then that’s their problem.“

—Cheryl in the new Vogue UK, talking about her husband Ashley Cole’s fidelity.

image via Reuters

image via Splash News/KEYSTONE Press for kickette.com

images via BIG Pictures UK/ KEYSTONE Press for kickette.com

The Chelsea boys were out in London town this weekend to give Wayne Bridge a proper send off before he heads to pastures new with Man City.

As is per usual with lads out for the night, drinking and male bonding were in high rotation that night.  An anonymous “observer” was quoted as saying John Terry was completely blottered and dancing like an “old dad” to Britney Spears at the Whisky Mint Mist club. 

We give that story a triple zzz for ground-breaking news action. And let us say: the day JT isn’t seen on a night out acting in this manner on will be the day we eat vegetables. It’s just not natural, and it ain’t gonna happen.

Happy nearly-New Year everyone!

It’s been a fabu 2008 and we’ve had an amazing time sharing it with all of you. We couldn’t ask for a better crew of sassy, smart and sexy readers and we can’t wait to see through 2009 with you all.

Have you made any resolutions for the new year? We’re resolving to drink more, stalk less. And of course, post more photos of footie players in their skivvies.

Have a good one! 

Let’s finish up our favourite 2008 moments with a little sartorial inspiration:

Victoria Beckham finally broke out the stilletos-without-stillets we’d all been (not) waiting for, Carly Zucker made sure she kept the high-fashion fires bouffed and burning, Abigail Clancy looked remarkably hot in her LBD, so did Noemie Lenoir on the Victoria’s Secret catwalk;

Lilly-Ella Gerrard made us dream of rainbows and moonbeams, while her mama didn’t quite score as well on the fash-trend ratings. Oh, and the MTV Europe music awards in Liverpool were a big hit for good and bad baller style too.

But, it wasn’t just about the clothes this fall. Sometimes, it was about the all-important removal of the clothes:

image via ZUMAPRESS/KEYSTONE Press for kickette.com

We’ve really been warming to Rio Ferdinand of late, and this video of him in a school production of Bugsy Malone in 1991 has sealed the deal for us.

Watch as Rio fully emotes his character to full Tony award effect, complete with dance moves and warbling vocals.  It’s bloody awful - and completely adorable.

Added bonus: Rio falling off his chair.  Watch for the quintessential London-bwoy expression of, “Rass!“, which made us die repeatedly with delight.

Via our beloved nutsos at ONTD Football

The story of summer ‘08 goes to Cristiano Ronaldo’s official dumping of Nereida Gallardo, a day everyone at Kickette had been hoping, praying and taking bets for.  Nereida attempted to cling on to her 15 minutes of fame, but C-Ron was over it and headed to Cali, where he then continued to damage our hearts and minds by sunbathing his skin to levels of terracotta never before seen by man.  He also hooked up with some randoms, which gave us some reassurance that someday things would return to normal. Nereida attempted to save face and failed.

Unsurprisingly, much of our coverage over the July and August period focused on the gazillions of footballers on holiday:

Bastian Schweinsteiger enjoyed a spot of belly dancing whilst on vacay with Sarah;

Sergio Ramos and his golden trunks of glory hit Marbella, and Peter Crouch took Abbey Clancy to Ibiza;

The seriously attractive Maldini family hit Miami and NYC, Cesc and Carla went west for some adventures with Disney;

The Van der Sars soaked up the culture in Bangkok,Fernando Torres and Olalla worked on their tans in Miami beach,  A recuperating Eduardo chilled out and Francesco Totti impressed us with his poolside player skills;

image via AP Photo

Ronaldo is a dad for the second time - his fiancée Maria Beatriz, gave birth to a baby girl, Maria Sofia in Rio de Janeiro. Congrats!
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How did we miss this hilarious (and entirely unsexy) old school footage of Ronaldinho with a dance floor short-tent?  (Skip to the end of the clip). Via ONTD
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Crouchie’s clothes just aren’t high in demand on the charity shelves. Don’t tall people shop at Oxfam too?
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Equine-minded Kickettes will bond with Michael Owen’s wife Louise, who says she prefers horses to designer handbags.
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Thierry Henry has a new girlfriend - he’s been spotted in the Maldives getting it on with a new chick - and she looks a lot like his ex-wife, Nicole. (Link is in Dutch)
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Stevie G has been released from custody, but the story behind what happened is unclear. Was it all over the DJ’s choice of tunes? Or… maybe it never happened at all.
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Also, the Gerrards may be above board, but they sure do know some shady characters…
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Yoann Gourcuff is on vacation in St. Barth’s. As you would expect, he is continuing to be comfortable without many clothes. (Via The Offside)
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A list of footie players’ official websites and myspace pages. Get stalking!
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Attn Gossip girl fanatics: Ed Westwick was completely overwhelmed when he met David Beckham.  We completely understand, Eddie.