Friday Backpasses: Return of the Bowlcut

Noel Gallagher (remember him?) slams Thaksin Shinawatra. I wonder what Badly Drawn Boy thinks [BBC]
England pick up an extra place in UEFA Cup through Fair Play award [Soccernet]
That place likely to go to Manchester City [Guardian]
unless Fulhamerica can pip them at the post [Premier League.com]

Liverpool transfer madness on the other side of the jump

Liverpool turn down $50 million bid for Gerrard. Morons [The Sun]
Liverpool think they will get $30 million for Crouchdinho. Super fucking morons [The Sun]
Porto tried to bribe referees when Mourinho was in charge [International Herald Tribune]
England lets Russians into country for UEFA Cup final in an in-kind trade. Blah blah blah. What it boils down to is that drunken, better-off Russians will be rumbling in Manchester with drunken Scots next week. Watch this space [UEFA]

Finally, a This Is Extra Time two-fer.
Someone wants to employ Vickie Beckham as an actress.
Flamini flips off Arsenal fans, as apparently is becoming the style for Arsenal players. At least, that's how we're reading into it.