A round-up of other soccer news...

It's a dog's life for Park at United

WHEN South Korean Ji-Sung Park joined Manchester United a few years ago the supporters opted to pay tribute to him by singing “Park, Park, wherever you may be, they eat dogs in your country, but it could be worse, you could be a Scouse, eating rats in your council house”.Nice.

The player, by all accounts, wasn’t offended by the tune, but you’d have to imagine he hoped they’d, well, change the tune at some stage.

They have: “Ten Alsatians, walking down the street, Ten Alsatians, walking down the street, and if Ji-Sung Park fancies one to eat, there’ll be nine Alsatians, walking down the street.”

Quotes of the week

"He has an opinion on everything. There is not a subject in this world at this minute, political, religious, anything, that he does not have an opinion on. I really don't mind, I just don't want it shoved down my throat."

– Martin O'Neill on Arsene Wenger.

"You can get carried away with your own importance, you really can. Sometimes he does."

– Martin O'Neill still on Arsene Wenger.

"He has made a great contribution to the game here, but he is not on a different planet. He is a very skilful manager – well done him, but he has another record, like he has had something like 99 sendings-off this year, and 98 of them weren't his fault. That is the problem."

– Martin O'Neill on, you know.

"What he wants to do is try and point out to everyone who is under his spell that Arsenal are the only delightful team around. You are trying to get an excuse ready if you cannot compete with Manchester United and Chelsea. That is the point."

– Martin? Stop.

"We should hold opinions until Arsenal play Barcelona. And if they lose to Barcelona, Barcelona will be considered a long-ball team."

– Martin! ENOUGH.

New strip whips up a Reich storm

WE like the look of the new German away strip, as modelled by Michael Ballack and unveiled recently by adidas, the black shirt a nod to the first strip worn by the Germans back in 1898. It made quite an impression on the Daily Star, too – "Return Of Ze Black Shirts", as their headline read, accompanied by a photo of Ballack beside a portrait of Hitler. Seriously.

"Germany is set to kick up a Reich stink at the World Cup by playing in Nazi-style black shirts," declared the paper. "Critics blasted the move as a goose-step too far . . . it is sure to conjure up memories of the notorious SS, who terrorised Europe during the war." "Last time they wore black shirts they wanted world domination then as well, so I suppose it's appropriate," said Michael Hayes, a 28-year-old bricklayer from Bromley. Thanks for that, Michael. German tabloid Bildwas not amused, but failed in its efforts to get an apology.

More quotes of the week

“I can’t complain, they wanted to come and vent their anger. But if we’re going to get biblical, then maybe it should be Moses because we led them from the wilderness.”

– Bolton manager Owen Coyle, or ‘Judas’ as Burnley fans renamed him during last week’s game.

“I didn’t mean to injure the lad. It was bad luck to hit him on the nose because he’s only 5ft 7in and if he had been taller I would have struck his chest.”

– Cristiano Ronaldo explaining how his elbow was assaulted by the nose of Malaga’s Patrick Mtiliga. The nose was broken, but mercifully the elbow is fine.

“It was a shameful decision to send me off for that – all I was doing was trying to hold the player off because I was educated not to dive and cheat in England. I was taught that trying to con the referee and play-acting are not acceptable. Now I get really angry when I see other players cheating.”

– Ronaldo again. It’s the way he tells ’em.

Hats off to Chris

DO you remember Chris Atkinson, the Manchester City fan who had ‘Kaka’ tattooed on his chest when he was certain the Brazilian would be joining the club? Well, hats off to him, he didn’t let that misfortune put him off devoting another section of his body to one of his heroes . . . eh, Robinho.

“I’ll just wait until I have kids and call them Robinho and Kaka,” he told the BBC who, somewhat cruelly, pointed out that “Mr Atkinson currently does not have a girlfriend”.

Terrace tunes

"U-N-I, T-E-D, That spells ****ing debt to me, With a knick knack paddywhack, give a dog a bone, Ocean Finance on the phone."

– Manchester City fans offering some sympathy to their debt-ridden hosts at Old Trafford last week.

TOP two football headlines spotted on the Guardianwebsite on Tuesday: "Ferdinand charged with violent conduct over Hull incident." "No need to warn players about discipline – Ferguson." Ooops.

IT'S been nice to see football doing its bit to raise funds for Haiti, Chelsea joining the campaign last week by announcing in a press release that Friday would see a special effort on the part of the club: "Chelsea staff will be participating in a 'Jeans for Haiti Day' where everyone wanting to wear jeans to work will be asked to pay £2 to help victims of the earthquake."

Truly, their generosity knows no bounds.