Today's Papers / Top Dog / 05 December 2007 / Leave a comment " class="free-bet-btn" rel="external" onclick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/G4/inline-freebet');" target="_blank">Free Bet

Betfair's top dog sniffs around the truth behind the latest tabloid tales

Top Dog

Betfair's top dog sniffs around the truth behind the latest tabloid tales.

• Cruft's champion - Top stories that can dominate the news agenda
• Pedigree chum - Insights that tell you something you don't know
• Dog's dinner - Speculation, guesswork, or ideas that just don't come off.

Top Dog says:

The Sun's campaign to make Jose Mourinho the England boss is still rolling along. No surprise that John Terry comes out in support of his old Stamford Bridge boss. But then Tony Adams revealed last week that when he was England captain the FA asked him who should take over from Kevin Keegan, and he told them Terry Venables was the players' choice. That was just before Sven Goran Eriksson got the job!

Cruft's:

Daily Mail - Special gift - Matt Lawton has excellent contacts in Soho Square and says Brian Barwick is ready to make a tentative approach to Jose Mourinho, but is still wary that the FA are being used while The Special One seeks a top club job. Mourinho's now clear [2.7] favourite.

Pedigree Chum:

Daily Mirror - The Devil's Advocaat - Great headline on a story that Zenit St Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat has branded Everton, and English football in general, as bruising long-ball merchants. You can get [5.2] for his pretty, ball-playing Russians to win at Goodison tonight.

Daily Star -- Sven's £17m Masch swoop - The Anfield feud between Rafa Benitez and the American owners started over the bid to pay £17million to make Javier Mascherano's move to Anfield permanent. London based Duncan Wright has links to Mascherano's owner Kia Joorachbian. Are Manchester City trying to hijack the Argentinian, or is Joorachbian trying to scare them to get the deal done? City are now [8.2] and drifting to finish in the top four.

The Sun - Squeaky bum Tyne - Sam Allardyce admits he doesn't know if Newcastle's players are brave enough to stand up to Arsenal like his Bolton teams used to. Worrying news for Newcastle with Arsenal as short as [1.68] to get another win. Even more worrying for Big Sam who is [2.22] the next Premier League manager to go.

The Sun - Endangered - Sir Alex Ferguson isn't wasting the chance left by Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty that wasn't against Fulham on Monday night. He says Ronaldo's as brave as a lion but an endangered species if refs won't protect him. It's [11] that Ronaldo or anybody else gets a hat-trick when United play Derby on Saturday.

Daily Mail - £300.5million benchmark - The Mail added up the cost of all the substitutes in the weekend's Premier League games. The list makes interesting reading including a former European Footballer of the Year (Shevchenko), a World Cup winner (Gilberto) and Britain's most expensive teenager (Walcott).

Dog' s dinner:

Daily Express - Drenthe in deep at Bridge - Real Madrid's Dutch youngster Royston Drenthe is linked with an £8million move to Chelsea after falling out with coach Bernd Schuster. Tony Banks reckons the Blues also want Arsenal's Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner, or Blackburn's Benni McCarthy, to add firepower when Didier Drogba leaves for the African Nations Cup. All very speculative.

Daily Star - Cap fits for Toon - The key thing in this story is the joint by-line. London based Danny Fullbrook has written the gossip that Fabio Capello might be tapped up for the Newcastle job, North East man Ian Murtagh the bottom of the story which has Toon legends backing Allardyce to get it right.

Daily Mirror - Kopello - More evidence that Fabio Capello can be every bit as cute as Jose Mourinho when it comes to putting pressure on the FA, with unnamed sources close to the Italian suggesting he's been tapped up by Liverpool as a potential replacement for Rafa Benitez. Memo to Betfair editor, Top Dog has been offered extra cans of meat to go elsewhere. (Memo from ed: Leave your kennel tidy on the way out!)

Today's other stories:

The Sun - Arsene's booster - I have sleepless nights admits Sam - Was Kop win fixed? - Blades blitzed - Other Championship match reports

Daily Express - Toon won't put the boot in - Terry: It must be Mourinho - Reds bets shock - Giggs in plea to refs over Ronaldo - Sky Blue heaven - Other Championship match reports

Daily Star - Big Sam's Gunner shut up shop - Championship match reports - Ronnie's no diver say United - Moyes UEFA Cup plea - Carra's yellow fever rest cure

Daily Mirror - Save Sam from Toon axe says Wenger - Ref was wrong over Ronnie's diving says Giggs - Championship match action

Daily Mail - 8-0 Anfield romp under suspicion - Bogeyman Sam hits back - Celtic helping hand - Advocaat hits at route one English - Championship match reports

Tags: John Terry England captain, Jose Mourinho, next England manager betting, Rafael Benitez